Limiting international students would be disastrous to Limburg, province says

Limiting the number of international students would be disastrous to Limburg, according to a letter the province, municipalities, employers and employees’ organizations, educational institutions, and the business community sent to parliament on Friday. They urged the government to remove their “Hague and Randstad glasses” and realize that internationalization is not a problem but a solution for a region like Limburg.

The Limburg region has an aging population, which means that without students from outside, there will be a sharp decline in MBO, HBO, and WO students. “That will lead to a devastation: the disappearances of courses from the region and thus a significant shrinkage of educational institutions,” the province said. But its location - with two neighboring countries and neighboring languages just a stone’s throw away - provides a solution.

According to Limburg, if the government decides to oblige all bachelor’s programs at Maastricht University and Zuid University of Applied Sciences to be taught in Dutch, that “would lead to a permanent job loss of around 4,500 and would result in a decline in the Limburg economy of almost 1 billion euros.”

The province urged the national politicians to create customized legislation and regulations “so that educational institutions can continue to welcome international talent in Limburg to address shortages in the labor market and remain an innovative region.” The province points out that Limburg has been one of the top 40 European innovative regions since 2022, and that is dependent on its access to international talent.

Limburg also asked for education funding from the government that keeps shrinking courses affordable and available, structural support for cooperation between education and regional businesses instead of individual and incidental subsidies, and better public transport infrastructure in the region and to Germany and Belgium, among other things.

The province pointed out that it shares 24 percent of its border with the rest of the Netherlands and 76 percent with other countries. It also doesn’t struggle with Randstad problems like a serious housing shortage and overcrowded lecture halls. “In fact, municipalities in the region would welcome more students within their municipal boundaries due to demographic shrinkage,” the province said. “They make an essential contribution to the further social, economic, and cultural development of Limburg.”