Amsterdam Univ. actively recruiting international students, despite agreements not to
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is actively recruiting students abroad despite the Dutch universities promising the government in 2022 that they would stop doing that, Folia discovered. The university magazine studied data from Meta and Google and found that the UvA was advertising its upcoming Bachelor’s Week in at least seven EU countries outside of the Netherlands.
According to Folia, the UvA has placed at least 136 different paid campaigns, mainly general promotions for the university’s Bachelor’s and Master’s Weeks, in seven EU countries on Instagram and Facebook. According to Meta’s estimates, these ads were viewed over 2.4 million times by people outside the Netherlands. The university also ran ads for its Faculty of Economics and Business Administration on Google in the United States, Romania, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
The advertisements are remarkable because in 2022, the Dutch universities all agreed to take measures to reduce the number of enrollments by international students, including quitting international recruitment. This came around a parliamentary election where immigration was the biggest topic of concern. Many political debates touching higher education revolved around a lack of housing, full lecture halls, and overburdened lecturers.
The universities agreed that they would not recruit students abroad, only offer information when a prospective student asks for it. According to Folia, the agreement explicitly mentions sponsored marketing “aimed at generating leads from abroad” as recruitment.
A spokesperson for the UvA told the magazine that the Bachelor’s Week ad campaign is not recruitment, but providing study information. “It is an information campaign aimed at prospective students to inform them that Bachelor’s Week exists.”
The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science told Folia that universities are responsible for how they implement their agreements on international recruitment. But based on the university agreements, the Ministry assumes that “online advertising fall sunder the recruitment agreements” and “any activities in this area should align with agreements to focus on shortage sectors.”
Enrollment at Dutch universities has decreased every year since 2020. Last year, 3.6 percent fewer new students enrolled, with the decrease being most visible among international students. Universities have been pushing toward starting up recruitment again.
In November last year, the umbrella organization Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) said that declining enrollment posed a risk to “the continued existence of small programs.” It also raised concerns about “the loss of talent.”
A month earlier, a study commissioned by Leiden University, Utrecht University, the University of Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and Erasmus University Rotterdam concluded that curbing their intake of international students would harm the Dutch economy. According to the universities in the Randstad, gross domestic product will decline by approximately €4 to €5 billion.
