Dutch MP's back plans to limit influx of international students

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, urged Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Science) to do more to limit the influx of international students. Parliamentary majorities supported various motions to achieve this.

Peter Kwint (SP) and Harry van der Molen (CDA) want Dijkgraaf to ensure that universities no longer actively recruit international students. The Minister must implement this ban in consultation with the Dutch universities and universities of applied sciences and keep it in place at least until he comes up with other measures.

Another motion was VVD parliamentarian Hatte van der Woude asking the Cabinet to present a bill before the summer to control the influx of international students. She wants to make haste because “after years of discussion, there is still no solution.”

JA21 filed a motion asking for agreements with higher vocational education institutions and universities about the ratio of Dutch and international students.

All three motions received majority support from the Tweede Kamer.

Dutch universities are very popular with international students because they offer many courses in English, are relatively cheap, and are of good quality from a global perspective. This leads to full lecture halls and more competition for pre-university students for coveted study places.

There are few legal options to limit the influx of international students. For example, universities are not allowed to admit a limited number of students to an English-taught course if they don’t do the same for the Dutch-taught variant.