There is a vegetable garden in the courtyard of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam South. Zucchini & melons, says on a sign next to a freshly hoeed bed. Next to it, on the landing at the entrance, two students are chatting in English, each with their own accent. A sign warns them: Smoking is forbidden.
English is the language of instruction here, because, like many other art academies and conservatories in the Netherlands, the program is highly international. Nearly two-thirds of the students at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy come from abroad. There are even more at a few other art colleges: the Design Academy Eindhoven even has almost 80 percent foreign students the most international higher education institution in the Netherlands.
The academies praise their culturally diverse student community and their place in the international art world. But this ‘internationalisation’ is currently also leading to unrest, now that national politics tends to limit the number of foreign students at universities and colleges. “Then the pluriformity of this place will be limited,” says Maaike Lauwaert, President of the Board of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.
Recruitment freeze
There is a vigorous debate in the House of Representatives about international students in higher education. The influx of foreign students to universities and colleges has doubled in the past eight years; a quarter of the first-year students are now non-Dutch.
A trend that was regarded as an enrichment for the Dutch economy and culture is now starting to get in the way, especially in the university towns, partly due to a lack of housing. MPs also wonder why the Netherlands contributes to the education of students from other countries. “What is the Dutch education system for? That is to do good research and to educate your own people well.” said independent Member of Parliament Pieter Omtzigt at the end of January.
At the end of last year, Minister Dijkgraaf (OCW, D66) announced a ‘recruitment freeze’ as a temporary measure: educational institutions are no longer allowed to promote themselves at foreign education fairs. In mid-March, the minister will send a letter to the House of Representatives with proposals for structural policy to curb internationalisation.
“It is a subject that I follow on a daily basis,” says director Raf De Keninck of the Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE). Since The New York Times the small academy in 2003 hailed as ‘A School for New Dutch Masters’ the Design Academy is attracting more and more foreign students: the entire website of the program is in English.
“This international group with that quality is very important to us and it must remain that way,” says De Keninck. He emphasizes that the academy (about 800 students) attracts far fewer foreigners than a university with tens of thousands of students. Moreover, the influx to the academies has been limited since 2011 by the KUO (art education) agreements, which are intended to maintain the opportunities for artists on the labor market.
However, the Design Academy itself also sees a disadvantage of its strong international reputation: Dutch prospective students are hesitant to apply. They “often look up to the academy and expect that the bar will be too high for them,” says the most recent annual report.
Dutch HAV students or VWO students are ‘lagging behind’ compared to foreign students, who are often older and have already completed an (art) education. De Keninck is looking for the cause in Dutch secondary education, where, according to him, he recently said in an interview with the Eindhoven broadcaster Studio040all creative subjects at school have been ‘cut back’.
Pre-education
Not all art academies seem to share De Keninck’s opinion. Spokesperson Marieke de Boer of the art academy and conservatory ArtEZ (Arnhem, Enschede, Zwolle; 22 percent foreign students) emphasizes that if there is already “a gap” in the previous education of Dutch students – something she cannot confirm – the art programs that can bridge. “With a complete pre-education you can shape the talent development of students. We are committed to that.”
Photos Simon Lenskens
Lecturer in art education Emiel Heijnen of the AHK art academy in Amsterdam conducts research into Dutch art education and says: formally no cuts have been made. He does see that art subjects do not have a high status at primary school – more and more attention is being paid to arithmetic and language. But especially in secondary education, visual arts do have a permanent place.
Heijnen: “In the lower years, all students are required to take art subjects. In the upper years, the number of students taking exams in an art subject is more or less stable.” Out an inventory which was last carried out in 2017, also shows that secondary schools believe that there is enough money and support for art education.
“It must have been my feeling,” says director Raf De Keninck of the Design Academy Eindhoven about the alleged cuts in art education. “In other countries there is more attention for the creative, for Bildung. We select people who can think differently.”
For a long time, the Design Academy Eindhoven had no pre-education for secondary school students, but in 2020 it nevertheless started such a Saturday course to improve the connection. The ‘Foundation Year’ costs 1,650 euros. “To also give those people a basis, to do a bit of preliminary work. But we do see a difference with the international students.”
Expat Island
Maaike Lauwaert, president of the Amsterdam Gerrit Rietveld Academy, was pleased that there were also many Dutch people at the open day recently, but is concerned about the costs of the preliminary training: that of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy costs 2,088 euros. According to Lauwaert, this cannot be reduced due to government subsidy rules. “We also try to offer an accessible course with ‘Rietveld op Proef’.”
In short, she is making an effort to ensure that the academy does not become even less Dutch than it is now. “If you only had international students, you would become an expat island. We want to remain rooted in Amsterdam, and in the Dutch culture of an open, democratic society.”
Also read about the internationalization of the universities: The ‘internationals’ keep coming to the universities, but resistance is growing