ASVA student union: international students are at high risk of becoming homeless

taketonews

Student union ASVA fears that foreign students who want to study in Amsterdam will become homeless or have to pay extortionate prices for a room. 2,300 students who were looking for accommodation through the UvA have no place yet. The ASVA and the student union SRVU therefore want a discouragement policy for international students.

“We still have 2300 internationals who don’t have a room yet and still have to look for them,” says Job Vermaas of the student union ASVA. “That means that they run a huge risk of exploitation or homelessness, and then we say: that is not possible. That is untenable, then students should no longer come to Amsterdam.”

The ASVA therefore calls on international students not to come to Amsterdam for a course. More than 4,700 international students have applied for a room through the UvA, but the available 2,400 rooms are already occupied. The student union SRVU also discourages students from abroad to stay at home.

The UvA and the VU will also discourage students who have not yet found a room in August from coming to Amsterdam. “But that is by no means sufficient,” says Vermaas. “The UvA has been pursuing an internationalization policy for many years. What we want is to limit the number of English-taught studies that are offered. So that fewer foreign students will register.”

Neither the UvA nor the VU intend to delete those English-language tracks. “These English-language studies are also very popular among Dutch students,” says Yasha Lange, spokesperson for the UvA. “We want to continue to offer this, because it also offers career prospects for students and is popular among students who have completed bilingual VWO.”

Numerus fixus

“Nonsense”, says ASVA director Vermaas. “Then you don’t understand how studies are set up. Most students already take many courses in English.” Vermaas thinks a numerus fixus for international students, for which the universities already submitted a bill about two years ago, is a good idea if it is based on a lottery. “But that is still a very long-winded process. Something has to be done NOW. They are still recruiting students from abroad for economics and business studies. That is really not possible with this housing crisis.”

Student housing in Almere

In 2023, Duwo will start the construction of 1,250 homes in Almere in collaboration with the UvA and the VU. Of these, 500 are intended for (international) students. “This is not really a good option for international students,” says ASVA director Vermaas. “An international student does not receive a public transport card, so he has to pay hundreds of euros of travel costs every month.”

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