Carelessly further limiting the number of foreign students could have negative consequences for the North. The university boards must do more themselves.
The number of new foreign students in Groningen is 9 percent lower this year than last year. The political parties that want fewer students from abroad are thus served. The only question is whether an ill-considered further restriction is good for the Northern Netherlands.
Pieter Omtzigt in particular wants to limit the English language at universities and colleges, and in his wake more parties have made it an issue. Minister Robert Dijkgraaf therefore called on universities last year to recruit less abroad. He couldn’t do much more under the current law.
Apparently Dijkgraaf’s call has already had an effect. The boards of universities along the border such as Groningen, Maastricht and Twente are already concerned about it. They are more dependent than the Randstad on sufficient students from outside.
These concerns are now too easily dismissed by national politicians. It is a serious problem for the North because the University of Groningen and the UMCG are of great importance in our region, which otherwise has few large companies. RUG and UMCG are the largest employers and generate a lot of additional economic activity. More than other regions, a shrinking university would have consequences for the entire area.
But it is not without reason that migration is one of the most important election issues. Many Dutch people are concerned about the rapid growth of the population and the disappearance of Dutch culture.
The fear that Dutch students are being displaced by foreigners should therefore be taken more seriously by university boards. Just as higher education should ensure that sufficient nurses, doctors, technicians and other professional personnel are trained who actually work in the Netherlands.
This would provide higher education with a much-needed answer to the call for measures against the internationalization of education. Politics is struggling with the call for restrictions on migration. Asylum and labor migration are both difficult in Europe. As a result, the universities are now too easy a target.