A well-organized and widely recognized problem such as the surplus of foreign students – someone like Robbert Dijkgraaf should be able to solve that.
Things moved quickly with the foreign students in the Netherlands. At the beginning of this century, those in charge at the Binnenhof and at the colleges and universities were mainly concerned about whether Dutch higher education was accessible enough for non-native speakers. The introduction of the bachelor-master system at all universities and colleges in 29 European countries paved the way for foreign students. Acting Minister of Education Loek Hermans was convinced: ‘The Netherlands must be careful not to miss the boat.’ His successor, Maria van der Hoeven, also saw only advantages. In her view, the incoming ‘foreign toppers’ would finally undermine the ‘Dutch six-six culture’: diligent and studious foreigners could pull their Dutch fellow students up nicely.
All those expectations have been defeated now that the other side of the coin is becoming visible: the overcrowding at the universities, colleges and inner cities. The institutions have plunged so enthusiastically into the lucrative market of foreigners – especially students from outside the EU are very profitable – that there are crowding out effects. Last academic year, 115 thousand international students were enrolled in higher education, 3.5 times as many as fifteen years ago.
The additional problems are gradually being recognized quite generally: overcrowding contributes to a lowering of the quality of education, there are courses where the influx from abroad is now hindering the choice of study of Dutch school leavers, at the beginning of this school year there was a shortage of nearly 27,000 student rooms and the total Anglicization of higher education undermines the command of Dutch by too many Dutch students.
But now the wonderful part of the story: although this diagnosis has been shared by the cabinet, the House of Representatives, municipalities, universities and colleges themselves for some time, it is not possible to find the brake pedal. The number of foreign students enrolled at a Dutch university has increased by 7 percent again this academic year.
That is difficult to understand. The European rules on the free movement of people make it difficult to exclude foreign students, and that is not the intention at all, but it can of course be made a little less attractive. Fewer studies in English, limiting the number of students from outside the EU, imposing integration requirements on international entrants (learning Dutch!) – these are just a few options.
This requires new rules here and there, but above all good agreements between all parties, because otherwise apparently no one will take action. Plus a minister who takes control: a great opportunity for Robbert Dijkgraaf to prove that it really has added value, his outsider in politics, who can simply make a problem analysis without political ballast and look for quick, pragmatic solutions. .