Intake at universities and colleges continues to decline, especially fewer students from other European countries

In higher vocational education (HBO), the influx of students from other European countries has fallen by almost 8 percent, and at universities by almost 5 percent. This is evident from the provisional intake figures for bachelor’s studies that started in September. The inflow from countries outside Europe remained approximately the same.

The influx of Dutch students at universities has also fallen sharply again this year. As a result, the total intake for university bachelor’s programs is now 3.5 percent lower than last year. At universities of applied sciences, the influx of new students is more stable (minus 1.8 percent in the bachelor’s degree), but something else is going on there. There are 7.5 percent fewer registrations for technical bachelor’s programs this year.

According to the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (VH), this decline is partly related to the And those who do go to higher professional education are increasingly opting for a technical profile. While the influx of HAVO and VWO graduates is declining, the influx from secondary vocational education (MBO) is increasing, especially at the so-called associate degreea two-year college course.

International talent

Forecasts from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science predict that student numbers will continue to decline over the next ten years, especially at universities (minus 10 percent over ten years). This means that further cuts will have to be made there, in addition to the cuts already imposed by the outgoing Schoof cabinet. Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) expects that small courses will disappear and that less scientific research can be conducted.

UNL chairman Caspar van den Berg calls on the parties participating in the formation to think about “more stable funding for universities”, which is less dependent on student numbers. He also warns that the Netherlands is missing out on international talent due to the declining influx from abroad. “It is urgent that a new cabinet draws up a clear strategy on how we can continue to attract, train and retain that talent,” says Van den Berg. “Sufficient talent cannot only come from the Netherlands, we simply have too few young people for that.”

In recent years, the political debate has focused on measures to stem the large influx of international students. should give educational institutions and the Minister of Education more tools to better reconcile the advantages and disadvantages of the internationalization of higher education.

To prevent harsh measures, colleges and universities themselves have already come up with plans to keep the international influx within limits. They stopped recruiting abroad and reduced the number of English-taught courses. And for English-language studies, they introduced a numerus fixus for the number of students.

Growth of teacher training courses

The declining international influx is less difficult for universities of applied sciences. “Universities of applied sciences have always had a low percentage of international students in the bachelor’s phase, around 8 percent,” says VH chairman Maurice Limmen. “The fact that the number of new registrations has fallen again this year once again underlines that the efforts of the universities of applied sciences to keep the international influx limited is working.”

A major problem, says Limmen, is the declining intake for technical training, because “the Netherlands is facing major construction, energy, defense and digitalization challenges.” He wants government, business and education to make plans together to increase the popularity of these studies. According to him, the fact that something like this can work is evident from the increasing intake for teacher training courses. “We have worked hard in recent years to increase the influx, it is great to see that this effort is paying off.”

Limmen also believes that colleges should be given the legal task to retrain and further train employees. They could also offer modules instead of full courses. “This way, people who are already working can still move into a technical direction.”

At the universities, the Dutch intake for technical bachelor’s degrees has also fallen, but this is compensated by an increased international intake. The largest decline in university bachelor’s degrees can be seen in the nature sector (minus 9 percent).

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