Dutch Colleges Attracted Over 85,000 International Students in Fall 2022
Netherlands Europe International Studies Higher Education News Statistics by Erudera News Mar 31, 2023
The Netherlands has witnessed an increase in international student enrollment over the past 15 years, and a total of 85,500 international students were studying at Dutch universities and colleges in autumn 2022 alone, official figures have revealed.
That was a 7.3 percent rise from the prior year, but a slow increase of international students compared to other academic years, Erudera.com reports.
Based on the data provided by the Dutch education agency DUO, the number of international students in the Netherlands has increased even more compared to the last 20 years. In the 2005/06 academic year, there were only 12,500 freshmen at the country’s higher education institutions.
According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the Dutch national statistical office, a total of 115,000 international students were pursuing degrees at universities and colleges in the Netherlands during the 2021/22 academic year, three times as many as in 2005.
Although the Netherlands is a popular study destination for other nationalities, research by the Dutch Ministry of Education published last year found that international students are almost three times as likely as Dutch students to stop out of university.
Ministry’s study found that 17 percent of international students quit school in their first year compared to six percent of domestic students. The same pointed out that international students are more likely to drop out not only in the first year of studies but in the following years too.
“About a quarter of the international students who start a university bachelor’s degree program no longer study in the Netherlands after four years, without having obtained a diploma. For Dutch students, that share is nine percent,” the report released by the ministry said.
However, international students who continue their studies are more likely to earn their diplomas without delays than domestic students.
Local media reports said universities and cities are struggling to cope with the large number of students, though fewer in 2022, due to the lack of space to accommodate all of them. Last year, the country’s universities advised international students not to travel to the Netherlands unless they have found a place to live in advance.
Earlier this year, Dutch Education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said that he would present a new plan to better manage the number of international students in the Netherlands, adding that one of the measures is to limit the number of available places in programs that are not offered in Dutch.
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