'A worrying trend': Dutch universities rebel
against plan to limit English courses
The
Netherlands received 115,000 international students in 2022 alone.
By Laura
Llach •
Updated: 28/06/2023 - 12:09
The Dutch government's aim is to reduce the amount of
English content of standard bachelor’s degrees to only one third of course
credits.
When
Juanita Marín turned 18, she decided she wanted to study economics outside her
native Colombia and had her eyes set on Europe.
She had
spent a summer in Germany and wanted to go back, but when she had a look at
their university degrees in English she realised they did not score highly in
the rankings.
However,
the Dutch ones did.
She found
Tilburg University in the Netherlands which offered good programmes entirely in
English and a high ranking in economics.
This
combination helped her make up her mind. The country welcomed her alongside
thousands of other international students -- 115,000 in 2022 alone -- which
accounted for 35% of the total student body.
That number
has been on the rise over the last decade, but now the Dutch government is
trying to curb it.
Netherlands
Education Minister, Robbert Dijkgraaf has plans to limit the percentage of
classes taught by universities in foreign languages.
The aim is
to reduce the amount of English content of standard bachelor’s degrees to only
one-third of course credits.
This limit
comes after universities were asked last December to stop actively recruiting
foreign students. The minister justified the decision by stating that
internationalisation leads to an overload of teaching staff and a lack of
accommodation for students.
He also
claimed that increasing the number of courses taught in Dutch would encourage
foreign students to learn the language and stay.
For Marín
this is not the case: "If I had to study my degree in Dutch, I wouldn't
have chosen the Netherlands. I studied French at school, so my options would be
Belgium or France," she tells Euronews.
"The
academic burden in itself is very high and, as foreigners, we are at a
disadvantage, so they should facilitate opportunities to learn the language and
not force it on us," she adds.
‘Nervousness' among universities
The
education ministry told Euronews they won't have a clear proposal on the way
forward until mid-July, which leaves universities in limbo.
When asked,
the ministry's spokesperson said international students are beneficial for the
country, but they fear the negative consequences.
“The
current growth will lead to overcrowded lecture halls, excessive workloads for
lecturers, a lack of student accommodation, and reduced accessibility to study
programs”.
The idea
behind the proposal is to prevent the “quality of education in colleges and
universities from coming under so much pressure that the leading international
position of The Netherlands is weakened”.
“It’s the
minister’s aim to strengthen that position, and to bring the system back into
balance. Language is one of the instruments to achieve that goal”, the ministry
told Euronews.
Little is
known about the plan, but universities have been following what has been put
forward by minister Dijkgraaf.
“There can
be room in the curriculum for another language, but my proposal is that it
should not be more than a third. That means that most of your education is in
Dutch, but if you want to give a few specialist subjects in English, that is
allowed”, he said.
Exceptions
are possible but with special permission, one of these examples is if they want
to attract talent.
The
minister’s concept seems to be at odds for a country that has been offering
more and more classes in English up to now.
According
to Nuffic, the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education, the
Netherlands has 28% of its Bachelor's and 77% of its Master's degrees in
English.
Given these
figures, it is not surprising that the measure has put universities on a war
footing, especially Eindhoven University of Technology, which teaches all its
bachelor's and master's degrees in English.
“There’s a
lot of nervousness about what these measures entail in detail. For us it’s a
big problem because for specific courses, on artificial intelligence or
electrical engineering, we don’t find enough professors who can teach in
Dutch”, Robert-Jan Smits, president of the executive board, told Euronews.
“The
Netherlands had always had a reputation of being open, tolerant and liberal.
Our whole success in history is based on this openness of the country”, he
adds.
The cost of international students
Eindhoven
University has not been the only one to raise its voice, the proposal has been
widely criticised.
“This
policy is going to be very detrimental to the Dutch economy. It will negatively
impact innovation and growth. Since the Dutch have always stressed the
importance of maintaining a 'knowledge economy', I see that threatened as
talent leaves”, says David Schindler, an associate professor of economics at
Tilburg University.
“There’s no
doubt that international students pay more than what they cost. They comprise a
significant share of all students and they keep the lights on in many
universities. Without them, entire disciplines will drastically shrink and
potentially even collapse as funding goes away”, he adds.
According
to the latest study by the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis,
internationals contribute up to €17,000 for European students and €96,300 for
non-European students.
The plan is
to make international students learn Dutch so they can stay and work in the
country. However, Smits says that, despite only teaching in English, his
university manages to retain talent.
“We can
claim that 65 % of our foreign graduates stay in the region for their first
job. So that goes against the idea of the minister that when everyone is
obliged to learn Dutch, the chance of keeping them in the Netherlands will
increase. Foreign talent will just not come to work and study at Dutch
universities if there are language requirements. Why bother if you can go
somewhere else”, he says.
And he
questions whether the measure goes beyond problems of accommodation and
professional overload.
“There’s a
big debate in parliament about the inflow of migrants. All over Europe there’s
a nationalistic movement coming up. Debates are starting to happen even in the
academic system”, says Smits
“The
populist parties are starting to ask questions about why would we finance the
education of foreigners, we better use the money for our own people. It’s a
worrying trend and I really regret that it's impacting the academic system”, he
adds.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário