NOSE Helen Kret
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 20:31
The number of foreign students receiving student finance in the Netherlands has risen sharply in recent years. This year so far this concerns 14,500 students, compared to last year there were more than 12,000. In 2021 there were more than 9,000. This is evident from inquiries from the NPO Radio 1 program News and Co at the Education Executive Agency (DUO), which pays out the student finance.
In total, more than 120,000 foreign students study in the Netherlands.
Earlier this year, Minister Dijkgraaf of Education reported that the number of foreign students with student loans in the Netherlands would increase due to relaxed rules. Students from the European Economic Area (the EU plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland) who work in the Netherlands at least 24 hours per month are entitled to Dutch student financing.
Work 56 hours per month
Previously, DUO used the limit of 56 hours, but foreign students successfully challenged this limit in court. They felt that working 56 hours a month in addition to their studies was unrealistic and the judge agreed.
These benefits to international students will cost the Dutch government tens of millions of euros extra per year, Minister Dijkgraaf warned in April.
Dutch higher education is becoming increasingly popular among foreign students. For example, last academic year there were 8,000 more international students than the year before.
That leads to problems, says NSC MP Omtzigt in a response News and Co. “It is not the job of the Dutch government to finance foreign students. Until a few years ago, we did not even think that Dutch students should receive a grant, so why should that now be the case for foreign students?”
Unfair situations
Displacement of Dutch students is a real threat, says Omtzigt. “Forty percent of the influx into higher education now consists of foreign students. We will need many engineers in ten years’ time, for example for the energy transition. If the majority of foreign students return to their home country, then we will be good students.” training for abroad.”
CBS reported in September that more and more international students continue to work in the Netherlands after their studies. Of the international students who graduated in the 2018-2019 academic year, 32 percent had a job in the Netherlands a year later. In previous years that percentage was around 20 percent.
Direct student financing for working foreign students can also lead to unfair situations, says Omtzigt. “German and Flemish students also receive child benefit in their own country, which they can add to their student finance in the Netherlands. They therefore earn more than Dutch students.”
Omtzigt says he sees merit in a system such as in Flanders, where international students only receive a grant if they work in the area for at least eleven months. He says he wants to arrange this in an EU context.
2023-12-08 19:31:16
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