More students from outside Europe

More students from outside Europe

 

 

A record number of students from outside Europe want to come to the Netherlands to study this year, the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) reports. The coronavirus crisis led to a sharp drop in the numbers of such students last year.

 

Students from outside the EU have to apply to the IND for a visa if they want to study here. This year three times as many applications have been processed as during the coronavirus year of 2020.

 

At the end of July there were upwards of 15,000 applications and counting, the IND reports, as opposed to around 12,000 total for the entire year 2020. Nearly all applications (98 percent) are approved.

 

The number for this year also includes 600 British students. Since Brexit they also have to submit an application to study here. But most students come from China, India, the United States, Turkey and Indonesia, the IND says.

 

Housing

Most students want to attend the University of Amsterdam or TU Delft. It is still unclear how many of these students will actually appear at the start of the academic year. After all, they need somewhere to live and the student housing shortage is high. TU Delft was already advising international students against coming to Delft in 2018 if they did not have a room.

 

It is well known that, up until the coronavirus crisis, more and more international students were coming to the Netherlands. Up to the year 2020 the number of applications increased annually by ten percent, according to the IND. After last year’s dip, that upward trend has picked up again where it left off.

 

HOP, Bas Belleman

Translation: Taalcentrum-VU