Iranians do not seem to delay their return

‘Iranians do not seem to delay their return’

Hundreds of Iranians are studying or working at Dutch universities of applied sciences and universities. They seem to have no intention of postponing their possible return because of the protests in their homeland, reports Education Minister Dijkgraaf after questions by the GroenLinks political party. 

As of October 2021, there were 424 Iranian students enrolled in colleges and 475 at universities. Students with dual citizenship are not included in those figures. How many Iranian staff there are is unknown because privacy laws make it impossible to filter staff data by nationality. Some of them come to the Netherlands through the Erasmus+ exchange programme.

GroenLinks wanted to know where Iranians can go for support. Dijkgraaf indicated that there is regular support for them, such as student advisors, psychologists and buddy programmes. In addition, universities and colleges organise welfare and information meetings on the situation in Iran.

Staff and students at seven Dutch universities also organised a rally last week to support the uprising in Iran. They were responding to a worldwide call by the international movement Iranian Scholars for Liberty. Campus rallies were organised at Erasmus University, Maastricht University, University of Twente, Vrije Universiteit, TU Delft and Eindhoven University of Technology on Wednesday, according to the action group and university newspapers. (HOP, PvT)