Government pushes for tighter controls on English-taught programmes

Bruins wants to limit the influx of international students, because they would be the cause of student housing shortages, overcrowded lecture halls and a high workload for teaching staff.

The simplest solution: fewer English-taught programmes. If programmes are mostly taught in Dutch, aside from a few guest lectures, for example, it will likely deter international students from coming here. This would also improve the Dutch language skills of students.

Nearly all Bachelor’s programmes taught in another language will undergo an assessment. If they do not meet the criteria, they must switch to teaching in Dutch. In this way Bruins is carrying forward a proposal from the previous government.

Education budget cuts inevitable

In a letter to the House of Representatives, Bruins has explained his plan to adopt tougher policies than his predecessor. He will need to, if he is to achieve his goal of cutting 293 million euros from higher education budgets by reducing the number of international students.

Moreover, he feels that higher education institutions should also actively contribute to this process. Education funding will be reduced regardless. He warns that if the measures and ‘self-regulation’ prove insufficient, there will be a decrease in funding per student.

Exceptions

Exceptions remain possible. An example is language programmes, which will not be subject to the assessment. A programme may also be taught in English if that is beneficial for regions where people are leaving and with falling student numbers at research universities and universities of applied sciences, or in case of severe workforce shortages.

But Bruins wants to make it more difficult to rely on the ‘international nature’ of programmes as a justification, and he is less likely to accept the argument that ‘a programme must be taught in English because it is the only one of its kind’, which is often given as a fourth reason. He worries that otherwise, the exception will rapidly become the rule.

Master’s

Bruins writes that while the assessment is restricted to Bachelor’s programmes, this “by no means implies an exemption or free pass for Master’s programmes”. “I will be discussing this with the higher education institutions and continue to monitor the relevant Master’s degree programmes.”

He also believes the administrative language at higher education institutions should be Dutch. Some institutions had adopted English to engage their international staff and students or to help them recruit international board members. He wants to end this, allowing only bilingual exceptions.

It is “undesirable”, according to Bruins, that European students receive student financing here and then leave after finishing their education without having contributed to society and the economy in this country.

Undesirable or not, there is nothing he can do to address the situation right now given the fact of freedom of movement in the EU. The government aims to find allies in the EU to change these regulations, but it concedes that this is a “long-term process” with a “very uncertain” outcome.

Response from research universities

“This letter is a blunt instrument being wielded against internationalisation”, says UNL (Universities of the Netherlands) spokesperson Ruben Puylaert. “The minister plans to cut 293 million euros from higher education budgets, which is equivalent to about half of all international undergraduate students in higher education.”

He wonders how precise the assessment for the language of instruction of Bachelor’s degree programmes can be if the outcome (reduced student numbers) is already decided. This changes the focus of the bill submitted by the previous government. “We’re very concerned”, Puylaert says. “In our view, this demands a fresh examination by the Council of State.”

For many years, universities have been pushing for more ways to manage the influx of international students anyway. One proposal was to have the option of setting a fixed enrolment figure for English-language tracks. This would preserve access for domestic students through the Dutch-language tracks and prevent them from being pushed out by competitors from the rest of the world. This option is now part of the law and can be applied from 2026.

Randstad

Higher education in the Randstad conurbation in particular will be affected by the stricter rules against English-language education, officials warn.

This is especially true for the test for instruction in another language. Almost all study programmes in other languages will have to give justification of why they are not teaching in Dutch. If they don’t manage, they have to switch to Dutch. Higher education institutions are very worried about this test and the Council of State voices criticism as well.

It comes with a cutback. The higher the number of programmes switching to Dutch, the fewer internationals will come to the Netherlands. Over time, Bruins wants to save 293 million euros per year this way.

An official memo that the minister sent to the House of Representatives on Tuesday shows that the Ministry of Education always had the Randstad in mind when designing the language test. Higher education institutions in the Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht regions will be more affected, the officials explained to the minister in a memo in August. “That’s a conscious choice, which aligns with the politically desired focus”, they write.

Explanation

Bruins has yet to explain why the education budget must be cut by the precise figure of 293 million euros, rather than 100 million euros more or less. He is tasked with implementing cuts and is fulfilling this duty.

However, the matter is far from resolved: the House of Representatives has raised numerous questions with the answers filling over 100 pages.

HOP, Bas Belleman and Olmo Linthorst | Translation: Taalcentrum-VU