The RUG and Erasmus University in Rotterdam in particular have experienced dramatic growth, EP-Nuffic reports. Ten years ago, fewer than five per cent (less than 1,000) of students in Groningen came from abroad, and now, that is up to 19 per cent (5,500). The RUG comes in second place in terms of absolute numbers (following Maastricht, which has nearly 9,000 international students).
Germany in first place
Roughly 81,000 foreign students – coming from 164 different countries – are full time degree students. The rest are in the Netherlands for a shorter period, for example an Erasmus+ exchange. Despite recent allegations to the contrary, the EP-Nuffic report concludes that there does not seem to be any indication of Dutch students being excluded at the expense of foreign students.
Most international students come from Germany (22,000), followed by China (4,300) and Italy (3,300). Proportionately, there are increasingly more students coming from non-EU countries, especially countries like India, Indonesia and South Korea. University Colleges within research universities are the most diverse academic faculties: roughly 40 per cent of the student populations at University Colleges come from abroad.
Living and working
EP-Nuffic argues that many foreign students continue to live and work in the Netherlands following graduation, thereby contributing to further innovation and developing the Dutch knowledge economy. In 2012, the Centraal Planbureau (Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, CPB) calculated that internationals contribute approximately 450 million euros to the state treasury annually. Now, that contribution is estimated to be closer to 1.5 billion euros.
The Netherlands is doing better in terms of growing international influx in comparison to other countries. The national market share for student mobility worldwide has grown by 15 per cent since the 2006 to 2007 academic year.
The high quality of Dutch education, the quantity of English-taught academic programmes and the relative affordability of the programmes are often cited as reasons that students choose to come to the Netherlands.