Three in ten international students stay in the Netherlands to work after graduating, new data shows.

Debate on government proposals to reduce the numbers of international students in the Netherlands by cutting back English-taught programs is continuing as a public consultation has launched.

Much of what is being reported and communicated by Dutch media and government is a misrepresentation of what is actually happening with internationalisation of education in the Netherlands

The collapse of the Dutch government could spell trouble for recent internationalisation reform talks, as stakeholders brace for “more stringent nationalistic rules”. 

The Dutch education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf’s plans for internationalisation of higher education in the Netherlands were fiercely debated, with some even calling for complete cessation of international scholarship funding.

Dutch will gradually become the main language in educational institutions in the Netherlands - and international students will have to learn too, the education minister has suggested. 

One of the directors at a Dutch university has called the “cease and desist order” given to the country’s institutions on international student recruitment “a wake-up call”.

The Netherlands lags behind much of Europe when it comes to long-term outward mobility, with 3% of students abroad for the entirety of their course.