|
||||
| Home | | | Opinion | | | Features | | | International | | | In Dutch | | | Dictionary | | | What's On | | | Jobs | | | Housing | | | Expats | | | Blogs | | | Books |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
The Netherlands benefits little from its foreign studentsFriday 23 December 2011 Most foreign students who attend Dutch universities leave as soon as they have their degrees and do not contribute to the local economy, the Volkskrant reports on Friday. The claim is made by Sander van den Eijnden, head of Nuffic, the organisation which stimulates the internationalisation of higher education in the Netherlands. Van den Eijden tells the paper better integration of foreign students would bring advantages for the Dutch economy by encouraging more to stay. 'Our strong point is our English language abilities, that is why they come here,' Van den Eijden is quoted as saying. 'But it is also our weakness because foreign students are on the edge of society because they do nothing in Dutch.' Later on Friday, the cabinet publishes new figures looking at the cost and benefits of encouraging so many foreign students to come to the Netherlands. The paper says that even though the EU pays €6,000 a year towards the bill for each foreign students, they still cost the Dutch taxpayer €108m a year. Far more foreign students come to the Netherlands than Dutch students study abroad. This is partly due to the low fees - around €1,700 for EU nationals - which make it much cheaper for students to take a degree in the Netherlands than, say, England. Some universities, such as Maastricht, advertise heavily abroad. Germany According to figures published by Nuffic in August, the number of foreign students in the Netherlands rose from 7% to 10% of the total over the past five years. There are now around 82,000 foreign students at Dutch universities and colleges. They come from 61 different countries. Germany tops the list with 46%, followed by China and Belgium. The Volkskrant says the government is considering several options to restore the balance and says junior education minister Halbe Zijlstra has already raised the issue with his EU colleagues. One idea could be to stop universities and hbo colleges actively recruiting students abroad, the paper said. Earlier this month, Zijlstra said in parliament that universities should only teach in English if it is necessary. Earlier stories © DutchNews.nl
Why would a recently masters graduate stay in the Netherlands where she will probably get 35.000 euro a year taxed at 42% while she can earn 75.000 dollars taxed at just 20% in the US? Europe has a lot of overhead due to its over sized governments and will never succeed in attracting the best talent. The best talent always ends up across the ocean in north America. By david | December 23, 2011 11:19 AM The idea that overseas students 'contribute nothing' is absurd. 1. they pay fees (between 1500 & 9000 euros). 2. they live and pay rent. 3. the majority work as well. 4. they contribute to the quality of academic discourse in the universities. If the education minister is seriously considering 'stopping recruiting students from overseas' then NL is not only missing a major opportunity but also turning its back on the international community and, once again, sending the message that it is a closed and insular society. Considering the attack on education taking place across Europe, NL would be wise to attract MORE international students, particularly those from England and other high-fee paying places - what Maastricht and others are doing. By Richard | December 23, 2011 11:28 AM not surprising that "benefit" is only measured in economic terms. By Robert | December 23, 2011 11:41 AM I am appalled by the statement made by Sander van den Eijnden on the retention of foreign students in Holland to seek for jobs while nuffic vehemently cancelled the search year period offered to the beneficiaries upon completion of their studies with effect from this year!Why would they give conflicting statements?I am an NFP beneficiary and am forced to go back to my country 2 days after my graduation!!!!!!! By adil | December 23, 2011 12:26 PM Is that slightly xenophobic to say that foreign students don't contribute to the Dutch economy? Lets not beat around the bush Dutch is not an international language like English, French or Spanish is. Its minority language and the Dutch have embraced English fully, and so its bit hypocritical to then complain that foreign students studying in your country don't want to learn it. Anyway with the state of the Euro and Europe's economy I would of thought you would of wanted as much foreign investment as you can get or is it only the big foreign multinational investment that you want? By Gary Turner | December 23, 2011 12:49 PM They come here, for the ease of speaking english. They leave because they cant find a job in english! Stop forcing your antiquated & archaeic language and maybe students will stay. By Todd Coffee | December 23, 2011 1:31 PM "Do not contribute to local society" What about daily spending? Foreign students do not live on air you know. Morevoer, for those students to do make an effort to learn rudimentary Dutch maybe the Dutch could do them and everyone else a favour and not always answer in English. By Michael | December 23, 2011 2:57 PM So more than 50% of external students leave. But what about the ones who do stay? What's the average lifetime tax contribution of those who stay? Also, how many want to stay but can't due to stupid rules like integration tests, having to pass integration tests abroad first, long times before residence permits are granted (the zoekjaar permit used to only be 3 months long and took over three months to decide on it, and so was expired when received). Imagine how many were told not to try to stay and contribute by each person who that happened to.) I know many students who stayed and learned Dutch, but weren't hired explicitly because they had an accent. By Robert | December 23, 2011 3:00 PM I was a foreign student, and every time I tried to improve my Dutch by speaking or asking questions in Dutch, folks around would answer me in English, even after I explained that I was trying to become more a part of the country by learning Dutch (my study was conducted in English). Sometimes, even though my Dutch was bad at the beginning, people would roll their eyes and sniff at me that they were "so much more educated than me, so why not just use 'your' English. I found this language-arrogance to be very discouraging; nobody enjoys being put down for trying to fit in. If the country wants people to stay, maybe this could change...? By Liefert | December 23, 2011 3:09 PM Chinese students are not entitled to enjoy low tuition fees like EU citizens, actually. They pay more than 10,000 euros per year for their master degree if they do not have scholarship. By peter | December 23, 2011 3:10 PM When calculating the cost, one should also consider that students coming from non-EU countries do not pay EUR1700 as stated above, but a much higher fee!!! By gtumer | December 23, 2011 3:11 PM All the facts in the article are not correct. Here is an alternative perspective for you. * Less than 5% of my Masters class in Electronics and Computer Engineering at TU Delft was Dutch. If there were no foreign students, the course would not run. * The fees paid by foreign students (non-EU) is atleast 10 times that paid by local students. The current fees at TU Delft for Masters student is 12,500 Euros per year!! * The difference in fee-structure implies that most foreign students cannot do much other than study - and are not involved in social activities. Every extra month that you take to graduate costs 1000 euros more. By Gaurav Singh | December 23, 2011 3:13 PM I am a foreign student who recently graduated from a Master degree. The problem is: after graduation, we have to wait unemployed for a three-month bureaucracy before receiving a work permit ('zoekjaar'); and since the non-EU students are not allowed to work at all during studies (their student-visas explicitly prevents this) the Dutch labour market becomes very infeasible and un-welcoming for foreign students. Language is not a very strong obstacle, and the Dutch social life is rather easy for expats. The solution is to know how to turn foreign students into happy and contributing expats before they are fed up with too much bureaucracy in an already challenging job market. By Efe Kerem Sozeri | December 23, 2011 3:24 PM Correction of the fees mentioned: By MT | December 23, 2011 4:28 PM I'm from the USA and earned my masters degree in Groningen. I immediately returned home after my studies but I did pay a considerable amount of fees for my education, about 7,000 EUR. Perhaps not all of what it really costs ( I don't know) and cheaper than a degree in the US, but with my own money I did rent a privately owned flat at the market rate, shopped at local stores and markets, ate and drank often at local bars and restaurants, and toured all over Holland filling the local coffers. Doesn't that add something to the Dutch economy? By Adam Fukushima | December 23, 2011 5:08 PM How it is possible that international students do not contribute to the local economy, when Non-EU students pay 15,000EUR in tuition fees and 10,000EUR minimum on living expenses per year? International students do not rely on loans or subsidies when living abroad. Logically, the spend more within the local economy than Dutch students. By Bob | December 23, 2011 5:25 PM This is unfair to say. I was a foreign student willing to stay and contribute. I stay for a long time and no one gave me a job. By Jen | December 23, 2011 6:06 PM Interestingly biased article. Yes, foreign students cost the Dutch government 102M a year, however, if we make a simple calculation, 82k students, spending at least 12k a year, brings 984M a year. How would it be to write an article that foreign students bring 1 billion euros to the Dutch economy? Not to mention the rise in quality of education through participation of more motivated students, who for a Master need to pass a GMAT By Alexandru | December 23, 2011 8:02 PM This month hired interns from Uganda and Cameroun. Next month others. Foreign students are a value-add for our financial services company in The Hague. By Edward | December 23, 2011 8:29 PM Oh Dear, foreign students are next to get blamed for this country's misery. Getting increasingly xenophobic here in NL. By Zena va Zuilen | December 23, 2011 8:51 PM By the way, not all the students coming here want to live here. The gov. should think of them as ambassadors of NL in their country of origin. We should treat them well so that they become the links for networking with companies from their country. We live in BIG VILLAGE indeed whether we want to acknowledge this or not. By Ada | December 23, 2011 9:08 PM
By Smit | December 24, 2011 11:26 AM i think the headline and the news looks more like a propoganda than anything else, what does foreign students mean? the foreign students pay minimum of 6500 Euros a year but not 1700 ,may be they are talking of the EU students, do they not know that there is a drastic different between the foreign and EU students ??? I think Netherlands is getting a heavy benifit from the Foreign and EU students whose living expenses directly go to the Dutch economy and due to them thousands of jobs are created. By bishnu | December 24, 2011 12:49 PM Can somebody explain what Dutch people want: at every instance, foreigners are made to believe they are not wanted. Now this sounds like someone feels they are missing out on something. They should study, stay a while and go ? Or does it depend on who ? By Aiken Grover | December 24, 2011 4:25 PM “even though the EU pays €6,000 a year towards the bill for each foreign students, they still cost the Dutch taxpayer €108m a year”.well,how about non EU students who pay atleast 10.000 per year per student only for the tuition fee?isn't that "contribute" as well?not including housing payment, shopping etc. I can't imagine how many students left in NL without foreign student,and how much loss you get. By foreign | December 24, 2011 8:00 PM “even though the EU pays €6,000 a year towards the bill for each foreign students, they still cost the Dutch taxpayer €108m a year”.well,how about non EU students who pay atleast 10.000 per year per student only for the tuition fee?isn't that "contribute" as well?not including housing payment, shopping etc. I can't imagine how many students left in NL without foreign student,and how much loss you get. By foreign | December 24, 2011 8:00 PM I'm shocked, i've just graduted at TU delft and I wanna stay in NL, but how can the government say that foreign students are a cost for the collectivity? please give us numbers and facts, also of how much economies of cities like delft, leiden and utrecht take great advantages of so many people who come and spend their money they receive from abroad! dutch government, for this xmas i just ask you to open your eyes and stop being so close and reactionary!!! what NL wants to become? like Luxemburg? a dead country? By Edoardo | December 25, 2011 9:04 AM Yes, because they do not get good offer from dutch companies, salaries offer are less then other english speaking coutries, Gementee do not offer them houses, IND does not extent their work & stay permission after completion of study easily. Students face lots of hinderences due to dutch burocracy. By Gupta M | December 25, 2011 2:56 PM I am curious how much international students from non-EU countries cost the Dutch government, since their tuition can be 5 times (or more) higher than the tuition for EU students? By Joni | December 26, 2011 10:14 AM Isn't this a little bit biased? How many students have to stay In order to make it cost effective? One in ten, twenty? I came here 12 years ago to study, and i stayed. During my first years after finishing my studies, i was struggling, and i didn't have the right to any subsidy or any anything. Now i pay 52% tax (never had a ruling), barely go to the doctor here due to lack of trust and thankfulky, never been unemployed. While i am grateful to this country, in terms of money, i have given to NL more than NL has given me. By Alice | December 26, 2011 10:15 AM This article is almost completely false and defamatory. Several of the foreign students I met in the NL co-created long-term research projects for the benefit of their supervisors. I for one did not add any value while I was there, and did not have any "respectable" offers to stay, but recently a Dutch researcher replicated some of my non-Dutch research for the benefit of Dutch farmers. By Kit | December 26, 2011 5:54 PM 82,000 foreign students at Dutch universities and colleges and each spends 10,000 euro a year for living here (except tuition) = 820,000,000 By bruce | December 27, 2011 9:05 AM Foreign students don't have a chance to stay. There are no jobs for them. So no wonder they leave; they have to. By K | December 27, 2011 12:27 PM To foreign students: economy is down, Dutch government is slashing everything. Of course, the economic slump becomes worse. Even Dutch people have trouble finding jobs. Miracles can't be done. Sorry to all those good students who want to stay. By K | December 27, 2011 12:40 PM K: Good students are always welcome to come to Germany if the Dutch govt can't do the job right. The German manufacturing has only slowed a little and will bounce back better than other EU countries. Besides, if the euro currency disappears, Germany will still have the quickest economic recovery of all EU countries. Miracles can always be achieved with a positive view and Germans have done that for years. By M | December 27, 2011 3:28 PM Funny article. Maybe a Dutch solution would be to convert all master's programs to two years of study. Then NL can benefit from foreign students' money for an additional year. By N | December 27, 2011 3:33 PM K: Sometime you have to see the glass as half-full instead of half-empty. Everyone has economic slumps and miracles are always possible when one tries their best. Students are always welcome in Sweden. God dag. By Helena Mattsson | December 27, 2011 3:37 PM This article is not correct we have at least 15 Nigerians who did their Masters here in Holland and they have their zoekjaar visa they want to work but no firm is raedy to give them work we are going to have a seminar BRIDGING THE GAP regarding this effect we are going to invite top Dutch official to throw more light on education in Holland for Foreigners. If you would like to attend this seminar send me an email. By susan evbuomwan | December 27, 2011 9:33 PM I'm an international student, just graduated last June. For your information, it's untrue to say that we don't want to work here in the Netherlands, why do you think we'd bother to study abroad and just go back to our 3rd world country? Dutch gov makes it extremely difficult for foreigners to work here (increasing price for zoekjaar+work permit application - long&difficult process). I applied for my zoekjaar permit in July, got it in November & it's only valid til June next year. However, it'll take 3-4 months to process a work permit IF i find a company so that means i only have until Feb to find one that can afford 26k for fresh graduates. Think about that. By Constantia Belleza Paat | December 28, 2011 11:21 AM I'm an international student, just graduated last June. For your information, it's untrue to say that we don't want to work here in the Netherlands, why do you think we'd bother to study abroad and just go back to our 3rd world country? Dutch gov makes it extremely difficult for foreigners to work here (increasing price for zoekjaar+work permit application - long&difficult process). I applied for my zoekjaar permit in July, got it in November & it's only valid til June next year. However, it'll take 3-4 months to process a work permit IF i find a company so that means i only have until Feb to find one that can afford 26k for fresh graduates. Think about that. By Constantia Belleza Paat | December 28, 2011 11:22 AM
Comments have been closed for this article. |
| Newsletter | | | RSS | | | Advertising | | | Business services | | | Mobile | | | Friends | | | Contact | | | About us | | | Tell a Friend |
|
||||||||
Is not true, for example my wife finish a master in law at Erasmus and from last year she try to find a job in NL but nobody want her. Why, beacouse they dont want to hire foreigners so it's normal that the students to leave the country.
By tonys | December 23, 2011 10:43 AM