MPs vote against university degree course language check
MPs have voted against cabinet plans to force universities and colleges to justify why particular courses are taught in English, agreeing the choice of language should be up to institutions themselves.
The language check was part of a package of measures the cabinet wanted to introduce to reduce foreign student numbers.
Universities and colleges had said the test would create a lot of red tape and that they could be forced to scrap courses they wanted to continue. Instead, they suggested slashing the number of psychology degree courses given in English and bringing in their own limits on student numbers for foreign language degrees.
In total, the universities said, their plans would cut foreign student numbers by some 2,000.
Two coalition parties – the VVD and NSC – sided with the opposition to vote for a motion to scrap the language check. Education minister Eppo Bruins said in a reaction that the universities’ own plan made the need for the check “less necessary”.
Figures from the Dutch international education body Nuffic suggest that the number of foreign students at Dutch universities and colleges will go down significantly in the coming few years.
Applications from international students to start a university bachelor degree in the current academic year fell by 5.2%, while the number of foreign students enrolling in a degree course at an hbo college fell even further, by 6.7%, the Nuffic figures show.
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