Plan to screen students working with “sensitive tech” scrapped

The Dutch government is not going to screen 8,000 foreign students and researchers every year to rule out the risk of espionage, education minister Rianne Letschert has told MPs in a briefing.

The previous cabinet had said screening was necessary to stop Dutch information falling into the wrong hands, particularly China, Russia and Iran. It wanted all master’s degree students and researchers who are working with “sensitive” technologies to be vetted.

However, experts have now told the government that current screening plans would not meet “the criteria of effectiveness, feasibility and proportionality”. In practice, Letschert said, it would not be possible to vet 8,000 people on the basis of the draft legislation.

Not only would “the system” be unable to cope, but academics and students would have to wait for long periods before they could start their research or master’s degrees and this could lead them to opt to go to other countries.

In addition, she said, the costs would be higher than expected. The decision to screen all students using sensitive technologies had been taken to avoid legal problems because would be discriminatory only to check people from outside the EU.

Universities and research institutes currently carry out their own risk assessments and research by broadcaster NOS last year showed that hundreds of placements do not go ahead every year because they are considered to be too risky.

Letschert said that she, together with justice and economic affairs ministry officials, will now try to develop a more workable plan. In the meantime she has allocated an extra €80 million to help universities take precautions against espionage over the next five years.

“Doing nothing is not an option,” the minister said.

In 2022, the security services and counter terrorism unit warned that technology is being developed at Dutch universities and colleges which was sensitive to espionage and theft. This includes military technology, such as arms, as well as microchips and software systems.

In the past Iranian researchers have been excluded from projects that could involve contact with ballistic missile technology, but this was deemed discrimination by the courts.