The number of teaching staff at Dutch universities rose by 6% between 2012 and 2016 but the number of students rose 11% over the same period, the Dutch students union LSVB has told the NRC.

The result has been overflowing lecture theatres, over-stretched lecturers and delays in getting exam results, LSVB chairman Tariq Sewbaransingh told the paper.

‘You can have one half of the student body in the lecture theatre with the lecturer and the other half watching via a video link,’ he said. ‘We all know the problem. The number of international students keeps going up but there is no corresponding growth in teacher numbers.’

Sewbaransingh says more money is needed to make sure that students are not disadvantaged. ‘The number of students has gone up, but the pot of money is no bigger,’ he said. ‘That needs to change.’