Growth in hbo intake does not reassure universities of applied sciences
The intake of first-year students in higher professional education is on the rise again this academic year 2016-2017: universities of applied sciences together record an increase of five percent. The Association of Universities of Applied Sciences thinks it is still too early for a jubilant vote. 'Unfortunately, growth is still lagging behind last year's sharp contraction', says chairman Thom de Graaf.
De Graaf refers to the steep intake dip of almost nine percent in academic year 2015-2016, the first year after the cabinet abolished the basic grant. Analyzes showed that the effect was mainly related to students with lower educated parents. This led to unrest in The Hague corridors about the accessibility of higher education.
The current academic year streamed a little 99 thousand students in higher vocational education. That is almost five thousand more than a year earlier, but four thousand less than the year before the basic grant was abolished. The partial recovery is occurring in all HBO sectors, except for social studies. The associate degree programs also appear to be successful with a growth of 23 percent. They contribute eight percent to the total increase in the intake of HBO students.
Pabo's
There is also an improvement in the intake among teacher training colleges. After new admission requirements, the number of freshmen fell by 32 percent last year. This year shows an increase of eight percent, bringing the number of freshmen to 4200. "However, the intake is still only 50 percent of the intake in 2006 for this program," the VH recalls. The association also regrets that fewer VWO students are attending higher professional education.
Universities see correctly an increase of first-year bachelor's students with a VWO diploma of more than five percent. Much greater is the growth of more than 27 percent in international students. In total, the number of first-year bachelor's students in university education has grown by almost eight percent. Over the past five years, the technology and nature sectors have been doing the best.
Accessibility
Minister of Education Bussemaker seizes growth rates, six weeks before the elections, to underline the accessibility of higher education. There was a lot of discussion about this last year, as a result of the strong intake dip in higher professional education.
According to Bussemaker, this decrease is related to an intake peak in the years before, due to what she calls a 'bow wave effect': after the cabinet announced in 2012 that it was going to scrap the basic grant, students who had wanted to take a gap year were soon going studying to fall under the 'old' student finance. Anyone who started a study program before September 2015 is entitled to student finance.
In the AD Bussemaker comes out firmly. 'Hopefully this discussion will stop now that accessibility seems to be guaranteed,' she says. The universities of applied sciences are not convinced of this just yet. They emphasize that the statistics show a 'partial recovery'. Moreover, the new figures say nothing about the effects on students from underprivileged circles.
