Increase in enrollments for universities and colleges
Enrollments for university bachelor's degree programs are eleven percent higher than at this time last year. The high number of international students is particularly striking. In higher professional education, the number of pre-registrations rose less sharply.
Higher education seems to be recovering from the effect of the introduction of the new student loan system in 2015. In the two years before, when the basic grant threatened to be abolished, there were relatively many first-years: some of them deliberately did not take a gap year to still be able to get a basic grant.
Accessibility
When the scholarship was actually abolished in 2015, fewer students went to higher education. It was feared that the accessibility of higher education was at risk. In 2016 the influx picked up again somewhat and probably also this year.
In the first week of May, the universities of applied sciences counted 150.093 pre-registrations for their bachelor's and associate degree programmes. That is 4,7 percent more than in the same week in 2016. Language and culture courses in particular are growing in popularity, by more than eight percent.
So far, eight percent more Dutch students have registered at the universities than last year (57.900) and eighteen percent more international students (23.900).
Indication
Universities Association VSNU and the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences emphasize that the figures only give an indication of how many young people are actually going to study. Not all applicants actually appear at the start. Some fail their exams, others, on reflection, prefer to work or travel for a year.
For the past four years, young people have had to register before 1 May to participate in all kinds of matching and study choice activities. If they are late, they may be refused. The idea is that young people think carefully about whether the study program of their choice really suits them. This should prevent study dropout.
Anyone who wants to do a fixus training such as medicine or physiotherapy had to register in January.
