Universities: one is shrinking, the other is growing
For years, the universities just kept growing. Now that is no longer obvious. Some universities are attracting significantly fewer students than before, according to the latest counts – despite the increase in the number of international students.
Image: University of Twente
This academic year, sixty thousand students started a university bachelor's degree. The master's programs attracted more than fifty thousand new students. All in all, there are several thousand fewer first-year students than in 2021/2022.
The universities already gave explanations for this this fall, because that was when the first counts came out. In 2020 and 2021, an exceptional number of young people started training, when they had nothing else to do due to the pandemic. That wave is now over. Many young people are now taking a gap year, perhaps in anticipation of the basic grant that will return in September.
Decline
The counts have now been carefully checked and universities (and universities of applied sciences) are announcing the final figures today. The University of Twente saw the number of first-year Bachelor's students fall by no less than 24 percent, according to this. More than previously reported.
No other university saw such a decline as the University of Twente
No other university saw such a decline. Tilburg and Leiden attracted 12 and 10 percent fewer first-year students respectively, while Maastricht (plus 5 percent) and Eindhoven (plus 4 percent) grew the fastest.
The total number of registrations, including senior students, hardly changes. Nationally, the universities have just as many students as last year. The extremes are the University of Twente (3 percent less) compared to the UvA Amsterdam and Utrecht University, which have 2 percent more enrollments.
However, the number of international students is still growing. This year, more than 85 international students are enrolled at a Dutch university. That is 7,3 percent more than last year. One in three first-year students now come from abroad, in both Bachelor's and Master's programmes.
The number of international students is still growing
Dikegraaf
“We have to control that influx in order to achieve a better balance in the education system,” said Minister Dijkgraaf in response. “We must maximize the pluses of internationalization, such as attracting international talent for the Dutch labor market and society, and minimize the minuses, such as problems with too much work pressure on teachers and student housing.”
If all goes well, he will come up with proposals this month to better manage the influx. It is part of the extensive 'exploration of the future' he is working on. This foresight study covers, for example, the shrinking number of Dutch students, but also internationalisation, funding and 'deficit sectors' such as healthcare, education and technology.
Change
In their press release the universities are already anticipating this foresight. They expect to grow again in the coming years and are asking for a change in the higher education system.
The universities want a system that “makes funding less dependent on student numbers and market shares”, as chairman Pieter Duisenberg of umbrella association UNL puts it.
In other words, if the number of students drops, the universities don't want to feel it in their wallets right away. Conversely, they want to get enough money per student when they start growing again. Otherwise, the workload among employees will increase further and the quality of education will come under pressure, they predict.
Colleges
Incidentally, the demographic contraction is felt more strongly in higher vocational education. The universities of applied sciences attract fewer first-year students than before the corona years and this trend is expected to continue. That is also part of Dijkgraaf's exploration of the future.
Five universities of applied sciences already received money this year to compensate for the shrinkage of their student numbers. More money will come from next year.
A committee of the universities of applied sciences themselves recommended making higher vocational education more attractive for pre-university education students. The courses should, as it were, be at 'eye level'. This would also require more research funding.
It is possible that Minister Dijkgraaf also thinks in that direction, although he is holding his cards to his chest. If that is the case, Dutch higher education will be on the eve of a fundamental system change.
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