Legislature once again gives higher education the right to ban foreign students
The House of Representatives approved a special numerus fixus for foreign students on Thursday. A majority no longer wants to wait for the bill from outgoing Minister Dijkgraaf, which contains the same measure.
Universities in particular have been looking forward to this for years: a brake on the influx of foreign students, whom they can attract at their discretion. This so-called “capacity fixus” only applies to English-language courses of study so Dutch students remain unaffected. Thanks to a change in the law by the VVD, they are now getting their way.
Uncontroversial
The content of the proposal was uncontroversial. The House also voted in favor of it a few years ago, but the newly-appointed Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf then withdrew the bill from the Senate. He wanted to improve it first, but that took longer than hoped. He wants to send it to the House of Representatives in a few months. The question is whether his new bill will make it there now that an important part of it has already been approved.
What exactly happened? In January, VVD spokesperson Claire Martens-America proposed a change in the law. Given the large influx of international students, she thought the process was taking too long and wanted the capacity fixus from Dijkgraaf’s bill to be included in the Higher Education and Scientific Research Act (WHW) as quickly as possible.
But her proposal encountered a constitutional objection. A change in the law is only possible if it concerns the law that the House is currently discussing. That was the OCW budget, not the WHW and not Dijkgraaf’s bill.
Chaos
Dijkgraaf advised against the proposal. Because of those rules, he explained, but also because his bill contains a broader package of measures. He also believes that higher education must invest in the Dutch language skills of students and employees. Universities see this as an attack on their autonomy.
D66 faction leader Jan Paternotte warned again this afternoon that the VVD amendment would create a “constitutional mess.” “We are bypassing the advice of the Council of State. We have not been able to debate the proposal properly. And we are putting pressure on the Senate. If she is against this amendment, she must immediately vote down the entire OCW budget of €57 billion.”
The question is indeed whether the Senate will accept this unusual course of action in the House of Representatives. If the law passes, universities can at least breathe a sigh of relief. In an initial response, the university association UNL says that the adopted amendment is “an important element in our plans to balance internationalization.”
Two weeks ago, the UNL proposed limiting the international influx itself, but then a numerus fixus for English-language training programs would have had to be included in the law. The chance that they will now get their way has increased considerably.
