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Opinion | Renationalization of higher education undermines Dutch academic leadership

Marija Bartl ,
1 februari 2023 - 10:15

Minister Dijkgraaf recently urged higher education to stop recruiting foreign students, pending new measures to reduce internationalization. But renationalization would undermine Dutch academic leadership, writes professor Marija Bartl (private law). 

Minister Dijkgraaf recently urged higher education to stop active recruitment of foreign students, pending new measures to reduce internationalization. The minister cited several reasons for this, including accommodation problems, the reduced access of Dutch students to certain programs, and limited resources within higher education. In his letter, the minister also alludes to additional measures regarding the language of instruction, implicitly bringing the abolition of English-language programs into view. This would mean that not only international students, but also international teacher-researchers would no longer have a place in higher education.

By attracting ambitious and creative top international scientists, and thus remaining of academic interest, the Netherlands exerts a great deal of influence on the technological, political, and social future of the world

Should these plans go ahead, renationalization of higher education would be accompanied by enormous costs - costs that hardly outweigh the intended benefits.

 

The overriding point from the perspective of Dutch citizens is that thanks to internationalization, the Netherlands now exerts more influence on European and international relations. We score extremely well on many indicators of scientific success, such as the number of citations or the amount of external funding attracted, much better proportionately than European countries that are less international. By attracting ambitious and creative top international scientists, and thus remaining of academic interest, the Netherlands exerts a great deal of influence on the technological, political, and social future of the world, a playing field previously reserved mainly for Anglo-Saxon universities. We, as the Netherlands and as Europe, must not lose that.

 

So would renationalization solve the problems raised by the minister? Reducing the influx of international students might free up some rooms. But this does not make a substantial contribution to solving the housing crisis in a country where there is a shortage of a million housing units, and students certainly do not occupy the most square meters per person. In such a context, curbing the international student population is just a drop in the bucket.  

 

Perhaps one can ask whether it is fair for European students to take the place of Dutch students in higher education, or affect its quality by driving up costs. As for quality, the loss of internationalism poses a greater threat. Fewer European students would indeed make Dutch higher education cheaper. But this is the wrong perspective on public finances in a European context. 

The students who return to their home countries are also a good investment, because they will forever remain "friends" of the Netherlands (and Europe)

The Netherlands benefits enormously from participation in the EU, since access to a single market and a cheap euro benefits Dutch global competitiveness. Besides, many graduating Europeans will make a direct contribution to the Dutch economy (and our pensions) by continuing to work here. Not to mention all the European knowledge migrants bring to the Netherlands, often with valuable, expensive schooling (already paid for by other countries).

 

The students who return to their home countries are also a good investment, because they will forever remain "friends" of the Netherlands (and Europe), leading to long-term, sustainable political and economic contacts. So even those who don't care much about Europe-wide shared values might recognize, based on political-economic arguments, that reinternationalization of higher education would ultimately make us less relevant, and thus poorer.  

 

The minister plans to come up with a final plan next month. It is to be hoped that in doing so he will be guided by the long-term interests of the Netherlands and not by short-term considerations, such as minuscule effects on the housing market or spending a little less now, thus undermining Dutch academic leadership. 


Marija Bartl is professor of transnational private law at the University of Amsterdam