Radboud University’s new English-language Bachelor’s programmes are attracting a lot of international students to the university for the next academic year. Nijmegen is proving especially popular in Bulgaria and Lithuania.

Last week’s pre-registration figures painted a clear picture: the six new English-language Bachelor’s programmes are a hit with international students. As expected, Germany accounts for the largest group of pre-registrations by far. A total of 705 Germans have enrolled on one of the new English-language programmes.

Many of them are interested in the psychology programme, according to Petra van Mierlo of the Student Affairs Office. Only a limited number of students are admitted to these programmes in Germany and Maastricht, with a lottery deciding whether they are given a place. “This largely explains the influx of students in Nijmegen. A large group will probably drop out as soon as the lottery results are published in Germany and Maastricht,” according to Van Mierlo.

The university received 25 registrations from Bulgaria and 17 from Lithuania

After the German and Dutch students (164 registrations), the university received the most registrations from Bulgaria (25) and Lithuania (17). This is quite a surprise. Why is that? Laura Derkse of the International Marketing and Recruitment Office of Radboud University is unable to pinpoint a clear, specific reason. “We have been visiting Bulgaria and Lithuania for several years, organising information sessions about our Master’s programmes there. At the time, people regularly asked us whether Radboud offered English-language Bachelor’s programmes. This impression is now confirmed by the pre-registration figures. Our information sessions target countries where students generally speak good English and the level of education is satisfactory. And this also applies to Bulgaria and Lithuania.”

The remaining registrations for the new English-language Bachelor’s programmes came from Great Britain (13), Turkey (13), Greece (12), Romania (12), Italy (9) and China (8). / Tim van Ham