There has come a stop to the ever-growing student influx at Radboud University. For the first time in over a decennium, less students are enrolled than last year. The trend shift is especially apparent at the Nijmegen School of Management.

For the first time since 2012, the number of students at Radboud University is shrinking. On 1 October, 24.633 students were enrolled, a fraction less than the 24.678 last year. In 2012, less than 18.000 students roamed around the campus.

This is according to the so-called October figures announced by the university this week. In this overview, released every autumn, the university lists how many people are enrolled in a study programme and have actually paid tuition fees.

With this trend shift, the student numbers finally seem to have started aligning with the aim of the Executive Board. Rector Han van Krieken already pointed out on multiple occasions that Radboud University has no ‘growth ambition’ and would rather focus on small-scale education. In practice, that ambition is at odds with the increasing pressure in education that lecturers have experienced for years, partly due to the increasing student influx.

Decrease at School of Management

Although the number of students has remained pretty much the same overall, there are huge differences between the faculties. The Faculty of Social Sciences (FSW) has continued its growth spurt (+3.8 percent) and remains the largest faculty at 5668 students.

However, the Nijmegen School of Management, the second-largest faculty, surprisingly sees no growth for the first time in ten years, but rather a shrinkage. Less than 5000 students currently study at the Elinor Ostrom building, a situation that has not occurred since 2019. The decrease – 3.7 percent – is almost the same as the increase at FSW.

Another remarkable decliner is the Faculty of Arts, where 5.3 percent less students are enrolled this year than in 2021. Over the last few years, the enrolments at this faculty had actually been quite stable. In 2020/2021, the faculty implemented a new minors system, which students were critical of last year.

A reoccurring concern is the Radboud Teachers Academy, where enrolments have been decreasing for years. Currently, only 64 students are enrolled here, which is less than half compared to four years ago. The Executive Board actually wished for the teachers programme to be ‘a bit bigger’, Van Krieken said earlier.

There are also differences between the bachelor’s and master’s programmes. While the number of bachelor students increased (2.3 percent, to 14.295), the number of master’s and Pre-Master’s enrolments actually decreased (by 3.5 percent, to 10.338).

More Greeks

The ratio of Dutch to international students remains basically the same, the percentage of internationals is now 11.6. There are, however, large underlying differences between nationalities. The number of Germans decreased (a trend that has existed for years) by 10 percent. Nevertheless, our eastern neighbours are still the largest group by far, with 1014 students. A noticeable increase is the number of students from Greece (increased by over a third) and students from Eastern-European countries, especially Romanians (also increased by over a third) and – to a lesser extent – Polish and Bulgarians.

The university will further analyse the figures in November, spokesperson Anja van Kessel said, when the figures of all universities are known. An investigation into internationals will also be launched, to find out why they did not choose Radboud University in the end and what their motivation was for that decision. The reason for this being that internationals often enrol at several universities at once, making it difficult to estimate how many will actually come.

Translated by Jan Scholten