Thirteen Dutch higher education institutions are located within 25 kilometres of the border. Without giving any guarantees, the government plans to introduce more flexible language policy for these institutions.

Education minister Eppo Bruins has shared a list of these 13 institutions in response to questions from the Senate about his budget. Taking into account the partnership between the universities of Maastricht and Hasselt, the list actually includes 14 universities.

Also on the list are the universities of Nijmegen and Enschede, as well as a number of universities of applied sciences located in mostly the same cities, such as ArtEZ, Fontys, HAN, Saxion and Zuyd. Some of the institutions only have a small branch near the border.

Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, for instance, is mainly based in Zwolle, but has been included because it offers a Master’s in educational needs in Enschede. The same applies to NHL Stenden, which has a large campus in Leeuwarden, as well as a branch in Emmen, near the German border. Other institutions on the list are HAS in Venlo, Van Hall Larenstein in Velp and Iselinge in Doetinchem.

Lack of clarity

It remains to be seen what this policy shift will mean for the institutions. The current government wants to reduce English-language instruction in higher education and limit the number of foreign students. For border regions (and regions facing depopulation), this could mean that programmes will not be able to attract enough students to survive. To prevent this, institutions in these areas can now expect to receive special treatment, but much remains unclear.

Moving forward, all higher education programmes will be expected to justify English-taught classes in their curricula. Those that do not meet the criteria will either have to switch to teaching in Dutch or be discontinued.

Some of these criteria have to do with economic value: in engineering, for instance, a cap on international students seems highly unlikely, as this sector is facing a significant labour shortage and fluency in Dutch is not a prerequisite for employment.

While programmes in border regions can now expect less stringent requirements, nobody knows yet how this will work in practice. Bruins is playing his cards close to the vest: “Institutions that are located in a border region are not automatically authorised to provide foreign-language programmes or foreign-language pathways”, he emphasises.

The argument that Radboud University depends on international students, for example, does not apply. The percentage of international students, around 10 percent, is relatively small in Nijmegen.

Intertwined

To secure this authorisation, educational institutions must demonstrate that they are “intertwined” with the border region and that the programmes in question make a “significant contribution” to the local knowledge infrastructure or labour market.

Institutions in regions facing depopulation have a similar problem: if you’re not allowed to recruit abroad, where are you going to find new students? And how do you preserve small programmes? For the period from 2022 to 2027, the previous government earmarked 90 million euros to support higher education in these regions.

But depopulation is an issue in only a handful of regions, which aren’t home to many research universities. In fact, only Maastricht University is located in a depopulating area. Although the University of Groningen is surrounded by Hogeland, the Eemsdelta and Oost-Groningen – all depopulating areas – the university city itself is considered a separate region.

Bruins has promised that institutions in the ‘vicinity’ of depopulating areas can also expect leniency, without giving further details. “The definition of the term ‘vicinity’ is currently being fleshed out”, the minister writes.

Translation: Taalcentrum-VU