Ingrid Van Engelshoven, the Dutch Minister for Education, Culture, and Science insists on greater and more ‘balanced’ internationalization of higher education in the Netherlands.
The minister wants international students to be a part of the Dutch research programs and to be a part of the country’s economy. However, as much as this internationalization is appreciated, it should also be taken care to see that the situation doesn’t get out of hand.
The problem with a massive internationalization is that it may lead to a decline in the funding of various institutes.
With this, a decline is also expected to be seen in the accessibility and the quality of higher education. These were the results of an Interministerial Policy Review (IBO).
Steps to tackle the ‘unbalanced’ internationalization
With this, the Dutch government plans a number of steps to prevent excess internationalization. The first step would be to make a more stringent set of rules for international students, especially in terms of the medium of instruction.
Also, student enrollment for courses that are taught in other languages than Dutch will be lowered. Students coming from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) will be charged a higher fee than the other students.
IBO insists that these changes as part of Languages and Accessibility Bill, which was a source of a lot of controversy in the past couple of months. In a statement by Engelshoven, she states that she is all for internationalization, but the courses being taught in English have put very high pressure on the national education system. This has also led to Dutch students feeling alienated and ultimately led to weakening the proficiency of the Dutch students.
According to the Language and Accessibility Bill, international students will also be required to study Dutch. This would eventually strengthen the position of the language as the language of scientific research. If international students can read, write and understand Dutch, it is more likely that they would enjoy more job opportunities in the country and eventually contribute to the country’s economy.
