Image: Prachatai [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0], via Flickr
Institutions may regret placating anti-immigration politicians, say Stefan Kuhlmann and Barend van der Meulen
In their campaigns leading up to November’s general election, right-wing populist parties in the Netherlands repeatedly challenged the internationalisation of Dutch higher education.
The PVV party, led by the anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders (pictured above), pledged to “severely limit” student migration and ensure all bachelor’s programmes are taught in Dutch, declaring that “universities must first and foremost be there for our children”.
Many in academia and science policy were alarmed when the PVV secured the largest vote share and 37 of 150 parliamentary seats. Its policies threaten the country’s reputation for excellent and internationally open research and higher education. Currently, for example, 30 per cent of bachelor’s degrees are taught in English.
So far, Wilders has been unable to turn a parliamentary majority for right-wing parties into a coalition government. His hopes of becoming prime minister were damaged last month when the New Social Contract, one of several newly established right-of-centre parties, withdrew from negotiations.
Universities, however, were already facing a more nationalist policy agenda. Before the election, parliament had instructed the government to legislate on all-Dutch undergraduate teaching. In response, science minister Robbert Dijkgraaf, who remains in post pending a new government, called on universities to formulate their own strategy to reduce foreign student numbers and promote the use of Dutch.
A survey just before the election found that 25 per cent of international students and staff felt very unwelcome. After the election, Vinod Subramaniam, the Indian-born president of the University of Twente, noted that academics from non-Western backgrounds can feel particularly isolated: “Despite the support I feel from fellow university board members…it sometimes feels lonely. And at times like this, even more so.”
Successful internationalisation
For decades, particularly since the turn of the millennium, Dutch universities have attracted a growing number of students and scholars from other European countries and worldwide.
English-language working environments and publishing in international journals have made Dutch research universities globally competitive, with the country’s higher education institutions regularly scoring high in global rankings.
In 2022, 46.4 per cent of academic staff at Dutch universities came from abroad. In science, engineering and economics, more than half of researchers are immigrants.
Dutch universities’ success has been achieved on a relatively small budget. Compared with similarly successful countries such as Switzerland, Austria and Sweden, public funding for universities and research has remained moderate. Maintaining funding is essential for further success, but the unique appeal of Dutch science lies in its combination of creativity, innovation, international openness and institutional stability.
Reports suggest expats are largely satisfied with their working and living conditions. International researchers cherish Dutch universities for providing professional development opportunities, including in other European countries. Any obligation to use Dutch threatens the country’s place as a springboard to career opportunities elsewhere, and thus its attractiveness to international talent.
Universities’ response to pre-election moves to prioritise the Dutch language and domestic students was lukewarm. The prospect of a more radical government has forced their hand. Last month, the UNL, an umbrella organisation for Dutch research universities, unveiled proposals to cut English-taught bachelor’s programmes, expand Dutch-language programmes and improve Dutch skills among teachers and students.
Universities will no longer offer international students a preparatory foundation year. And there will be more differentiation between institutions and disciplines: scholarships for foreign students, for example, will only be available for subjects in areas with skills shortages.
Although Dutch universities are focusing on a possible populist, anti-immigration administration, on internationalisation they seem to have few friends anywhere on the political spectrum. Many are looking across the North Sea for comparisons to the UK, where Brexit and anti-immigration policies and rhetoric have made the country less attractive to international students and EU-based academics.
For now, universities can only hope that their most recent proposals will head off more drastic interventions. But, as Brexit has shown, populist politicians are generally more interested in stoking anger and polarisation than in seeing their policies enacted in a competent and pragmatic way. Dutch higher education may come to wish it had chosen to fight the political tide rather than to flow with it.
Stefan Kuhlmann is emeritus professor of science, technology and society, and Barend van der Meulen is full professor and chair in the Department of Technology, Policy, Society at the University of Twente.
This article also appeared in Research Europe