Why more international postgraduate students are choosing to study in the Netherlands

By: Thijs van Vugt, Tilburg University, the Netherlands

When thinking of Holland some very obvious images spring to mind. Tulips and wooden shoes, dykes and land reclamation, Heineken and Philips, and of course such illustrious painters as Rembrandt and van Gogh, not to mention the likes of Cruijff, Gullit and Van Basten. However, when it comes to postgraduate education, there is much more to Holland than that.

With the implementation of Bologna in Holland the supply of English-taught postgraduate degrees has almost skyrocketed. Most research intensive universities offer between 50 and 100% of their masters degree programmes in English and altogether, Dutch higher education institutions offer more than 1,000 degree and non-degree courses in English, making it only second to the UK in Europe.

The official name of the country is the Netherlands, meaning the Low Countries (appropriate as a large part is below sea level) though in most foreign languages it is referred to as Holland, which stems back to about 1100 AD. Although Holland is only a small country, on a global scale it is among the world’s most prosperous countries. Because of its size it has always been a country with an open attitude towards the outside world, making it a very internationally oriented country. It is no surprise, therefore, that Holland is the home base for multinationals like Heineken, KLM, Philips, ING Bank, Shell and Unilever and European headquarters for the likes of Sony, Sara Lee and Microsoft.

Overall, the quality of Dutch higher education is amongst the best in the world. According to the 2004 Times Higher Education Supplement's World University Rankings, no other country in the world can claim more than half of all its universities being ranked in the world's top 200. Moreover, according to the European Commission, the European top 20 consists of 7 Dutch universities, underlining to many students that choosing a Dutch university for their postgraduate qualification is above all else a guarantee of quality. A unique element of the quality on offer in Holland is the problem-based learning approach to postgraduate education. Training students to analyse and solve practical problems independently through self-study and in small groups is a key feature of this method of education. Generally speaking, the teaching style can be described as student-centred: students develop their own opinion through independent and creative thinking. At most universities this means that teaching is conducted in small tutorials, where interactivity is the norm rather than the exception. At all turns, students are invited to question the professors. Fina Kurreeman, a Mauritian masters student at Leiden University is typical of many international students who have enjoyed studying in Holland, “I will never forget the wise words offered to me by one of the professors: ‘Our objective is not only to teach you to reach academic excellence but also to attend to your growth as a person.’ The course ideally offered everything I personally needed. I really felt that I was learning everything related to the frontiers of Science. I am now working as an AIO (PhD student) at Leiden University and am thrilled at the thought of being part of an institution that cultivates great minds.”

Another feature of Dutch postgraduate degrees, especially since the implementation of the Bologna Accord, is the ease at which many international graduates move into the international labour market.With Holland being the home to so many major multinationals, graduates can very often find a job at one of the firms in Holland or their subsidiaries in their own home country, since they are in need of locals with international skills.

 

Like many Western countries, Holland is considered to have a multicultural society, made up of many nationalities. Amsterdam is said to have more than 200 different nationalities within its community and according to the Mercer study of 2004, the quality of life in Holland is very good – Amsterdam ranks 10th worldwide, compared with London at 35th and New York at 38th. The survey also indicates that Amsterdam is considered to be as safe as Vancouver and Montreal, but much safer than cities like Brussels, Berlin, Sydney, Hong Kong and New York. And if students exhaust the delights of Holland, then many European capitals, such as Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin, and Copenhagen, are within very easy reach.

The Dutch higher education system is a two-tier system made up of research intensive universities and hogescholen or universities of professional education. Since the adoption of Bologna in Holland in 2002, the hogescholen offer 4-year undergraduate degrees and one-year postgraduate degrees, leading to a masters qualification. Generally speaking, one could say that the programmes are of a more practical or professional nature than those offered at the universities. The universities predominantly offer 3-year undergraduate degrees and 1- or 2-year postgraduate degrees, most of which are of a highly specialised nature. The degrees awarded by the universities are Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Law (LL.B), and Master of Arts (MA), Master of Science (MSc), Master of Law (LL.M), Master of Philosophy (MPhil), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The programmes tend to be of a more theoretical nature than at the hogescholen.

Moreover, Bologna has facilitated the introduction of programmes taught in English. Ten out of the 13 universities in the country currently offer more than half of their postgraduate programmes exclusively in English, with six offering close to all of their degrees in English, making the education system second to the UK in Europe for the number of courses taught in English. The effects are clear – more international students chose The Netherlands as the destination for their study in 2004 than ever before. Joanna Plinska, a Polish postgraduate student is one such student. “I have had the opportunity to study law in English at one of the leading law faculties with a well-established reputation. The CPIEL programme I am currently participating in also gives me a strong basis for possible future research in European Law. The Law Faculty of Tilburg University definitely deserves its splendid reputation.”

With the implementation of Bologna, admissions to postgraduate degrees in Holland has become much easier for many international students. Besides an undergraduate degree in a relevant subject, most institutions require an English proficiency test, such as TOEFL, with a minimum score of 213 or 550 or IELTS, with a score of 6.0. For admission to the two-year research masters programmes leading to the MPhil degree, only the best students will be eligible, since the majority of them are supposed to go on to do their PhD. The PhD system in the Netherlands is particularly well developed and unique in that after candidates have qualified through a strict selection process they are appointed as an employee rather than a student for a period of 4 years, not paying any tuition fees and earning a salary from the institution concerned.

The generous PhD system is only one example of the affordability of Dutch postgraduate education. In a recent study by Educational Policy Institute, a US-based independent, non-profit organisation researching educational opportunity for the Times Higher Education Supplement, the Netherlands ranked #3 for affordability, just behind Sweden and Finland, but well before the main international study destinations of Canada, Australia, US, UK and New Zealand, all of whom ranked from 11 to 15. The study draws on data for tuition, cost of living figures and the international student cost database project at the State University of New York at Buffalo, which measures out-of-pocket costs. In the same study Holland ranks number one for accessibility, making it the least elite system in the world.

So, how much does it cost to study in Holland? Students from the European Economic Area (EEA), which comprises the 25 EU countries, plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, only pay 1,500 Euros per year for a postgraduate degree (in 2005) and are entitled to a reimbursement of roughly 900 Euros per year. This will bring the total cost of a degree to a mere 600 Euros. Students from outside the EEA have to pay full cost fees, which vary from 2,500 to 30,000 Euros depending on the degree programme and the institution. The good thing, however, is that the Dutch government has a scholarship fund of approximately 25 million Euros available to attract high quality students to the Netherlands.

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