09/08/2007 | Netherlands

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

By: Thijs van Vugt, International Education Consultant, iE&D Solutions BV

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 graduate 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 graduate degrees, most of which are of a highly specialized 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 programs tend to be of a more theoretical nature than at the hogescholen.

Table One � Percentage of Courses Taught in English

Moreover, Bologna has facilitated the introduction of programs taught in English.

Ten out of the 13 universities in the country currently offer more than half of their graduate programs 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 2007 than ever before. Joanna Plinska, a graduate from Tilburg University recalls her experience: "I had the opportunity to study law in English at one of the leading law faculties with a well-established reputation. The CPIEL programme I participated in gave me a strong basis for my future research in European Law. The Law Faculty of Tilburg University definitely deserves its splendid reputation.�

Graduate admissions

With the implementation of Bologna, admissions to graduate degrees in Holland has become much easier for many of 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 programs 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 degree. 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 graduate education. In a study by Educational Policy Institute, a US-based independent, non-profit organisation researching educational opportunity, the Netherlands ranked third 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.

Student finance

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 per year for a graduate degree (in 2005) and are entitled to a reimbursement of roughly �900 per year. This will bring the total cost of a degree to a mere �600. Students from outside the EEA have to pay full cost fees, which vary from � 2,500 to � 30,000 depending on the degree program and the institution. The good thing, however, is that the Dutch government has a scholarship fund of approximately �25 million available to attract high quality students to the Netherlands.