02/02/2006 | Netherlands

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

By: Thijs van Vugt, Tilburg University, the Netherlands

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.