Dutch Universities Expect Record Student Numbers

New Student Intake at Wittenborg also Expected to Surpass 2017

Dutch universities are expecting record numbers of international students when the new academic year starts in September, the Dutch financial daily Het Financieel Dagblad (FD) reported this week. The paper even talks of an “explosion” of first year students from abroad. Technical studies and International Business Administration (IBA) programmes in particular are proving popular.

Meanwhile, the Student Registrar at WUAS, Santosh Aryal, says the institution is also impacted by the upward swing of international students although there is still a month to go before the new academic year starts.

“Compared to last year this time, there has already been a 50% increase in applications from new students.” He puts it down to Wittenborg’s growing presence in the Netherlands and increased interest in its MBA programmes in particular. Summers are the busiest time for the admissions department and the team is working at full strength to deal with applications. Aryal is confident that new student number will exceed the 2017 intake.

Besides the MBA programmes, the most popular IBA (Bachelor) specialisations are Economics and Management, Marketing & Communication and IBA & Bachelor (Hons) Bachelor Hospitality Management.

FD spoke to big Dutch universities such as the University of Amsterdam, the University of Groningen and Maastricht University about their expectations for new student intake. Some programmes are so popular that numbers had to be capped. The growth is thought to be as a result of the popularity of English-taught programmes. The Netherlands has some of the highest numbers of English-taught programmes in Europe.

WUP 01/08/2018

by Anesca Smith
©WUAS Press