Wittenborg University does well in a National Commission survey of information provision on its website
With some recommendations it has updated its web pages regarding the quality systems. The National Commission for International students in the Netherlands is responsible for the governance of the Code of Conduct that 76 Dutch higher education institutions are signatories to. The Code of Conduct regulates aspects such as the type of programmes that can be offered to international students, the quality of the information provision and the levels of English of students accepted onto programmes.
The commission did a scan of the websites of a number of Universities in the past year, and as a result of their findings they commissioned a survey on 5 key areas of information provision, including the structure and regulations of the programmes, complaints procedures, as well as a description of the quality system and accredit ions procedures.
Also important, news about new legislation such as the 30 Credit minimum limit for non-EU students, should be published and regularly updated, and although Wittenborg has clearly made the information available online, along with a poster campaign in school, most institutions had not reported this rule widely.
In all, a quarter of institutions met none of the criteria. In the top range, Wittenborg was advised to make more visible it's quality system and information about the accreditations of its programmes. This was immediately implemented (see below)
WUP 13/2/2014
by WUP
©WUAS Press
Welcome to the website of the Code of Conduct International Student in Dutch Higher Education. This website consists of a Dutch page and an English page. The Dutch page mainly focusses on (Dutch) institutions whereas the English page aims to address international students.
On this website you will find a lot of information about the Code of Conduct and about the National Commission.
For a number of reasons, the item 'internationalization' or rather 'the foreign student' has been discussed in the media and the Dutch parliament with some regularity. In his letter to the Lower House of Parliament, the State Secretary for Education, Mr Halbe Zijlstra, explained the benefits of internationalization of Dutch higher education once more:
'Internationalization will stimulate the enhancement of the quality of higher education greatly. When educational institutes widen their international outlook, they will provide their students with better opportunities for the labour market as this is becoming more and more international. The presence of foreign students will have positive effects on the results of Dutch students. Internationalization does not only contribute to quality, but demands quality itself: in order to attract talented students from abroad, quality must be delivered.'(...) 'Quality of both educational programmes and students instead of quantity should be the guiding principle when attracting foreign students and when designing international policies.'
The Code of Conduct International Student in Dutch Higher Education intends to contribute as a quality tool to the ambitions of the government and the educational institutes regarding internationalization as a means to turn the Netherlands into an attractive destination for knowledge and development."