The Netherlands records first-ever international student drop

“During the 2025/26 academic year, there were 129,764 international students enrolled across degree levels at Dutch universities and higher professional education (HBO) – a 0.1% decline of just 133 students on the year before. “Although it is a slight decrease, it certainly indicates a break in the trend,” said Jonatan Weenik, researcher at Nuffic, the Dutch body for internationalisation. The figures, released in Nuffic’s annual report, show a 3.8% decline in new international undergraduate enrolments, while new master’s students were up by 2.9% at universities and 8.4% at HBOs. According to Weenink, the increase in master’s students can partly be attributed to international students already in the country transferring from undergraduate degrees. “If you disregard those transfer students, there is also a decline in the university master’s.” “The fact that enrolment in bachelor’s programs continues to decline likely indicates that the drop in total numbers will continue for some time,” he said. While 2025/26 marks the third consecutive year of declines at the undergraduate level, it is the first time that total students across universities and higher professional education have fallen. Notably, Weenink highlighted a “striking” 28% decrease in new Chinese students, with China falling out of The Netherlands’ top five source countries for the first time since 2006. “A possible explanation for this is the rising position of Chinese universities in international rankings, making students more inclined to study in their own country,” he suggested, noting that Chinese enrolments in other European and Western countries are showing similar trends. Despite remaining the top sending country, the data showed new enrolments from Germany decline by 9% last year, in continuation of a trend seen since 2020. Elsewhere, there was a modest rebound of European students following a three-year decline, as Italy, Romania, Spain and Poland follow Germany to make up The Netherlands’ top five source markets. The fact that enrolment in bachelor’s programs continues to decline likely indicates that the drop in total numbers will continue for some time Jonatan Weenik, Nuffic While overall non-European students decreased by 3.5%, Indian student totals rose by the same amount, with new master’s students from India rising by 16.5%. What’s more, Türkiye overtook India as the second-largest sending country outside the European Economic Area , with both standing closely behind a rapidly shrinking China. Within The Netherlands, the number of international students in the capital decreased for the first time this year by 1.7%. “Amsterdam is, after all, the city with the most international students and has the image of a very international city,” said Weenink. “The decline fits the national picture, but is still striking in that light.” Meanwhile, Eindhoven saw a significant 13.4% increase, largely fuelled by more international students pursuing engineering degrees, something Eindhoven University of Technology is well known for. The 11% rise in international students studying engineering has made it the second-largest field after economics, reflecting universities’ agreement to actively recruit international students only in disciplines facing labour shortages, such as engineering. The data follows several years of federal restrictions on international students in The Netherlands, under the government’s internationalisation in balance bill (WIB) which sought to bring down international enrolments and strengthen the Dutch language in education. Whilst several of the bill’s most controversial measures have been rolled back – including the requirement to formally prove the right of English-taught courses to exist – universities have taken their own measures to reduce international enrolments to sustainable levels. The post The Netherlands records first-ever international student drop appeared first on The PIE News .

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