Do you want to study abroad? Here is some interesting information concerning international students who are studying in Holland, including their countries of origin and numbers per university for the 2011-2012 academic year. This data refers only to universities that are funded by the Dutch government.

In total, Dutch universities offer 1,156 international programmes of which 232 are Bachelor’s, 870 are Master’s, 54 are PhD, and more than 470 are short programmes. These numbers show that The Netherlands continues to expand its educational options for international students. As a result, this count keeps increasing from year to year.

There were 666,859 students enrolled at Dutch universities during the 2011-2012 academic year. About two thirds of these students (423,173) chose to study at one of 39 universities of applied sciences, while the rest (243,686) chose programmes at one of the 13 research universities, with the exception of Open University.

International students in numbers

The quantity of international students rose by 5,400 for the 2011-2012 year compared to the previous year’s statistics, making the total amount of international students in The Netherlands rise to 87,100. This number makes up 13% of the overall student population.

About half of them, around 41,273 students, came to Holland with the aim of earning a Bachelor’s degree. Around 18%, or 14,722 students, wished to complete a Master’s degree. Other students are enrolled in post-university programmes and short courses.

Most of the Master’s students study at research universities, where the ratio between them and Bachelor’s students is about 50:50. At universities of applied sciences the ratio is quite different as 96% of students are at the Bachelor’s level while only 4% are enrolled in Master’s programmes.

10 most international universities

1. Maastricht University (6,662 of foreign students)
2. Fontys University of Applied Sciences (3,816)
3. Saxion University of Applied Sciences (3,486)
4. University of Groningen (2,718)
5. TU Delft (2,714)
6. Han University of Applied Sciences (2,685)
7. Erasmus University Rotterdam (2,408)
8. University of Amsterdam (2,190)
9. Stenden University of Applied Sciences (2,310)
10. The Hague University of Applied Sciences (2,187)

View information about the increase of international students in Dutch research universities for the 2012-2013 academic year.

Most popular fields of study among foreign students

• At Research Universities:

1. Economics
2. Behaviour and Society
3. Engineering
4. Language and Culture

• At Universities of Applied Sciences:

1. Economics
2. Language and Culture
3. Behaviour and Society
4. Engineering

Where international students come from?

Read more about foreign student statistics and the differences between the previous year’s results.

Source: nuffic.nl