Focusing in on the rankings’ methodology, which measures each worldwide college and scholar ratio, The PIE Information checked out how a number of the nation’s main universities included within the desk fared in comparison with final yr’s figures.
Whereas worldwide scholar numbers are nonetheless rising within the Netherlands regardless of plans to curb internationalisation altogether, they’re rising at a slower fee than they’ve for nearly a decade – and worldwide scholar ratios are seeing small, incremental adjustments that paint a scattered image.
“If an establishment is attracting a sizeable inhabitants of worldwide college students, this has advantages when it comes to networking, cultural exchanges, a extra numerous studying expertise and alumni variety.
“Additional, if an establishment is attracting a sizeable variety of abroad college students, it follows that it’s engaging sufficient to take action,” QS mentioned, concerning its methodology on worldwide scholar ratios.
The Delft College of Know-how, which stays the nation’s high establishment within the rating regardless of falling from joint 47th to 49th, noticed its worldwide scholar ratio go up, from a rating of 89.3 to 91.4.
It’s necessary to level out the ratio doesn’t denote the share of precise worldwide college students within the scholar physique – QS’ info says that 7,334 out of 20,888 college students are worldwide at Delft, for instance.
The College of Amsterdam is the one different Dutch establishment within the high 100, touchdown at 55th, dropping from 53rd in final yr’s desk. Its worldwide scholar ratio, nevertheless, has jumped from 79.9 to 87.5.
Worldwide scholar ratios on QS’ rankings do embrace EU college students, who wouldn’t usually be affected by proposed internationalisation curbs within the Netherlands.
If an establishment is attracting a sizeable variety of abroad college students it follows that it’s engaging sufficient to take action
QS
However some universities have additionally seen drops within the worldwide scholar ratio within the final two to a few years, because the housing disaster emerged and lobbying towards worldwide scholar recruitment started.
Utrecht College has not had a really perfect worldwide scholar ratio for a while – however nonetheless reveals a gradual decline. In 2022, it had a rating of 24, 2023’s desk noticed drop barely sharply to 23.1, then 21.2. In the meantime, within the QS World Rankings 2025, it scored beneath 20 for the primary time at 19.4.
The College of Twente, which was vocal as a part of the Technical Universities alliance in advocating for internationalisation, dropped within the rankings by 20 locations, however solely noticed its worldwide scholar ratio drop from 91.1 to 90.4 – and has a global college ratio of 100, displaying it’s nonetheless holding onto its worldwide id.
Notably, Twente was the primary college within the nation to undertake English as its official language.
Maastricht, which has all the time been often known as an exceedingly worldwide college, has seen its greatest rating total because the pandemic at 230 – up from joint 256th final yr.
Nonetheless, for the primary time, after years of a global scholar ratio rating of 100, Maastricht has dropped, albeit solely by a sixth of a degree, to 99.4. Whereas it’s not a crash-and-burn drop, it may sign that the tides within the Netherlands could be altering.
These smaller adjustments appear to sign that whereas there could also be some establishments feeling the results, they could not translate into the rankings till at the least subsequent yr or the yr after.
However by then, relying on what Geert Wilders’ authorities decides to do to additional minimize internet migration, there could also be much more stringent restrictions on internationalisation.
