University warns international students of room shortage

Leiden University advises international students not to come to the Netherlands if they are not certain of a room. They are advised to choose another study, university city, or to postpone their studies.

Leiden has had a shortage of accommodation for students for years. Universities are not allowed by the government to invest in student housing, and are thus dependent on municipalities and housing organisations for this. For international students, the university has made agreements with DUWO University Housing about a number of furnished rooms where students can live during the first year of their studies. Afterwards, they will either return to their home countries or find their own accommodation in the Netherlands.

Caroline van Overbeeke, spokesperson for Leiden University, says that Leiden University explicitly mentions the room shortage on its website and in other communications.

Increase

"Unlimited growth of international student intake is not what we are aiming for. We do recruit students, in the Netherlands and abroad, mainly to keep the intake up to standard and to keep the university healthy," says Van Overbeeke. The intake of international students increases a little each year. In 2017, 17% of the new intake for the bachelor's phase came from abroad, in 2021 it was 22%. For the master's phase, the figures were 28% and 31% respectively.

In total, 6891 students with a non-Dutch nationality studied at Leiden University in 2021, which is about 20% of the total student population of over 34,000. The exact number of students enrolled this year can only be determined around  the 1st of October. On balance, there appears to be an increase in the number of students who are not from the European Union. This includes Russian students. "Both Ukrainian and Russian students are and will be welcome," says Van Overbeeke.

International students at Leiden University are not required to learn Dutch. It offers 16 international bachelor's programmes that are in English and almost all master's programmes are in English. However, the students are advised to learn some Dutch and to immerse themselves in the language and culture. This helps in making social contacts.

Leiden University of Applied Sciences

At Leiden University of Applied Sciences, the situation is different for international students. Its bachelor programmes are not in English. It has only Dutch-speaking students, but of course they could also be people from another country, says Jeroen Swillens from the University of Applied Sciences. This institution, with some 12,000 students, offers seven English-language 'minors', which are specific study periods of about half a year.

This article was originally written in Dutch by Louis Smit for Sleutelstad. 

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