Dutch-spoken track for 35 English-spoken bachelors

In addition to the 35 bachelor programmes, a further four programmes will be offered fully Dutch-spoken. The programmes it concerns are mainly in the domain of economics as well as technical programmes, according to the detailed information posted online by the association of Dutch universities UNL. Whether this also applies to English-spoken bachelor programmes in Wageningen (and if so, which ones) is not known yet.

The universities aim to retain control of the issue of internationalisation and the influx of international students. They are moving ahead of a legislative proposal the outgoing minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, is submitting to the House of Representatives. Plans per university are not yet available, despite the House’s request. Moreover, the UNL has a proviso; the co-determination has yet to approve the plans.

If all goes according to plan, twelve fully English-spoken economy programmes will be offered in Dutch alongside the existing English programmes. Only seven will remain English-only. Thirteen technical programmes will have a Dutch track added, with sixteen English-only programmes remaining.

Benefit

A major benefit to programmes with a double track is that the influx of international students may be restricted in the future, while the Dutch track can remain open. The universities aim to introduce a numerus clausus for the English-spoken track for 27 programmes in the future. Among these are fourteen in the domain of behaviour and society and six in the domain of economics.

The universities offer a total of 419 bachelor programmes, of which a little over half are offered in Dutch. In the future, 88 programmes will remain fully English-spoken, against 127 this year, reducing the percentage from 30 to 21.

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Universities want less English-spoken bachelor education