THE NETHERLANDS: More universities charge for tuition

Traditionally The Netherlands has maintained subsidised fees for all students, whether EU or non-EU, which means a fee of roughly EUR1,600 a year. But this situation is changing rapidly and since 2008 non-EU students have no longer been funded by the government. So many universities have started to charge full-cost fees to those who enrol in English-taught degree courses. There is also an emerging private sector offering nationally accredited degree courses on a full-cost basis to Dutch, EU and non-EU students.

At the undergraduate degree level, introduction of so-called liberal arts colleges have also changed the educational landscape. Such typically residential colleges often offer a liberal arts-style of education to international students.

Utrecht University was the first to launch a 'university college' and charges EUR8,300 a year for non-EU students (excluding room and board). Now colleges can also be found in Zeeland at the professional education or polytechnic level, Maastricht and, more recently, Amsterdam where there is a joint venture between the two local universities.

Soon Leiden University will join this group with a university college in The Hague. In addition, some universities offer English-taught undergraduate degree courses, often with a limited number of places, such as business administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam where the fee is EUR7,750 and Technical University Delft which has a fee of EUR5,000.

Probably the most successful private sector college offering undergraduate education at the moment is the New Business School in Amsterdam. It specialises in responsible entrepreneurship and the programme includes one year in London, leading to a British degree for a fee of EUR14,500 annually.

At the graduate level, the provision is considerably richer and fees tend to vary much more, especially for MBA offerings. Each university has its own pricing strategy: Leiden offers a broad portfolio of master degrees with fees ranging from EUR14,200-EUR17,500, similar to Utrecht University (EUR14,000-EUR19,000), Amsterdam (EUR10,000-EUR15,000), and Groningen University (EUR7,700-EUR11,200).

Specialist universities such as the Agricultural University Wageningen, Technical University Delft and so on operate in their own markets and can be highly selective. Nyenrode Business University is the only Dutch university that is fully state accredited but is financially independent.

It was founded in 1946 in a rather prestigious location just outside Amsterdam with a focus on leadership and entrepreneurship and nowadays offers only postgraduate education. Nyenrode operates in the premium market with fees for an MSc of EUR24,000 and an MBA of EUR32,500 (excluding room and board).

The implicitly emerging strategy of most higher education providers in The Netherlands is to compete on quality rather than price, though a broad range of scholarships and bursaries tend to be available.

* Dr Maurits van Rooijen is Rector and Arnold Persoon is Director of Marketing Strategy & Sales at Nyenrode Business Universiteit.