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INTERNATIONAL<br />
Fewer students from<br />
Vietnam choose for<br />
Dutch education<br />
Mainly due to a change in the Australian immigration policy, the <strong>nu</strong>mber<br />
of Vietnamese students coming to Holland for higher education is<br />
rapidly decreasing, a <strong>Sax</strong>ion delegation led by Ms Ngo Thi Bich Ngoc<br />
found out in Vietnam, where they took part in educational fairs promoting<br />
Dutch universities in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.<br />
34 juni 2007<br />
Photo’s: Hannie Schipper<br />
For about 10 years Vietnamese students<br />
have been coming to the<br />
Netherlands, and in particular to<br />
<strong>Sax</strong>ion, for preparatory courses, and<br />
proper academic courses, both bachelor<br />
and master courses. Together with<br />
the Chinese students they have always<br />
been one of the larger gro<strong>up</strong>s of<br />
Asian students. This is going to change<br />
with the coming academic year<br />
2007-2008 as the <strong>nu</strong>mber of Vietnamese<br />
students that have so far<br />
applied to <strong>Sax</strong>ion is not exceeding<br />
10-15 students. These students are<br />
mainly coming from two partner universities<br />
in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh<br />
City. Hardly any students are coming<br />
on an individual basis via agents, who<br />
provide services to translate and validate<br />
the necessary documents for<br />
their application. “Australian universities<br />
have a market share of 70 per<br />
cent”, says Dr Tran Ngoc Huong of<br />
Vineco, a consultancy office for study<br />
abroad, with whom <strong>Sax</strong>ion has been<br />
cooperating for quite some time. In<br />
the past he sent students to <strong>Sax</strong>ion<br />
every year. This year he has only a<br />
few. Advertising does not have any<br />
response, as students know that it is<br />
difficult to get visas for the<br />
Netherlands because of the language<br />
requirements.<br />
The two educational fairs organized<br />
by NESO (Netherlands Education<br />
S<strong>up</strong>port Office), a Nuffic related<br />
organisation, attracted some schoolleavers<br />
and undergraduate students<br />
but many of them were just ‘shopping’<br />
and the participating universities<br />
certainly did not take away large<br />
intakes of new students from the<br />
fairs.<br />
Causes<br />
The main reason for the dropping<br />
<strong>nu</strong>mbers of students is to be found in<br />
a change in Australian immigration<br />
policy. In contrast with the strict<br />
requirements of the Dutch IND, students<br />
from Vietnam and other Asian
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