Misunderstandings about education in English: What's going on?

‘As of the academic year 2025-2026, a maximum of one-third of the courses in a bachelor’s program may be taught in another language,’ wrote de Volkskrant. ‘Exceptions are only allowed if their usefulness has been demonstrated.’

Minister Dijkgraaf is reported to have said this during a debate with the House of Representatives on the internationalization of higher education. Other media followed, such as newspapers Trouw and NRC. But what exactly is his goal?

Standpoint

It was never intended for so many programs to be taught in other languages, Dijkgraaf previously communicated in a letter. He wants to see how this can be remedied. He spoke about this with the House of Representatives on Thursday.

‘My standpoint is that the language of instruction is Dutch,’ he said in the debate. But courses in other languages may also be taught within a Dutch-taught program. ‘My proposal would be no more than one-third. This means that the program would be largely in Dutch, but teaching a few specialist subjects in English, for example, would be allowed.’

But it should be noted that this is the definition of a study program taught in Dutch, meaning that at least two of the three subjects must be taught in Dutch. Completely different language courses, however, remain possible.

Just like now, actually. Even now, the law states that instruction must in principle be in Dutch, with exceptions. But those exceptions are currently formulated so broadly that in practice there is no barrier to offering a course in English. As Dijkgraaf puts it: ‘A huge hole was cut in that net and everyone is swimming through it.’

Bachelor's test

What does he want to change? Dijkgraaf wants to introduce a ‘foreign-language instruction test’ for new study programs to test the effectiveness of that foreign-language instruction. The labor market could be one argument, but so could the nature of the instruction. ‘If you want to attract the best violinists in the world, it might help to offer such instruction in English.’ Regional needs and the availability of personnel might also play a role, for example.

‘Can we justify funding a foreign-language course with public money?’ he summarized. ‘That is the important question we are asking. There could be many reasons to do that.’

Plus, he only wants to introduce this test for bachelor's programs, not for master's programs. The master's programs are shorter, more specialized, and sometimes more science-oriented. He wants to exclude them from this test. ‘The real problem is with the bachelor's programs,’ he told MPs.

How strict?

This test will initially be introduced for new bachelor's programs, but in the long term, existing programs will also have to pass the test once. So the main question is how ‘strict’ that test will be in practice.

The minister is certainly not against internationalization. He mentions many reasons for instruction in a foreign language. Even the location of a course in a border region can be the deciding factor. He gave a German-language course in physiotherapy as an example. ‘I think that institutions themselves are very capable of weighing that argument,’ said the minister.

This doesn't sound all that strict. In any case, Dijkgraaf wants to rely on the institutions themselves for this ‘central direction’ in the field of internationalization. They must steer internationalization in the right direction in mutual consultation and within the framework of government regulation. At most, the minister wants to be able to step on the emergency brake if things really go wrong.

Direction

Dijkgraaf: ‘This direction deals with larger issues such as the relationship between education and the labor market. What is the added value? What about accessibility? There are many questions to be asked.’

The language of instruction is also part of this mutual consultation. ‘Is it a good idea for institution X to want to teach Y in English? Well, you can discuss that with each other.’ He therefore prefers to leave the major considerations to the institutions themselves. Then it is unlikely that he will thwart those considerations with a rigid language test.

So are many English-taught courses going to disappear? No, Dijkgraaf does not seem to be planning to bring about a huge turnaround. Perhaps a few should switch their language of instruction. ‘Several examples of courses have come up of which everyone actually says: There is no justification for continuing to do it the way you have been doing it.’ But above all, he wants to bring about some reflection.

Meanwhile, media coverage creates its own reality. All sorts of people and institutions are reacting – either with relief or criticism – to a plan that does not actually exist. Some even fear a wave of layoffs for international lecturers.