The House wants a quick answer: How many English-language courses are you going to cancel?

Tuesday a motion by NSC, VVD, and BBB was adopted that urges the cabinet to quickly reduce the number of courses taught in English in higher education. Together with the institutions, Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf has eight weeks to draw up a plan.

The plan must contain concrete measures “that each institution will take individually to significantly reduce the share of English-taught courses,” taking into account “the labor market, student housing, and the region.”

Large majority

NSC, VVD, and BBB together have 51 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. The motion received support from PVV (37 seats), but also from the left-wing parties SP and Party for the Animals, among others, resulting in a very large majority.

Outgoing minister Robbert Dijkgraaf did not oppose the motion. “I see it as a great contribution to the conversations that I have been having and will continue to have,” he said in the debate last week. Within eight weeks, the umbrella organizations of universities and colleges will report to him on their action plan, he promised.

Dijkgraaf adds: “I will then inform the House as soon as possible about the results of all this. Once you have the institutions' plans, you can then assess whether they are sufficiently ambitious to fulfill the intent of the motion.”

In the meantime, he is working on a bill to achieve “balance” in internationalization, which he wants to submit before the summer.

The petitioners write in their motion that 78 percent of all master's programs and 30 percent of all bachelor's programs are taught entirely in English. That roughly jibes with the figures for university courses. In higher professional education, eight percent of bachelor's degrees are in English.