The Copenhagen Post Online published an interesting article on April 24th about Denmark offering top foreign students free tuition if they commit to working in Denmark for a couple of years after completing their studies. The Copenhagen Post reported that in 2007 there were 4,714 international students pursuing a higher education at Danish universities and that was 80% lower than the previous year.
Science Minister Helge Sander identified the growing number of English language university courses as an “attractive option to foreign students.” Sander is further quoted as saying “When I started as minister almost eight years ago there were only about 60 of our educational courses in English and today it’s three times as many. And of course that’s important for foreign students.”
You can access this Copenhagen Post article here.
The growth of English language courses throughout European higher education is an interesting phenomenon and one I wrote about a little over a month ago in my post “Increase in English Instruction Decreases the Quality of Dutch Higher Education” which you can read here. As I come across related news and developments I’ll be sure to post to IHEC Blog and/or to Twitter.
I just read a very interesting article (in English) from March 20th on the NRC Handelsblad website about the concern among many Dutch intellectuals on the increased use of English in Dutch higher education. According the article, the idea to make English the official language of instruction in Dutch universities was first proposed by Jo Ritzen, Education Minister, back in 1990.
Following is a snippet from the article that I found interesting:Internationalisation is the magic word everywhere. Education has become an export product and a university’s competitiveness is measured, particularly by the executive boards, by the number of foreign students it hosts. At many faculties, deans are charged with tasks like organising partnerships and student and faculty exchange programmes with universities around the world. “It is part of globalisation,” says Gerry Wakker, deputy dean of education and internationalisation in Groningen. "More and more people are working abroad for a long or short time or they are studying there for a year. We prepare them for that by creating groups of students that are as mixed as possible." I encourage IHEC Blog readers to check out this article here. What do you think about this trend in Dutch higher education?
The Copenhagen Post Online published an interesting article on April 24th about Denmark offering top foreign students free tuition if they commit to working in Denmark for a couple of years after completing their studies. The Copenhagen Post reported that in 2007 there were 4,714 international students pursuing a higher education at Danish universities and that was 80% lower than the previous year.
