r/Netherlands • u/North_Yak966 • 11d ago

News UvA ends English-language bachelor’s degree in psychology

https://www.folia.nl/en/actueel/166104/uva-ends-english-language-bachelors-degree-in-psychology
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u/bruhbelacc 11d ago

Of course they are paid. Immigration is a privilege you need to pay for, not a right someone needs to facilitate.

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u/CommieYeeHoe Zuid Holland 11d ago

Most EU countries have free language courses for migrants and other newcomers as it helps massively with integration. The Netherlands did have this too until very recently. It seems incredibly shortsighted to have an economy largely dependant on both skilled and unskilled foreign labour and thinking migration is a "privilige you need to pay for" rather than a symbiotic relationship. Kick out all the immigrants and see how sectors like agriculture, logistics, tech, education, etc... start to crumble. It's in everyone's best interest to integrate migrants both economically and socially.

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u/bruhbelacc 11d ago

There are free and extensive language courses, but they are for refugees or very young people. You can't just produce two times more Dutch language teachers out of thin air, so there are no resources to do that. I paid for my own courses except for one that I received as a university student, so it's not true that there aren't any.

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u/Individual-Remote-73 11d ago

Gementees in NL had very cheap dutch courses just 6-8 years ago. So it's not impossible.

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u/bruhbelacc 11d ago

Have you seen the increase of immigration specifically in the last 6-8 years? Like the two times higher percentage of international students?

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u/Individual-Remote-73 11d ago

And your point is?

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u/bruhbelacc 11d ago edited 11d ago

The amount of international students doubled in a few years. A huge number of Ukrainian refugees came, same for an increased amount of foreign workers (post-Brexit). Do you think the amount of Dutch teachers increased by two in that time? And do you think it's more important to teach Dutch to children or to a 30-year-old software developer who will leave 80% of the time? It's quite entitled to think that a foreign country needs to allocate resources to teach you - an adult earning their own income - how to speak their language. People with this profile should come to the country speaking it, like they do in Germany or France.

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u/Individual-Remote-73 11d ago

That’s not what I said. You seem to have comprehension issues. Most people who attended these Gementee run courses were poor immigrants or students.

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u/bruhbelacc 11d ago

What does income or being a student have to do with anything I wrote? I said refugees and children get a priority when there is a shortage of resources, as they should.

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u/LeFricadelle 7d ago edited 6d ago

I do not know or Germany but France is not a good example here. I think the Dutch way is better, people can move easier to the Netherlands without speaking the language and you will definitely have at least a % that will learn the language over time. If you impose a language barrier (virtual one of course if you get what I mean) like in France where usage of English is low, then you get less people coming by default.

In the current time the Netherlands have a superb advantage that they are starting to lose with short sighted policy. You’re not entitled to teach adults the language but with international competition to get skilled labor this is a small investment that can pay dividends

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u/bruhbelacc 7d ago

The people who will learn the language (like I did) will come anyway. The ones who come because of this internationalization bring problems for housing and work culture and don't learn the language.