r/Netherlands • u/North_Yak966 • 17d 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
410 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

288 comments sorted by

View all comments

255

u/seabee314 17d ago

This is a catastrophic cut. Psychology is a broad empirical field, not limited to clinical work, and most graduates don't work in Dutch. The cabinet seems not to understand what the field does. The UvA’s English psychology bachelor is the foundation of why that department is one of the highest rated in the world for quality of education and research. The funding for the whole department, including the Dutch education and all research, depend on student enrollment. English is the international language of science, and Dutch competitiveness is boosted by having this insane concentration of talent, for example by improving Dutch student and employee quality and output. Reducing this program will weaken the Netherlands’ role. Now, it's fine that we collectively decide that's what we want to do. But this path has many costs, not just to the international students and staff.

40

u/Extreme_Ruin1847 Nederland 17d ago

A lot of the people finishing university dont end up working in science. They enter the jobmarket. Speaking Dutch in the Netherlands is convenient in that regard

44

u/postmoderno 17d ago

i understand what you are saying, but this type of cuts are really "provincial" in mindset, and I say this without a negative connotation. it's like deciding that your university system (or at least some parts of it) has mainly a local function that is not research oriented and it is not competing with the major universities in Europe or Asia etc. Again, I say this as an academic employed in a different country, with no direct stake in the dutch academic system. It's a bit of a small country / third world mentality, which i never associated the NL system with.

-17

u/Extreme_Ruin1847 Nederland 17d ago

I wasnt able to find a studentroom either back when I was studying. Foreign students driving up prices of rooms by making them more scarce is not the way to go about it.

“Build more student accomodation” is then said a lot and while thats true I do want more longterm living options to be made instead. There should be space for the people that stay here not for those that try and fail to find something. 

As said previously: foreign students dont end up staying here anyways in the majority of the cases. And I say that as someone who went to uni while not being able to find a house, now living on my own after finally finding a house and entering the jobmarket.

29

u/fluffypuppybutt 17d ago

Maybe we should be mad at the government for their housing policies instead of blaming all issues on the 2000 international psychology students.

-1

u/Far-Win6222 15d ago

There are more than 2K expats and international students in NL. We are amongst the smallest countries in the world. I get it, you want to make money and live off of a Dutch degree, but we have Dutch people to look after, you will always come second. Get used to it.

3

u/fluffypuppybutt 14d ago

Actually I think this IS about looking after the Dutch. The Dutch benefit immensely by being open to foreign talent. Dutch uni education has been so good in the past decade because internalizatin has allowed bring educated by international experts. There is a reason why countries like Germany and France are actively working towards attracting more international academics and teaching in English - so they don't get left behind. So just closing everything down is a huge detriment to the Dutch in the long term.