Many young people from Asia would like nothing better than studying abroad. Hundreds of thousands leave their home country every year to study at a western university. For the most part they go to the United States, Great Britain or Australia. But the Netherlands also wants to get its share. Secretary Hermans thinks that something can be found in Asia, and higher education agrees. It will be a squeeze on the plane to Beijing. Representatives of as much as twenty universities and 'hogescholen' will travel in Hermans' retinue. They are all ready to launch themselves at the Chinese market. The UT has already had contacts with Chinese universities for over ten years.
In the Chinese capital Hermans will be present at the opening of a recuitment bureau for higher education. This Netherlands Education Support Office (NESO) should tempt Chinese to study on the North Sea. The bureau will give young people in China information about Dutch higher education. The NESO will also get a budget of several million to give out grants.
This will give structure to the recruitment activities of Dutch institutions. A number of them have been active on their own in the Far East. But except for an office in the Dutch embassy in Jakarta Dutch higher education had no combined representation in Asia.
Secretary Hermans expects that for business in the Netherlands so-called knowledge export can become a lucrative market strategy. The reasoning is that Chinese who after studying in the Netherlands will get a high level position in the fast growing economy of their own country will be good ambassadors for Dutch business.
Dutch universities are hiring more and more foreign researchers. Especially the three technical universities have hired many foreigners, especially in the lower ranks, for example as aio. In Delft 30 percent of the aio's is foreign, in Twente 36 and in Eindhoven 41. Recruitment abroad is an absolute necessity for the technical universities and also for the science faculties. 'The labour market in the Netherlands is so small that it is difficult to find PhD students.' Says staff member international marketing Jon van Langeveld of the University of Delft. Dutch students are hard to convince to work for a pittance for years if they can start in a company straightaway. For researchers from Asia a place at a Dutch university is still attractive.
(See also the article 'Foreign aio's vital to UT' in UT-Nieuws of 1 February 2001.)
