Internationals don’t stay in Groningen after graduating, the Research Centre for Education and Job Market (ROA) at the University of Maastricht found. The Northern Times dug deeper and spoke to non-Dutch students to find why.
The research shows that university-educated people stick to or move to the bigger cities in the west of the Netherlands, mainly Rotterdam, Amsterdam, the Hague, Utrecht and Eindhoven. They choose where to live on the basis of job opportunities and the large international community.
Certain places also require people to immediately start speaking Dutch and this is also heavily influenced by the particular economic sector. In health care, for example, speaking Dutch is generally found to be more important than it is in IT.
The researchers said it’s important for Groningen to try and keep students around before they graduate as it becomes increasingly harder to avoid brain-drain if students get job offers elsewhere. The research highlights the importance of giving international students more information about study and career opportunities in Groningen, as well as the Netherlands as a whole. It’s important that universities and local businesses work together to help and keep students, the researchers recommended.
‘There aren’t enough opportunities in Groningen’
The Northern Times spoke with Pushkar, who graduated with a master’s in sustainable energy system management after studying in Groningen but has been struggling to find a job ever since.
“The opportunities in Groningen are just not enough, especially if people don’t speak Dutch,” Pushkar told The Northern Times.
He went on to explain that Groningen is “ridiculously closed” to internationals especially from outside of the EU.
“Even if somebody’s learning Dutch they don’t really want to give that person a chance unless the job is related to engineering or IT,” he said.
In Pushkar’s opinion, this is something that should already be mentioned while students are still at university.
“They said the energy transition is going through a boom, there will be loads of jobs. And there are, but only for Dutch people, not internationals,” Pushkar explained.
Even though Pushkar is learning Dutch now, he regrets not starting earlier, which he says he would have done if there was more focus on it.
He also thinks it’s difficult to convince companies to take on non-fluent Dutch speakers.
“They look at how much money they’re going to spend on a person and how much money they’ll generate,” he said, adding there should still be space for internationals who are willing to commit to learning Dutch.
Pushkar says he thinks the local population should be given a preference in the job market. However, he found Groningen especially closed-off.
“They focus too much on just Dutch people and within their network of various study associations for example, it’s a closed networking market,” he explained.
When asked if there is something that should change, Pushkar thinks that there should be more career fairs organised by the municipality and more internships to get students and companies in contact.
“[Non-EU internationals] spend a lot of money, and what happens to them after they finish their studies? They pack their bag and go back home [taking their knowledge with them],” Pushkar said.
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