Nuffic has released the results of a wide-ranging survey
By Thomas Ansell
The agency for the internationalisation of education, Nuffic, has released the results of a survey asking prospective International Students whether the Coronavirus outbreak has affected their wish to come to the Netherlands in September. Though 40% of people (the majority of whom had letter of admission) were unlikely to change their plans, 24% won’t come, and 36% are still unsure- only four months before the start of the new academic year.
There is a reasonably wide range of concerns amongst prospective students, with over half (51.28%) worried about travel restrictions, 41.36% concerned about financing, and 30.38% being turned off by the possibility of wide-spread online or ‘blended’ learning. Only 9.35% of respondents could picture themselves moving to the Netherlands if only online education is offered.
Around a fifth of everyone that took the survey also asked a wide range of other questions of Nuffic, underlining a lack of concrete information. Most asked seemed likeliest to defer their study plans, rather than cancel them.
A lack of scholarships in South America also looks to be a significant factor, with the governments of both Mexico and Brazil delaying scholarship applications. The Indonesian government is also taking similar steps. Another widely held concern is with visa applications, with students worried that they are unlikely to have all their formalities finished by the time term starts in September- and whether they would have to undertake a 14-day quarantine upon arriving.
Image of a lecture hall via Wikimedia user Xbxg32000. License here.