ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��

Students with Moroccan and Turkish migration backgrounds with Dutch previous education gradually are gradually getting better in finding their way to the Randstad universities, including Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��. This is synchronous with the group of so-called second-generation migrants getting bigger and their gradually increasing participation in senior general secondary education (HAVO) and pre-university education (VWO). These are students who were born in the Netherlands and have at least one parent who came from abroad. That is shown by studying data provided by Statistics Netherlands (Dutch name: Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, CBS) at the request of the universities in Amsterdam, Leiden, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Wageningen.

More students with migration backgrounds

In general, the diversity in the migrant group with Dutch previous education has increased considerably throughout the years. This is because the Statistics Netherlands data also shows an increase of the number of students with Dutch previous education and Asian migration backgrounds (mostly China, but also India and Pakistan). To prevent misunderstandings: these are not international students, but students who were born and raised in the Netherlands.

The importance of measuring

Until 2018, the universities had their own insight into the diversity of the student populations. After that time, DUO no longer provided parents' countries of birth in the standard data the universities received. This was because of the stricter privacy laws.

One of the goals in the Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy and action plan of UU for 2021-2025 is to be able to report on diversity data, in order to gain insight into the student and staff population, including migration backgrounds. So for some time, there was a lack of information that was somewhat compensated for with internal surveys, interviews and observations. This made the development of EDI policies and interventions by the EDI Office tricky. The UU EDI Office collaborates with other universities, which also want to gain insight into their diversity data. This makes comparing student data possible. “With the numbers from Statistics Netherlands, we have now gained a reliable compass with which we can set, measure and evaluate our course for the upcoming years. Of course, it's important that we can support our policy with measurements,” says Henk Kummeling, Rector Magnificus of UU.

With the numbers from Statistics Netherlands, we have now gained a reliable compass with which we can set, measure and evaluate our course for the upcoming years.

Results for Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��

Statistics Netherlands has provided the universities with a fully anonimised and not identifiable data set of intake numbers of Bachelor's students and Master's students by countries of origin over a 14-year period. It shows that the intake of students with Dutch previous education and Moroccan and Turkish migration backgrounds at Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� is increasing. On the other hand, the number of students with Dutch previous education and Surinamese and Dutch-Caribbean backgrounds is decreasing (see Image 1).

If we look at the previous education with which students with origins from the “classic immigration countries” (Indonesia, Dutch Caribbean region, Surinam, Turkey and Morocco) enter the universities, (VWO, HBO; Images 3 up to and including 6), we see that the percentage entering from HBO is higher than the percentage entering from VWO at all universities.

On top of that, Bachelor’s programmes at Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� show a rising line in the percentage of enrolling students with European origins and Dutch previous education. Besides this, we see an increase in the percentage of, among others, Asian students with Dutch previous education.

The graphs featured below are based on the total intake of first-year students with Dutch previous education at UU.

Step-by-step route via HBO

The importance of the step-by-step route via HBO to the university which the classic big migrant groups use seems unchanged. Turkish and Moroccan Dutch students use this route more often; that was already known from literature. This route is often connected with a primary-school advice that was too low and less access to HAVO/VWO schools based on frequent VMBO-T advice than for children from middle and higher class families of Dutch origins.

It is obvious to assume that the abolition of the basic scholarship in 2015 and the financial risk this caused in the form of taking out loans may have been a reason for HBO students from less wealthy migrant families to not continue on this step-by-step route to the university. This aspect requires more research. “Our point of attention as a university is to prevent unnecessary barriers among students with migration backgrounds so they can enrol in the university as easily as possible,” says UU Diversity Dean John de Wit.

Our point of attention as a university is to prevent unnecessary barriers among students with migration backgrounds so they can enrol in the university as easily as possible.