There is no legal basis on which a university can select students based on nationality claims Carolus Grütters, a jurist and researcher at the Centre for Migration Law. He thinks it is a mistake for the International Office in Nijmegen to suggest otherwise.

The European Charter states that everyone in the European Union should be treated equally. The Dutch constitution states the same for people who currently reside in the Netherlands. Thus, there is no legal basis on which one could tell a German student that he/she is not welcome at our university.

Carolus Grütters, a researcher at the Centre for Migration Law at the Faculty of Law in Nijmegen, was astounded by a story earlier this week in which the head of the International Office suggested that this would be a good idea. ‘Concretely speaking, we could then reject students on the basis of nationality,’ said Wessel Meijer to voxweb.

European citizenship

Carolus Grütters thinks that this comment is shocking. ‘For someone in such a position to say that! You really don’t understand the legal foundation at all.’ Selecting students on the basis of origin is pure discrimination, said the jurist. ‘There is such a thing as European citizenship in the EU. In principle, anyone who is a national of one of the member states may study wherever he/she wants in the EU as long as the student fulfils the prior education requirements.’

‘Why would it be undesirable if a majority of psychology students were German?’

The head of the International Office at Radboud University said it would be undesirable if Dutch students were in the minority in a given degree programme. A large number of psychology students are now German. He reacted to the Rector Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam, who had petitioned the minister in her New Year’s speech for help in regulating the number of foreign students. One of the problems in Amsterdam is the resulting room shortage.

Grütters: ‘However, notwithstanding the fact that this is not the case in Nijmegen, the problem seems to be one of a different culture. A sort of we-versus-them. We not wishing them to come. But who is this ‘we’? And why would it be undesirable if a majority of psychology students were German?’ Perhaps it’s even desirable, suggested the jurist. Future Dutch psychologists could experience what it’s like to belong to a minority. Who says that isn’t good?

Exceptional cases

The essence of being part of the European Union is that its citizens can move freely, Grütters explained. Is there no possibility whatsoever to manage the number of foreign students and their countries of origin then?

Certainly, said the migration expert, but only in very exceptional cases. For example, if there’s a threat to public health. ‘Imagine that psychology in Nijmegen is the only programme for clinical psychologists in the Netherlands, and this programme has been filled for five years with only German students who immediately return to work in Germany after their studies. In such a case, a shortage of clinical psychologists would arise in the Netherlands, a shortage that could pose a serious threat to public health. Such a situation is the only one in which the EU Court of Justice has said (Bressol ruling) that a quota could be introduced. But this is certainly not the case in Nijmegen.’

[kader-xl]Reaction Wessel Meijer:

‘I have been too firm in my comments in the first interview. Selection based on nationality is indeed not a good idea. If we think that diverse international classrooms contribute to education quality, the university could focus on that in its recruitment. On the 1st of February, there is a workshop about the international classroom, in the context of the Radboud University Education Day and the development of a new internationalisation strategy. I invite everybody to come and discuss this topic further. You can apply here.’

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