More and more foreign students are enrolling in Dutch higher education; an increase that continued during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the past sixteen years, the number of international students has increased at a faster rate than the number of Dutch native students.

At some Dutch universities, as many as 40% of first-year students are from abroad. Although third-country national (TCN) students need to secure a special permit to be able to study in the Netherlands (EU students do not), their number continues to grow. China and Indonesia are the most common countries of origin for these students, followed by the United Kingdom. In the 2021-22 academic year 19 600 students came from countries in Asia, many from China (over 5 000) and India (over 3 000).

The number of international students from Europe has increased significantly in recent years. In the 2005-2006 academic year 63% of all international students came from Europe, and in 2021-2022 this increased to 76%. Students from Germany comprised one fifth of this percentage (24 500 students), but - although high - this number is smaller than in previous years. The share of students from other European countries has meanwhile increased.