Belgium concerned about flood of Dutch students

By Robert Visscher. The number of Dutch students attending universities in Flanders in northern Belgium has increased for the 10th year in a row. Universities and politicians in Belgium are concerned about the trend, particularly because of the costs and the poor performance of Dutch students.
Over the past four years growth in the number of Dutch students in Belgium has been especially high. Their number has increased by 50% to more than 6,000.
One of the main factors pushing Dutch students towards neighbouring Belgium – especially the region where people mostly speak Flemish, which is close to Dutch – is tuition fees, which are €1,771 (US$2,300) in The Netherlands against €578 (US$752) in Belgium.
Doing further study sets a student back between €4,000 and €20,000 in The Netherlands, while Belgian students only have to pay a tuition fee once.