If you are wondering whether people like you study in the Netherlands, the numbers are public. Nuffic, the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education, publishes them, based on DUO data. Here is the latest picture as of October 2026.

The total

Nuffic's fact sheet published on 4 September 2026 says 129,764 international students were enrolled in bachelor's or master's programmes at publicly funded research universities and universities of applied sciences in 2025-26. They made up 17% of all students. Of all students at research universities, 27% were international, against 9% at universities of applied sciences. 72% of international students came from the EEA and 28% from outside it.

The biggest countries of origin

According to Nuffic’s countries of origin page, in 2025-26 Germany remains the most common country of origin for international degree students, followed by Italy, Romania, Spain and Poland. its long-run dashboard adds that there were 18,241 students from Germany in 2025-26, 8% fewer than the year before, that Germany has been the top country throughout the whole period since 2006-07, and that China dropped from 5th place in 2024-25 to 7th in 2025-26. Romania rose from 27th to 3rd place between 2006 and 2025-26.

New students and non-EEA students

For new enrolments in 2025-26, Nuffic counts 48,139 new international enrolments in a full bachelor's or master's programme: 69% from the EEA and 31% from outside it. Looking one year back, the incoming degree mobility report for 2024-25 says new enrolments from Turkey were up 25% to 1,677 in 2024-25, and that new German students numbered 7,265, the lowest in ten years.

Who the IND sees

For students from outside the EU who need a residence permit, the IND says the IND grants thousands of student permits each year, mainly to students from China, India, the United States, Turkey and Indonesia.

What this means for you

  • EEA students pay the statutory tuition fee and need no visa or work permit (see our tuition and permit guides).
  • If you are from outside the EEA you are in a smaller group, so scholarships aimed at non-EEA students, like the NL Scholarship, are written with you in mind.
  • Figures change every year. Use the Nuffic dashboards for the latest.

Sources

Opened and checked on 5 October 2026. Figures that change from year to year are marked "as of October 2026"; check the source before you rely on them.