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Economics is the most common field of study among international degree students both at universities of applied sciences and research universities in 2025-26.

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Summary

Universities of applied sciences (UAS)

  • With 16,127 international degree students enrolled, Economics is the largest UAS field of study in absolute terms, followed by Engineering (9,077), and Language & Culture (7,317). Compared to 2024-25, the ranking of fields of study has remained unchanged.
  • In relative terms, Language and Culture is the most international UAS field of study in 2025-26, with more than 1 in 3 students coming from abroad (37%). and Behavioural & Social Sciences (3.0%) and Education (3.1%) are the least international UAS fields of study.
  • The most popular UAS study programme among international degree students is International Business (6,313) at bachelor’s level and Music (939) at master’s level.

Research universities (RU)

  • Economics (19,559) continued to be the top choice for international degree students at RU in 2025–26. Engineering and Behavioural & Social Sciences have switched places compared to the previous academic year. In 2025-26, Engineering had more international degree students (16,709) than Behavioural and Social Sciences (16,558).
  • Interdisciplinary programmes again have the highest proportion of international students in 2025-26, at 53.6%. Economics (37.6%) and Engineering (34.5%) are also highly international fields in relative terms, with more than 1 in 3 students coming from abroad.
  • The study programme Psychology attracts the most international degree students at bachelor’s level (5,603). This is no longer true at the master’s level. In 2025-26, both Business Administration (1,136) and International Business (587) attracted more international degree students than Psychology (241).

For more data on university degree students coming from abroad to study in the Netherlands in 2025-26 and an analysis of current trends and developments, see our report Incoming degree mobility in Dutch higher education 2025-26 (in Dutch, the English version will be available soon).

For an overview of English-taught study programmes offered by Dutch institutions, see the Studyfinder.

For further information, please send an e-mail to analytics@nuffic.nl.