Indonesian students not so interested in studying in Netherlands

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian students have low interest in pursuing studies in the Netherlands so that they needed to be encouraged further, Marrik Bellen, director of the Dutch Educational Assistance Office (NESO), said here on Thursday.

Bellen said only about 500 Indonesian students go to the Netherlands to pursue further studies with scholarships or through a self-funding mechanism every year.

"We will begin a new central registration system with the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta so that we will know the exact number of Indonesian students who go to the Netherlands for further studies," he said.

He said that compared with Australia and Britain, the Netherlands had not yet become a main destination to Indonesian students due to various reasons.

Bellen said the main reason was that Dutch universities were not being promoted in Indonesia as intensively as British and Australian ones.

He said the aim of Dutch universities in inviting students was not seeking for profit because they adopted a public system financed by the government.

The number of international students in the Netherlands reached 50,000 a year, of which 25,000 come from European countries, 19,500 from non-European nations and about 7,000 exchange program students.