Info market during an open day. Photo: Marte Hofsteenge. Looking at the pre-registrations at WUR, one sees an 18,3 per cent drop in Dutch bachelor inflow compared to the same measuring moment last year. Although these pre-enrolments can fluctuate quite a bit, worried voices can be heard here and there in the corridors of Wageningen. What is going on?
Is there any reason to panic? No, says education dean Arnold Bregt. ‘Minus 18,3 per cent sounds intense, but it is good to put the figures in a larger perspective. The difference in pre-registrations compared to last year is indeed large. However, last year was an atypical year. If you look instead at the difference from now to two years ago, there is a drop of about 7 per cent. So still a decline, but a lot less significant.’
A small decline in student numbers fits within WUR’s goal for the coming years, Bregt says. ‘Ideally we would like to stay about the same, but with a declining number of pre-university education (vwo) students and a political climate that is not necessarily positive towards internationalisation, a slight decrease is more realistic. That’s not a problem, but it shouldn’t go too fast. So we do need to keep a close eye on this development and take it seriously. And we need to start doing more to recruit students.’
Causes
Bregt sees a number of possible causes for the decline. ‘Where other universities are increasingly engaging in active student recruitment – University of Twente has radio commercials, for example – Wageningen has not changed a lot in that area. In addition, other universities are now also offering programmes in environment, biology, nutrition and plant sciences. As a result, the profile of our university is becoming less unique and there is more competition. And the image of the city of Wageningen remains a bit that of a village with a university without its own railway station.’
Time for a different approach, Bregt thinks. ‘If other universities become more like us and actively attract students, we should also do more in terms of active recruitment. Perhaps we could host the open day on Friday in addition to Saturday. This year we will host an extra open day for late deciders on Thursday 5 June. And we can sell Wageningen’s image better, for instance by highlighting the fact that you can get an affordable room here in your first year and don’t have to wait years before you can move in like in some other student cities.’
Translated with help of DeepL.
