Subsistence is a wonderful concept, and one of the fundamental philosophies of the EU. It sounds so egalitarian . “serving the society as a whole rather than the fortunate few”.
But let’s take a closer look.
A student from an EU country pays 1,519 euros per year for tuition, while an ‘international student’ has the exclusive privilege of paying 8,310 euros for the same diploma. However, how justified is an international student in calling this unfair? Not only was it clear to see in my class that while the average Dutch student in my class took a lazy lifetime to graduate, many international students had to deliver newspapers at 4 a.m. to make ends meet. Given the currency conversion rate between Europe and most Asian countries, some of us even had to live in illegal accommodation in the absence of a scholarship. It’s also very ironic that the same international student gets taxed about 35 percent of his income as soon as he manages to find employment here, thereby having to feed the same social system that denied him to begin with!
So what exactly is provided by this social system of ‘subsistence’? Australia for example provides free medical treatment to all tax-payers. By contrast in the Netherlands, starting in 2006, any medical insurance policy would cost over a hundred euros a month in premiums. The brilliance of this system becomes obvious when every foreign national has to pay unemployment insurance premiums amounting to about seventy euros a month, only to lose residency status once unemployed.
There have been umpteen surveys that predict that Western Europe will face an acute shortage of highly technically skilled people by around 2012. I still recall the infamous statement of Mark Rutte, the Dutch Undersecretary of Education: “If the situation is so bad here, why are more foreigners enrolling at Dutch universities.” My answer is blunt. I came here to study at TU Delft. To that end, the International Master’s program certainly lived up to its reputation. But I soon realized that no matter how strong the TU’s international brand image, it still has to dance to the tune of the Dutch government. I’ve borne witness to this Dutch package – starting with a convoluted student visa procedure to an extremely partial social support system. Hence, once I earn enough to better my investment in tuition, it would be time to quit the Netherlands. Sadly, I’m not alone. Almost every foreigner I know who was a student and is now well employed here as a ‘kennismigrant‘ feels the same way, too!
I met a Dutch undergraduate student from Radboud University, Nijmegen at my local tennis club. Shortly after some polite conversation, he sheepishly asked me, “Did you also grow up in poverty and hunger as we see on TV documentaries here?” The irony made me laugh . in India I could afford a car, a house, full and easy access to quality health care, and most importantly I could afford to continue my studies if I choose to. While here, the opportunity costs for a foreigner ensure that I can’t stay long-term!
Ramesh Chidambaram uit India was MSc-student micro-elektronica aan de TU Delft.
Subsistence is a wonderful concept, and one of the fundamental philosophies of the EU. It sounds so egalitarian . “serving the society as a whole rather than the fortunate few”. But let’s take a closer look.
A student from an EU country pays 1,519 euros per year for tuition, while an ‘international student’ has the exclusive privilege of paying 8,310 euros for the same diploma. However, how justified is an international student in calling this unfair? Not only was it clear to see in my class that while the average Dutch student in my class took a lazy lifetime to graduate, many international students had to deliver newspapers at 4 a.m. to make ends meet. Given the currency conversion rate between Europe and most Asian countries, some of us even had to live in illegal accommodation in the absence of a scholarship. It’s also very ironic that the same international student gets taxed about 35 percent of his income as soon as he manages to find employment here, thereby having to feed the same social system that denied him to begin with!
So what exactly is provided by this social system of ‘subsistence’? Australia for example provides free medical treatment to all tax-payers. By contrast in the Netherlands, starting in 2006, any medical insurance policy would cost over a hundred euros a month in premiums. The brilliance of this system becomes obvious when every foreign national has to pay unemployment insurance premiums amounting to about seventy euros a month, only to lose residency status once unemployed.
There have been umpteen surveys that predict that Western Europe will face an acute shortage of highly technically skilled people by around 2012. I still recall the infamous statement of Mark Rutte, the Dutch Undersecretary of Education: “If the situation is so bad here, why are more foreigners enrolling at Dutch universities.” My answer is blunt. I came here to study at TU Delft. To that end, the International Master’s program certainly lived up to its reputation. But I soon realized that no matter how strong the TU’s international brand image, it still has to dance to the tune of the Dutch government. I’ve borne witness to this Dutch package – starting with a convoluted student visa procedure to an extremely partial social support system. Hence, once I earn enough to better my investment in tuition, it would be time to quit the Netherlands. Sadly, I’m not alone. Almost every foreigner I know who was a student and is now well employed here as a ‘kennismigrant‘ feels the same way, too!
I met a Dutch undergraduate student from Radboud University, Nijmegen at my local tennis club. Shortly after some polite conversation, he sheepishly asked me, “Did you also grow up in poverty and hunger as we see on TV documentaries here?” The irony made me laugh . in India I could afford a car, a house, full and easy access to quality health care, and most importantly I could afford to continue my studies if I choose to. While here, the opportunity costs for a foreigner ensure that I can’t stay long-term!
Ramesh Chidambaram uit India was MSc-student micro-elektronica aan de TU Delft.
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