The share of foreign scientific personnel at Netherlands universities, overall and by area of origin

Personnel

Data publication

In this data publication we show the development of foreign scientific personnel as a share of total scientific personnel at Netherlands universities, as well as the distribution of foreign scientific personnel at Netherlands universities for (clusters of) countries of origin.

In short

  • The share of foreign academic staff is growing.
  • In 2023, 48% of academic staff came from abroad.
  • Most of the foreign scientific personnel come from Europe.

How has the share of foreign academic staff developed?

Source: Universiteiten van Nederland (UNL)/ Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs Personeel Informatie (WOPI)
Notes: The figures come from UNL's WOPI file (see 'Additional explanation of WOPI').
Source: Universiteiten van Nederland (UNL)/ Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs Personeel Informatie (WOPI)
Notes: The figures come from UNL's WOPI file (see 'Additional explanation of WOPI').

What is the origin of the foreign scientific staff?

Source: UNL - the WOPI database on university personnel
Notes: Egypt is part of the Middle East. The figures refer to fte.For both the UU and VU no data on nationality are available for 2020. Data on nationality were not available for 2021-2023.

Analysis
The share of foreign scientific personnel at universities in the Netherlands has grown over the  past decade, from 19.8% in 2003 to 48.2% in 2023. This growth can be seen in all university personnel categories, in all universities and in all scientific areas. 

The largest share of foreign scientific personnel at the Netherlands universities is coming from Europe, 61.1% of total (2023). 
 

Facts and figures

  • 19,8%

    share of foreign academic staff in 2003

  • 48,2%

    share of foreign academic staff in 2023

  • 61,1%

    of the foreign academic staff comes from Europe

The data are obtained from the WOPI-file of UNL. The WOPI-data (Information on scientific education personnel) is annually requested by UNL from fourteen universities, conform a standardized format and agreed definitions. The reference date for the WOPI-data is 31st December for each year. All personnel is included who have a permanent or temporary employment contract or contractual agreement for a fixed number of working hours at a university. Student-Assistants excluded.

Over time, the personnel of almost all the academic hospitals have moved from the medical faculty or university as employer towards the academic hospital or the university medical centre (umc). The scientific field (HOOP-classification) Health sciences therefore shows an inconsistent pattern over time and is therefore not included in the data and graphs.

For an explanation of the used definitions and abbreviations we refer to the webpage Definitions for Science in Figures.

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