1 in 6 students in Limburg are of German origin

Students attending lectures in the Auditorium lecture hall at Eindhoven University of Technology
© Hollandse Hoogte / Bart van Overbeeke Fotografie
In the 2023/24 academic year, nearly 22 thousand German students were attending university or higher professional education (HBO) programmes in the Netherlands. Of these, 6.4 thousand were studying in Limburg. Young people from Belgium studying in the Netherlands are also the most likely to do so in Limburg. This is according to the most recent figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on border regions.

Zuid-Limburg has the largest number of students from Germany in higher education, at 4.4 thousand. The city of Groningen and surroundings have 2.3 thousand students from Germany, followed by 2.0 thousand in Noord-Limburg, 1.9 thousand in Twente and 1.2 thousand in the Arnhem/Nijmegen region.

Outside the border regions, Amsterdam has the largest number of students from Germany, at 3.0 thousand. However, they make up a smaller share of students - around 1 in 50 students are of German origin.

More than 5 thousand young people from Belgium are studying in the Netherlands. Of these, 2 thousand are studying in Limburg and 650 in Noord-Brabant. The remaining Belgian students are mainly in the Randstad conurbation in the west of the country.

Not many Dutch students in German border regions

Conversely, only a limited number of Dutch students attend higher education in the two German federal states (Länder) that border the Netherlands. In the 2023/24 academic year, over 900 young people from the Netherlands were studying in North Rhine-Westphalia and just over 200 in Lower Saxony.

8 thousand Dutch students in Flanders

Over 8 thousand Dutch nationals are attending higher education in Flanders. In the district of Antwerp, there are 3 thousand students from the Netherlands. In Ghent, there are 1.7 thousand, followed by Leuven, Hasselt and Turnhout, which complete the top five.

Related items