Study-abroad rate recovers, hits 24%; Still below pre-pandemic levels

Of students who earned a degree from universities of applied sciences (HBO) or research universities (WO) in 2024-2025, 24 percent completed part of their studies abroad, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Most did so for at least three months. The share is higher than in the previous academic year and than during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has not returned to the pre-pandemic level.

Students are again more likely than they were four years ago, during the pandemic, to study abroad for three months and longer. That applied to 17 percent of 2024-2025 graduates, up from 14 percent among 2020-2021 graduates and 11 percent among the 2021-2022 group.

University students were one percentage point more likely than HBO students to study abroad for three months or longer. That is 18 percent of university students and 17 percent of HBO students.

Among HBO graduates of 2024-2025, that share rose relative to the year before; among the university graduates, it held steady. Both figures remain below pre-pandemic levels.

One in seven students also gained international experience online. Among 2024-25 graduates, 14 percent took part in digital projects or classes by foreign institutions. Online international experience was more common among HBO graduates than those who finished a university: 18 percent versus 10. That gap was even wider among the 2020-2021 graduates, when the figures were 17 and 14 percent.

Forty-two percent of students said that studying abroad increased their knowledge of their own and other cultures. Forty-one percent reported becoming independent, and 31 percent noted their expanded language skills. Subject-specific knowledge was reported at 41 percent, while increased language skills were reported at 31 percent. Subject knowledge was mentioned more often by HBO students compared to university graduates: 44 versus 37 percent.