The Netherlands spearheaded English tuition courses as a means to attract international students. This, coupled with low tuition fees and an open and multi-cultural environment has resulted in rapid growth in its student population, with the international student population growing 40% between 2007 and 2011 alone, one of the highest growth rates in the world.

Amsterdam has the country’s largest student population, of which 5% are foreign. Maastricht has the highest number and proportion of international students in the Netherlands; 7,500 students account for 38% of its total student population due to its location, strong international exchange agreements, international themed study programmes and fully bilingual status.

About 45% of students in the Netherlands live at home, while a significant share of others live in social housing accommodation provided for students. Due to rent controls, rents in the Netherlands are relatively consistent across the country, averaging €415 per month, of which Amsterdam has the highest rents, at €498.

As a means to bypass these controls and other student housing restrictions, the ‘student hotel’ model has been successfully developed in Amsterdam, which offers serviced accommodation for students, and can also offer space for tourists outside of term time.

New student accommodation is being planned and built across the country, with a total of at least 12,000 beds in the pipeline until 2016. Amsterdam has the largest pipeline for student housing while Groningen and Delft are also expecting nearly 2000 units in the next two years. This will add 26%, 43% and 20% to existing stock levels, respectively in these three markets. The prospects for the Netherlands are positive: the number of students is expected to grow by 7.1% over the next 12 years. English language tuition and low fees will continue to attract foreign students. Amsterdam has seen a slew of new deals and developments since 2011, before which the market was almost entirely dominated by the social housing sector and private landlords, and is now one of the most active mainland European student housing markets. Tens of thousands of new beds are needed to accommodate (international) students across the Netherlands by 2025.

Taken from
Spotlight: World Student Housing 2014