Higher Education Industry Competitors

The leading higher education competitors the Netherlands is facing include the US, UK, and German. They majorly compete in recruiting new students and study areas such as research and development. The Dutch ranks higher in English proficiency than Sweden and Denmark. Apart from the top echelon of academic research, the higher education institutions in the Netherlands are not faced by any form of high-level competition. Nevertheless, it is unclear how they would react if they encountered a high-level competition.

Higher Education Industry Resources

The industry utilizes tertiary resources, and there are four ministries involved in formulating and implementing tertiary education policy as well as resourcing the learning institutions. These ministries include the Ministry of Finance, Economic Affairs, Ministry of Science and Agriculture, Ministry of Nature and Food Quality, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education. National funding, programs as well as policy in the higher institution is the responsibility of the Ministry of OCW. The institutions dealing with agriculture and natural environment are funded by the Ministry of Nature and Food Quality. The research-intensive universities get their funding from the general government grant as well as from other competitive programs.

Development Stage of Higher Education

Higher education in Dutch is organized into a three-cycle degree system which comprises of a first degree, a second degree and lastly a Ph.D. There are two forms of higher education systems, and these are research-based degree programs available in research universities and the professional higher education programs available in universities of applied sciences. Research universities comprise of general universities, engineering, and agriculture oriented universities and Open University. The Universities of Applied Sciences comprise of general institutions and special-program institutions.

Cost Implication of Higher Education Industry

The standardized fees as per 2018/19 amounted to €2,060 for most programs. Recently, a political decision led to the halving of the fees for new students, but they will go back to normal in the next academic year. Private universities are more expensive than public ones. , and they increase with an increase in inflation every year. For Dutch students, those from EU/EEA countries, Surinam or Switzerland, the study costs in the Dutch Higher education institutions are customarily catered for by the government.

Nevertheless, the students are required to make a statutory contribution amounting to 2, 000 euros set by the government.  For non-EU/EEA students studying in the Netherlands, the cost of the study is very high. However, the amount is dependent upon the institution, the type of residence permit the learner has, the degree, whether they have to study in the Netherlands before and if they have earned a scholarship. Regarding student financing, the Dutch government has implemented a financing system to support students with their fee and living expenses. The funding is in the form of public transport, low-interest grants with favorable repayment requirements. Government financing is available to Dutch students and times to non-Dutch students.

Quality of quantity of domestic satellite campus

There are three higher education satellite campuses in the Netherlands, and these are the Vrije campus, Delft campus, and Zoetermeer campus. The three schools are branches of The Hague University, and they offer a high-quality education that is both innovative and forward-thinking. Delft is one of the best higher learning institutions leading in engineering and technology across the world. The campus appears typically among the top 20 and has been continually recognized as the leading university in technology in the Netherlands. The college has many research institutes and hosts over 33, 000 students pursuing at least one of the eight faculties offered. Zoetermeer, on the other hand, is the leading satellite campus in business and computer engineering studies. It provides eight faculties with the best being business and information technology. Vrije campus is private funded research institution ranking among the top 100 universities in the world. Due to its excellence in research and development, it has attracted government-funding, and this has boosted its activities over the years.

Netherland Political:

Political System and Players

The politics of the Dutch is made up of parliamentary democracy, a constitutional monarchy as well as a decentralized unitary state. The various political parties in this country work towards attaining a common ground on important matters.

Monarchy

The country is ruled by a King who is the head of the state charged with the duty to sign and validate laws, assist in creating a cabinet and read throne speech.

The Government

The government is composed of the King and cabinet ministers. Laws are made by the ministers who also discuss issues freely among themselves and make decisions with reference to a consensus. Moreover, the ministers can vote to make decisions, and once they are made, all ministers must publicly support the policy. Additionally, the ministers held accountable for their actions as one, and they all must win the trust of the States General. The prime minister heads the team of the cabinet ministers. The Dutch Parliament’s States General comprises of the Lower House and Upper House with the Lower house consisting of a hundred and fifty seats occupied to ratio by people’s voters during an election. The Upper House members have the power to introduce new ideas or even changes. Elections for both Houses is conducted after every four years given the cabinet does not break during the course. Together, the largest parties constitute a government as the rest of the parties make up the opposition. Unlike the Upper House, the Lower House has insignificant rights, and their work mainly involves scrutinizing the correctness of not only the laws but also the decisions reached upon by the Upper House.

Political Parties

            There are eleven political parties in the Netherlands and can belong to either the upper or lower chambers. The People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and the Labor Party are the largest parties, and they form the cabinet as well as the government. The largest opposition parties include the Socialist Party, Party for Freedom, Christian Democratic and the Christian Democratic Appeal.

Scandals and Corruption

There have been many scandals this government. The citizens have less trust in the government as compared to other European nations. Most scandals involve money embezzlement, and power abuse and the country’s corruption index is eighty-seven.

Political Ideas

The main ideas include infrastructure enhancement, reduced state interference, improved education, and enhanced military.

Government stability

According to Global Economy reports, the Netherlands has an average political stability index of 1.1. The Dutch are known to have the most trade surplus, exemplary stable industrial relationships and meager rates of unemployment. As per 2012 World Bank reports of the world’s largest economies, the country was positioned at position 18 worldwide. Additionally, business statistics rank the nation as the world’s second country with the most stable economy. From the above information, it is, therefore, safe to describe the Dutch government as relatively stable.

Analyze the higher education industry in Netherland based on the political and environmental analysis

The Dutch government gives the higher education institutions as well as independent agencies the power to control their activities meaning the government does not control the higher education market. Privatization of these learning institutions is less significant to the Dutch government, especially when compared to other nations like Russia. This is the case because the private sector in the Netherlands is tiny. Even though any issue dealing with privatization of the higher learning institutions is relevant to the policies of the Dutch Government, and they consist the potential reforms regarding the funding system these institutions. The private institutions comprise of foreign universities as well as business schools all of which the regulations of the Dutch government are irrelevant.

In summary, the classification of higher learning institutions in terms of public and private is indistinct and irrelevant in the face of the Dutch government. This because both institutions receive federal money eventually but via different models of allocation. There are no records related to students in private institutions or the number of these institutions. Since the primary goal for education in this country is to create a functional system, the responsibility of the government is thus, though with minimal interactions, to implement policies in regarding the quality, efficiency and the accessibility of education.

Risk analysis based on the political, environmental, and higher education industry analysis

The Dutch government in the new reform introduced a voucher system as an alternative for student financing. Under this system, the money for the student is sent to their respective institutions. Additionally, the performance grants provided by the government end up becoming partial or even full payment grants when students perform well. The form of financing has created a risk to the higher learning institution as it leads to competition for money and students among the institutions. Since the success of most higher learning institutions is dependent on the number and rate of student enrollment, the voucher and grants system jeopardizes the financial stability of these institutions substantially. This will in turn call for more privatizations of the higher learning institutions.

On the other hand, higher learning institutions in Dutch are becoming more preferential due to their excellent English-taught programs. This has led to massive immigration into the Netherlands, and it has dramatically impacted growth consequently leading to shortages in housing facilitates. The government has thus put a limitation stating that the higher learning institutions should only offer programs in English language only when there is an education gain associated with the same. This puts at risk the institutions which rely on English as their primary media of communication and teaching and may even lead to complete shutdown of some schools.

Opportunity evaluation based on the political, environmental, and higher education industry analysis

            The higher education system in the Netherlands is under pressure to reform. This sector is rapidly growing, and it has contributed significantly to the country’s economic success. The Dutch government expects these institutions to create knowledge, meet the needs of the students and improve equity in the most efficient ways. Amidst all this, the institutions themselves are stiffly competing for not only students but also funding as well as academic staff. The complexity of this environment dwarfs the power of the government in managing the institutions. However, as the Dutch government offers to fund these institutions, it usually holds them accountable by tying to them to their performance. Higher education institutions need to develop a creative balance between academic mission and executive capacity; and between financial viability and traditional values. Governments have to balance the encouragement of excellence with the promotion of equity. In the knowledge economy, the stakes are high. This implies that the key to supporting the institutions by the Dutch government is to excel. Since the industry is anticipating for significant changes, the new institutions will have the upper hand in the market since they will be able to adopt the new system right from the beginning. The already established institutions will have to go through cumbersome procedures to comply with the government requirement, and this puts them at a disadvantaged position financially. Therefore, there is an opportunity for the establishment of new projects seeking to offer high education facilities in the Netherlands.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The market area features an increasing number of students as more learners immigrate to the Netherlands to seek quality education and higher learning. However, it is difficult to ascertain the market profile from this evaluation due to the nature of the study. The study has revealed that even though the population composition of the Netherlands is made of the elderly, there is a large number of international students constantly flowing into to complete their studies. It has been shown that the number of students going for a bachelor’s degree is higher compared to those going for a master’s degree. This gives clear gridline on what to concentrate the most on to maximize profits. A stiff competition I expected from the already established universities, and thus this institution should seek to maximize their chances to fit in the market.

The following recommendations are made based on the limitations of the research.

I recommend that interviews should be contacted with relevant education ministries in the Netherlands to gain more insight into this venture. Further studies should include feasibility studies of similar institutions for easy comparison and contrasting purpose regarding requirements, procedures as well as results. If the project seeks to expand in the next twelve months, the specific recommendation is to obtain a reliable second-hand source of information to help to define the population characteristics to validate the study and confirm the accuracy of its financial feasibility.