Fewer international students in Belgium
Fewer international students apply to study abroad in Belgium since the terrorist attacks on March 22nd, according to VRT Nieuws. This applies to Erasmus funding as well as to the number of new registrations at AFS, an organization that offers international curricula.
It doesn’t stop there. Some international students decided to cancel their registration. AFS Flanders noticed this was seven percent, in Wallonia ten percent of all registered students changed their mind. Especially South-American youths didn’t feel like studying in Belgium anymore. Matthis van Hyfte of AFS stated that students do mention the terrorist attacks, but that there are also other motivations. For instance a lot of South-Americans think that Europe is overflowing with refugees, says Van Hyfte. On top of that we shouldn’t rule out the current political and economic situation in South-American, which isn’t very good at the moment. Because of the devaluation of national currencies some students simply cannot cover the costs.
It’s only speculation if the terrorist attacks are the main reason that registrations aren’t as high as last year. However it should be taken into consideration that the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) noted that the registrations for Erasmus funding also dropped with twenty percent since last year. Nikki van Tendeloo, International Relations and Mobility at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, told VRT that it is not 100% certain that this is due to the attacks. However, the developments do give her flashbacks to last year, when some VUB-students didn’t want to study in Istanbul after the Turkish city became a target of terrorism.
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