Within seven years after graduating from a Dutch university, around one in sixteen international alumni have set up their own business in the Netherlands. This is one of the findings in the latest edition of the ‘Internationalisation Monitor’ published by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
In the 2009/’10 academic year, 5.5 thousand international students who were registered in the Key Register of Persons (BRP) graduated from Dutch universities. In 2014, four years after graduation, 35 percent of this group were still in the Netherlands and 24 percent were employed here. By 2017 and within seven years from graduating, 6 percent had founded a company. Of the alumni who graduated in the same academic year and who were not international students (mostly staying on in the Netherlands), 18 percent had set up a business. The majority of international alumni from Dutch universities come from either Germany or China. Of the German graduates registered in the BRP, nearly 26 percent were still registered after four years, with over 18 percent employed here. By 2017 and within seven years from graduating, 4 percent had founded a company. These shares are lower than the average for alumni from around the EU (with 31 percent still registered in the BRP, 22 percent employed here and 6 percent owning a company). As for the alumni from China, the share still registered after more than four years is similar to that of other non-EU graduates, while more than an average share are employed in the Netherlands but their likelihood of founding a company is lower than average.