Protests against Belgian plan to keep out foreign students
HELENA SPONGENBERG
22.03.2006 @ 09:57 CET
Belgian professors and French students in Belgium will hit the streets of Brussels on Wednesday to protest against a Belgian plan aimed at limiting the number of foreign students in higher education – a plan that could go against EU law.
The move comes as French students in particular come to Belgium to take advantage of easier access to medical studies and receive cheaper education in Belgium in their own language, reports Le Monde.
French students find it easier to study medicine in Belgium (Photo: European Commission)
In some areas, such as veterinary medicine, French students count for 86 percent of the total.
The minister for higher education of the French-speaking community in Belgium, Marie-Domenica Simonet, wants to limit the number of foreign students to 30 percent in fields with very high levels of foreigners from September 2006.
She stressed the reform could save €15 million that could be reinvested in Belgian education.
The French hope the EU will veto the plan on grounds of it discriminating against EU citizens.
Belgian professors have joined the French students' protest fearing that the reform may lead to job cuts.
Last month, the Austrian government also said it would cap the number of foreign students at its universities at 20 percent in a bid to restrict German access to its medical faculties.
The Austrian move comes despite a recent EU court ruling which declared earlier restrictions illegal.