International Academics in the Netherlands: Changes, characteristics and implications

The purpose of this study is to describe an overview of changes to inbound international faculty members to Dutch higher education institutions, their main characteristics, and forces or agents of change which occurred in them, and the implications for Japanese higher education. The analysis and discussion are based primarily on official statistics issued by the Dutch government, professional associations, individual higher education institutions, earlier relevant literature, case studies and interviews with administrative and academic staff in the Netherlands. With regard to the structure, it begins with a short introduction to the Dutch higher education system and academic profession and then analyzes key characteristics of international faculty members being employed in Dutch higher education research universities. The third section deals with major forces and agents of change which affected international faculty members in Dutch higher education institutions. The article concludes by summarizing main findings and offering implications for research, policy, and practice.