An Analysis of the Development Process and Influencing Factors of the Popularization of Higher Education: Based on the Study of the Netherlands
WU Wei, HUANG Danyang
Abstract：Promoting the popularization of higher education and strengthening the quality of higher education are the general trends of higher education development in all countries of the world. The Netherlands stands as one of the pioneering European nations in achieving popularization to higher education while maintaining high-quality development. The process of higher education popularization in the Netherlands exhibits the following characteristics. The scale of higher education has steadily expanded, with applied science universities playing a crucial role in the process of popularization. Access to higher education has become more equitable, maintaining a relatively stable gender balance while meeting the different needs of individuals, and the number of non-traditional students is gradually increasing. As the scale expands, both internal and external quality assurance systems have been refined. Moreover, higher education institutions in the Netherlands have managed to maintain a relatively stable student-to-faculty ratio. The distribution of universities is relatively balanced, with research universities are mainly concentrated in cities in the western region, and applied science universities predominantly located in the eastern, western, and southern regions.The level of economic development, government policy planning and actions, the higher education system that integrates general education with vocational education, and the extent of support for higher education from enterprises and families are the main factors affecting the process of higher education popularization in the Netherlands.
Key words：the Netherlands ; popularization of higher education ; gross enrollment rate
Published in Research in Educational Development (《教育发展研究》), 2025, Issue 3.
