The Dutch government has abandoned plans to impose a foreign language teaching test on existing university programmes. The move follows opposition from universities and  concerns about the impact of such a test on higher education.

The proposed test, titled TAO (Toets Anderstalig Onderwijs), part of the Internationalisation in Balance Act, will now only apply to newly created undergraduate programmes. The bill was aimed at reducing the number of international students by ensuring that no more than one-third of teaching in any course was delivered in a language other than Dutch — unless strict conditions were met.

The decision reflects a move towards allowing universities more autonomy in deciding how to balance internationalization with the needs of their specific programs.