Netherlands: Technical universities forced to reject Iranians

The Technical Universities of Twente and Eindhoven will not admit more students and workers from Iran. They are being coerced to do so by a requirement that they guarantee the new Iranian students won't acquire knowledge about nuclear technologies. The universities can't and are not willing to give such a guarantee, they say, because their students have a right to all available information.

The three technical universities were asked earlier by the ministries of education and foreign affairs to hold off with accepting Iranian students. The universities say the reason for this is the resolution against Iran accepted by the UN last month, which is intended to prevent the country from getting nuclear weapons.

The urgent request of the ministries has now been turned into a guarantee declaration. The universities say that this declaration must be given to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND), which otherwise won't give a visa. The IND says it is not involved in this regulation.

The University of Twente had mailed three potential Iranian students, saying they can't learn in Enschede. One had already received a scholarship, according to an internal email from the administration to the workers, which said that Iranian workers will also not be accepted anymore.

"Students have a right to freely attend all courses that are offered," says Menno van Duuren of Twente University. "We therefore can't guarantee that they won't come in contact with nuclear knowledge. Moreover, we can't control which information they get precisely."

The Socialist Party (SP) had asked the ministers of education and foreign affairs for explanations. According to SP parliamentarian Van Bommel, the request for a declaration of guarantee is an absurd regulation. "This nuclear information is easy to find also elsewhere."

A spokesperson for Eindhoven University emphasized that students are not reject by the universities, but rather by the government. "If somebody from Iran wants to study architecture, there's no reason to reject him. But the government decides if somebody gets a visa."

In the third technical university TU Delft Iranians are welcome, says a spokesperson. "We meet all the guidelines in order to admit students from Iran."

Source: Trouw (Dutch)