Where Are the Dutch Men? Inside UCU’s Growing Gender Divide by André Barros

Out of 314 new students, only 14 Dutch men were accepted into University College Utrecht in 2025, the lowest in years.

On the first day of the introduction week of University College Utrecht’s 2025-2026 academic year, 314 eager first-year students flooded the dining hall. Amid the chatter in Dutch and English, one figure stands out, not for what it says, but for what it represents. Out of 314 first-years, only 14 are Dutch men. 

The gender gap at UCU has long been pronounced. In recent years, male students have made up roughly 30% of the student body, compared to 70% women, a common pattern across liberal arts colleges in the Netherlands. Yet, among Dutch men in particular, the numbers have fallen even further.

This year, they make up just 4% of all first-year students, one of the lowest proportions in the college’s history. 

“In previous years, we had 30-40 male Dutch students at UCU; now that number has dropped significantly this year. It is noticeable in committees, classrooms, and just campus life in general,” explains Jochem, chair of University College Student Association, who is a Dutch male. 

In the Netherlands overall, more women than men enrol in higher education programmes. For example, in 2022, among 25–34-year-olds, the Centraal Bureau Voor de Statistiek reported that 60.2% of women had a university or university of applied sciences diploma, compared to 52% of men. Women mainly outnumber men in the disciplines of healthcare, social studies, and education. Conversely, more men than women take engineering and computer science programmes. UCU mirrors the broader trend of higher female participation in Dutch higher education, but while UCU strives to bridge the gaps between disciplines through its liberal arts model, gender divisions seem to be growing instead. 

One of the main challenges UCU faces is a lack of exposure. Although the programme was founded in 1998, it is still relatively new in Dutch academic circles and struggles to reach secondary school students considering higher education. Duco, a first-year male Dutch student from Rotterdam, pursuing a science major in biology, vividly remembers the confusion. “At the university fair in my high school, I couldn’t even find UCU on the list. Honestly, I had to call a UCU advisor just to understand what it actually was,” he says. 

The programme is also often misunderstood. Many male Dutch students find the programme too risky for their academic futures and opt for established programmes. The very term ‘Liberal Arts and Sciences’ carries connotations that fail to resonate with many male Dutch students. When Duco finally stumbled upon it, the word ‘liberal’ almost scared him off. “It sounds a bit vague,” he admits. “And ‘arts’? That makes Dutch guys think it’s all about painting or philosophy. There's prejudice. If it sounded more technical, maybe more would apply,” he confesses. 

So, what’s it like being a minority on a campus in your own country? For another male Dutch student, Maurits, the imbalance was immediately obvious. “In my introweek group, I was the only guy, until another one showed up late. When you lock eyes with another Dutch guy, you can tell right away,” he laughs, “You just want to talk to them.” 

For many, being part of the 4% is both rewarding and challenging. Male Dutch first-year students can live on a multicultural campus, meeting students from all over the world, and still live in their own country. Many decide to join student associations and sports teams outside of campus and visit their hometowns, while still going to UCSA Bar party nights and attending committee events. “UCU is great because we get to meet so many international people, often with much more interesting backgrounds than us, and at the same time, we can take 2 steps off-campus and hear Dutch everywhere. It is a really fun and interesting place to be,” shares Maurits. 

However, many male Dutch students seek the company of other Dutch men, where they can feel more at ease and not constantly have to communicate in a language that still feels foreign to them. Some decide to join on campus fraternities such as Equites, where they can meet other Dutch male students who live on campus. They also enjoy discussing topics that feel specific to their experiences as male Dutch students at UCU, things only others in the same situation can truly relate to. 

“While obviously most Dutch males have friends outside of campus, they don’t really get what it's like doing Liberal Arts and Sciences or what it’s like living on the UCU campus. It’s nice having male Dutch friends at UCU, because it’s nice to talk to someone who shares the same experiences as us,” Maurits explains. 

For many male Dutch students, being part of such a small group on campus means carrying the weight of others’ expectations. For many first-year international students, it’s the first time they meet someone from the Netherlands, which can make these impressions feel especially loaded. As a result, Dutch men sometimes feel like symbols of an entire culture, rather than individuals. This visibility can be isolating at times, especially on an international campus, where fitting in often requires subtle code-switching, adjusting the way they speak or act to align with the dominant, globally-minded environment around them. 

As a result, Dutch men sometimes feel like symbols of an entire culture, rather than individuals.

A member of the UCU Student Council acknowledges that the university’s focus has recently shifted more toward its international community, partly due to government pressure to limit the influx of foreign students. “The administration has to manage trying to stay attractive to international students, while meeting national expectations,” the council member explains. 

Both Maurits and Duco believe the college should put greater effort into strengthening its image within the Netherlands. They suggest marketing UCU more clearly as an honours programme and building stronger ties with secondary schools to raise awareness among prospective Dutch students. 

While the campus continues to promote diversity and interdisciplinary learning as core values, the gender imbalance and the different experiences it creates remain a complex challenge to address.