Cross-border impact assessment 2017 Dossier 4: Cross-border (Im)mobility of Students from Third Countries in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine The Insttute for Transnatonal and Euregional cross border cooperaton and Mobility / ITEM is the pivot of research, counselling, knowledge exchange and training actvites with regard to cross-border mobility and cooperaton. Maastricht University Cross-Border Impact Assessment 2017 Dossier 4: Cross-border (Im)mobility of Students from Third Countries in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine dr. Alexander Hoogenboom Julia Reinold The Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross-border cooperation and Mobility / ITEM is the pivot of scientific research, counselling, knowledge exchange, and training activities with regard to cross-border cooperation and mobility. ITEM is an initiative of Maastricht University (UM), the Dutch Centre of Expertise on Demographic Changes (NEIMED), Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, the City of Maastricht, the Euregio Meuse- Rhine (EMR), and the Dutch Province of Limburg. Table of Contents Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ 1 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2 2. Research Objectives and Methods ............................................................................................ 3 2.1 Ex-post Analysis: Current Effects of Existing Legislation ................................................... 3 2.2 Geographical Scope: Definition of the Cross-Border Region ............................................ 3 2.3 What are the Research Themes, Principles, Benchmarks, and Indicators? ...................... 4 2.3.1 The Research Themes of This Dossier........................................................................... 4 2.3.2 Dossier on Cross-Border Mobility of Students from Third Countries: Principles, Benchmarks, and Indicators for a Positive Situation in Border Regions .................................... 6 3. Evaluation: European Integration .............................................................................................. 9 4. Evaluation: Socio-Economic Development .............................................................................. 14 5. Evaluation Euregional Cohesion .............................................................................................. 19 6. Conclusions and Recommendations from a Euregional Perspective ...................................... 21 Annex I – Map of Higher Education Institutions in the Euregio Meuse Rhine ................................. 23 Annex II – List of Interviewees .......................................................................................................... 24 Abbreviations CB Cross-border CBS Cross-border student EMR Euregio Meuse-Rhine EU European Union HEI Higher education institution MS Member States SSS Single state student TCN Third-country national Acknowledgements This dossier is part of the Cross-Border Impact Assessment 2017 of the Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross-border cooperation and Mobility / ITEM. The authors would like to express their gratitude to all the stakeholders who took time to speak with us and share their knowledge, to the international students who shared their experiences living in a border region by filling in the online survey, and to those who helped us implement the survey. Finally, we extend our gratitude to Professors Melissa Siegel and Martin Unfried for their support along the way and for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this dossier. We would also like to acknowledge the valuable research assistance provided by Alexandra Rodriguez. Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross border cooperation and Mobility / ITEM 1 4. Cross-border (Im)mobility of Students from Third Countries in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine 1. Introduction The internationalisation of higher education has been at the centre of attention of scholars and policy-makers for some time now. The European Union (EU) advocates the admission of students from third countries to European universities and has endeavoured to create a comprehensive legal regime to facilitate this.1 Council Directive 2004/114 lies at the core of this regime. It determines the conditions for admission of students to the Member States (MS) of the EU. This Directive was adopted already in December 2004, requiring transposition by the MS by 12th January 2007. Since then, it has been subject to several evaluations addressing certain weaknesses of the Directive.23 Following these findings, Directive 2016/801 on the conditions of entry and residence of third- country nationals (TCNs) for the purposes of research, studies, training, voluntary service, pupil exchange schemes or educational projects, and au pairing was adopted to improve and replace Directive 2004/114. This dossier adds to the existing literature and debate on the evaluation of the EU’s student migration regime by taking a Euregional perspective and it has been triggered by the Pilot huisvesting Akense niet-EU studenten initiated in April 2016.4 The pilot project provides that students from third countries who study full-time at a higher education institution (HEI) in Aachen, Germany, can apply for a residence permit to live in Kerkrade or Heerlen (Parkstad Limburg) in the Netherlands. This Pilot calls attention to the possible existence of a ‘border region penalty’ for students from third countries in Dutch and German migration law. This ‘border region penalty’ is to be understood as referring to the situation in which frontier migrants are worse off, in the sense of encountering more legal hurdles, than migrants who study, work, and live in one and the same MS in an otherwise comparable situation. The existence of such a penalty could have serious effects on European integration, the socio-economic development of border regions, and Euregional cohesion. To establish if such a border region penalty exists, the dossier uses a combination of sociological and legal research methods including desk research, stakeholder interviews, and a survey among international students. Combining legal and sociological research methods helps to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the current situation regarding the cross-border (CB) mobility of students from third countries as well as related challenges and opportunities. 1 See for example: European Council, ‘Admission of third-country nationals to the Member States for study purposes’. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV%3Al33069 ; last visited on 14th August 2017. 2 See for instance: EMN, ‘Immigration of international Students to the EU’ , 2012, or European Commission ‘REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the application of Directive 2004/114/EC on the conditions of admission of third-country nationals for the purposes of studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service’, 2013, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0587:FIN:EN:PDF 3 Following these assessments, Directive 2004/114 is soon to be replaced by Directive 2016/801, which must be implemented by 23rd May 2018 at the latest. 4 See B11/2.4 Vreemdelingencirculaire 2000. Dossier 4: Cross-border (im)mobility of students from third countries in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine 2 2. Research Objectives and Methods The purpose of this dossier is to analyse the current (legal) situation of TCNs studying in the EU as regards admission to university, tuition fees, access to study facilitating benefits, right to residence, and access to the labour market. Furthermore, consequences for the three research themes, European integration, sustainable and socio-economic development of Euregions, and Euregional cohesion, are discussed. In the following, the content of this dossier is further defined in terms of relevant legislation and the geographical as well as the thematic scope. In addition, relevant principles, benchmarks, and indicators are defined. They facilitate interpreting the effects of TCN student rights on the key research themes. 2.1 Ex-post Analysis: Current Effects of Existing Legislation This dossier is an ex-post analysis of the existing EU and national legislation governing the admission of TCN students to the EU. It is important to define a number of elements from the outset. The point of departure is the so-called ‘third-country national’ (TCN): a person who does not have the nationality of a Member State of the EU or EEA, or the Swiss nationality. In addition, it will be assumed that he or she has no other special legal regime applying to him/her (such as trade or association agreements and the like) and that he or she does not already hold a residence permit of one of the EU MS. This TCN will further be assumed to seek to engage in study, to reside for that purpose, to be interested in pursuing (part-time) employment next to or after his or her studies, and to be interested in applying for study facilitating benefits (such as student grants or other forms of public support). Two positions are foreseen: The single state student (SSS): The student who seeks to pursue the listed activities in one MS. The cross-border student (CBS): The student who seeks to pursue the listed