Dutch university rejects Iranian students for nuclear concerns
www.chinaview.cn
2008-01-04 04:45:41
Special Report: Iran Nuclear Crisis
BRUSSELS, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) — A Dutch university will no longer enroll students from Iran because the Dutch government is concerned Iranians could gain nuclear expertise from the Netherlands, Dutch newspaper Trouw reported Thursday.
The Twente University of Technology, located in the eastern Dutch city of Enschede, has informed three potential Iranian students in writing that they cannot study at the university. One of them had already received confirmation of a grant.
An internal email by the university management to staff also states, according to Trouw, that no more Iranian staff members will be employed there.
The Twente University and the other two Dutch universities of technology in the Netherlands, the Eindhoven University and the Delft University, are required by the Dutch government to state in a declaration that Iranian students will not have access to knowledge on nuclear technology.
The universities must send the declaration to the Dutch Immigration Service to obtain visa for their students, said the paper.
The Twente University said it cannot issue this statement because its students are entitled to all information available, and an all time surveillance would be impossible.
A spokesman for the Eindhoven University was quoted by Trouw assaying, “If people from Iran want to study architecture here there is no reason whatever to refuse them. But the government decides whether to issue them a visa.”
The Delft University still admits Iranians, the paper said.
The three universities were previously warned by the Dutch ministries of education and foreign affairs to be prudent as far as admitting Iranians is concerned. That request has now been replaced by the declaration, the report said.
Editor: Yan Liang
