The Duisenberg School of Finance, launched in 2008 to provide high-end Master’s degrees, is closing down in September.

The institute has failed to attract enough students to continue as an independent educational establishment, Dutch media reports. Its degree course will now be incorporated into the honours programme at Amsterdam’s two universities, the institute said in a statement.

‘While the Duisenberg school of finance has been able – despite the challenging economic climate – to triple the number of students, the scale is insufficient to remain independent in the coming years,’ the statement said.

‘The financial sector will continue to support the Duisenberg Honours Programme intensively in the upcoming years,’ the statement said.

More than 400 students have passed through the institute since it opened as a public private partnership. The city council and economic affairs ministry funded the institute with €500,000 a year for the first five years.

Financial centre

The school is named after former Dutch central bank chief Wim Duisenberg. Duisenberg was also the first chairman of the European central bank and greatly instrumental in the launch of the euro.

The institute is the second institution set up to boost the Netherlands as a financial centre to close its doors. In 2013, the Holland Financial Centre, an organisation set up in 2008 to promote the Netherlands as a banking and finance hub, closed down.

That centre was funded by Amsterdam city council and national government to the tune of some €5.5m.