A total of 257,000 students are attending degree classes at the Netherlands’ 13 universities, the university association VSNU said on Tuesday.

This is up around 1.5% on 2014 and above government expectations, the organisation said.

The government had forecast a 2.3% decline in student numbers this year and had based its funding accordingly. The figures will be finalised later this year.

The number of students opting for technology and science is up 11% and 9% respectively, while languages, cultural studies, behavioural sciences and healthcare are all down by around 5-6%.