Saxion Universities offer Preparatory Courses for students that require extra English support (students that do not yet have the required level of IELTS or TOEFL).

These programmes are aimed at two categories of students:

A. students who have already obtained a Bachelors degree in their home country, or who have a minimum of 3 years of higher education (and therefore are technically eligible to apply for a Final Year programme), but whose English language skills have not reached the level required for a Final Year (Bachelors) or Masters Programme.

B. students who have obtained a diploma of secondary education with good results whose English language skills have not reached the level required for entrance to a four-year Bachelors Programme.

Costs: Prepatory course 6 months ? 7,450 and 12 months ? 12,750.

More info: Saxion University website.

• Sharp rise in number of Dutch singles

The number of singles living in the Netherlands has increased by 400,000 in the past 10 years to almost 2.5 million on 1 January 2006. About one in six men live alone and one in five women are single, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said on Monday.

The CBS attributed the increase in the number of singles to population growth. Relationships are more frequently ending in break-ups and youth are more often choosing to live alone. The number of single men aged 35-54 is rising the quickest. In 1996, there were 300,000 single men in this age group. Ten years later, that figure had risen to 419,000. Read more: Eurogates.Forum

• Holland: Residence permit applications are restricted

Immigrants will in future only be allowed to submit one application for a regular residence permit, either for work, study or family unification, the Dutch Parliament decided recently. The proposal was lodged by right-wing party Geert Wilders during general discussions around government policy and the budget. Members of Parliament (MPs) backed the proposal, calling on the Cabinet to amend current regulations.

Up until now, foreigners can submit an unlimited number of applications for a residence permit and remain in the Netherlands waiting for their assessment. Wilders said foreigners are therefore staying unnecessarily long in the Netherlands, stressing that this undermined the nation's repatriation policy. The former Liberal VVD MP also wanted to reduce pressure on the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and the nation's courts. Read more: Eurogates.Forum

• Germany plans to introduce ID cards for expats

Federal authorities said they planned to introduce German identity cards for resident aliens, similar to those already carried by all German citizens. At present, non-Germans use their passports stamped with German visas as identity documents.

August Hanning, a state secretary at the federal interior ministry, told a Hamburg conference on digital commerce late Thursday that the planned computer-readable cards for Germans and non-Germans would contain photos and fingerprints.

In a related development, teachers in the German port city of Hamburg say they are quietly educating in public schools hundreds of children whose families have sneaked into the country illegally and live in fear of discovery, according to newspaper reports. Read more: Eurogates.Forum