In Australia, our entry to universities is dependent largely on a grade resulting from our schooling. The grade is based on two parts: in school assignments/tests and a large end of school exam block. The thing is that the assignment/test part scales based on how well the average student from your school/class went on the final exam.

Wealthy students get the best grades since their parents send them to expensive schools designed to maximise this system. They then get into the "best" universities.

> Dutch universities can’t select for students

What do the Dutch do if there are 10k spots available in a given university and 20k people apply?

Unlikely that this kind of growth suddenly happens. Growth of +\- 20% can usually be handled (eg booking a larger room for the lectures). So studies can usually grow their teaching base as needed.

Exceptions happen: eg the popularity of CSI lead to a huge boom in people wanting to study forensic sciences. IIRC they were allowed to limit the seats for those studies back in the day.

Similarly, dentistry and doctors have a fixed amount of seats. They have a lottery that is biased based on your high school grades.

Overall I think this system has the better outcomes ‘on average’, but that the true top students are not challenged as much as they would be in a more selective system such as the US/UK

They would probably have their government fund building more univiersities and training / encouraging more people to become professors?

Just like that?

I didn't know that the Dutch had unlimited money. Weird that the portion of the population with degrees (44%) is comparable to the US (46%).