Zijm broke the ice with a short personal introduction accompanied by a joke about the nationalist aspirations of the Dutch island, Texel, where he was born. He then talked a bit about the initiatives taken by the Executive Board of the University of Twente towards the internationalization of the UT. The importance of such meetings was highlighted as he depicted many of these initiatives to be the result of a similar meeting last year.
The first topic of discussion was whether higher education in English prepares students for the globalizing world. The rector was in complete agreement with the statement but was quick to point that the English language was a means to an end. He said English should serve as a tool for students to bridge the wide gap between people from different countries and cultures, and thus create an atmosphere of mutual understanding on the UT campus. While most of the student participants agreed, some of them hammered out their plight about courses being conducted in Dutch, while they had been promised to be in English at the time of admission. In many such cases students who were unable to understand Dutch lectures were put into `self-study groups,' but were expected to take the same exam as the Dutch students at the end. The rector assured the audience that the Executive Board was taking several steps to rectify the situation including a program to train lecturers so that all master's courses would be conducted only in English.
On this subject, Karin Paardenkooper from the International Office commented that the Executive Board had sought feedback about this from deans of all schools and a definitive policy change is close. She also highlighted other efforts like the Language Coordination Centre tripling its workforce in the last year. The second edition of the International Students' Handbook, which contains valuable information about visas, housing and other practical matters, is ready; copies were distributed to participants.
Roughly an equal number of students voiced their contentment about the promulgation of English at the UT and commented that it was much better than universities elsewhere in Europe, like Switzerland or France.
The second point that the participants were called to comment on was whether the University Council (UC) should include international students as its members. The rector said that the UC serves as an advisory body to the Executive Board about matters relating to students and employees of UT and was consulted on policy decisions. There are nine UT employees and nine students, all Dutch, who are currently part of the UC. International students said that their representation in the UC was certainly a good idea, but all UC documentation and procedures being in Dutch language makes it rather difficult.
Rector Zijm summed up the discussion by outlining various initiatives undertaken by different bodies at the UT to make the stay of international students as comfortable as possible. Most notably, the Executive Board has decided to offer three Dutch language courses, which include the intensive week, follow-up-1 and follow-up-2 courses, free of charge to all international PhD candidates. He encouraged all students to make themselves heard when they have problems, to the local administration of their faculty or to one of the various organizations such as SMIT, International Office and the University Council. He hoped that these efforts would help conjure up an environment of tolerance and mutual understanding within the UT campus and allow international students to enjoy a pleasant and productive stay here.
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