Place of origin: Emmeloord, The Netherlands
Favorite sport: tennis
Favorite evening activity: going to a bar with friends
Favorite author: Willem Frederik Hermans
Favorite group: Faithless
Favorite film: Boys from the Hood
Favorite food: pannenkoeken
Favorite place to be: Prague
Favorite spot in the Netherlands: Amsterdam
Best part about being at UT: the responsibility entrusted to students
Worst part about being at UT: people who look backward rather than forward
Best advice to international students at UT: Get involved!
Founded in 1999, the Student Union serves as an umbrella organization for campus activities, including many cultural, service, and sports societies. Current Student Union President Jurgen Schutte seeks to refocus its efforts in order to better attend to the needs of international students.
As specified on their website (http://www.union.utwente.nl/english.html), the Student Union's official tasks include (1) encouraging extra-curricular activities for the development of UT students; and (2) promoting student well-being. Thus far the organization has strived successfully to meet the terms of these self-imposed duties. Nonetheless, Jurgen and his fellow board members believe they can do more to serve international students.
"A lot of international students are separated from Dutch students," worries Jurgen.
International students should be made to feel more welcome by campus groups.
Currently campus club meetings tend to concentrate on recruiting Dutch students. Jurgen contends that while PITS and SMIT do great work with exchange students and international Masters' candidates, their efforts fall short of integrating foreign students with their Dutch peers. Gathering international students together may be beneficial at first when they are seeking the company of people in a similar situation, but later this becomes isolating. In the future, the SU President would like to see every organization make an attempt to include foreign students, rather than the current situation where just a few groups deal exclusively with their needs.The SU wants all UT clubs to think of international students and tactics to include them at every step of the way.
Jurgen sees an opportunity to reach international students by holding a condensed version of the orientation that incoming Dutch students undergo in the summer before their arrival. Such an orientation could be held twice a year. Clubs from all over campus would gather to present their programs to foreign students. It is difficult for any new member of the university to take initiative and inquire about campus activities. But for foreign students, each pursuit requires effort and initiative. Just riding a bike to class can constitute a new experience! These students, of all students, need an extra warm invitation to join the UT community.
SU also deals with student housing. Previously it has served primarily Dutch students. Most international students find their housing through the departments in which they study. Jurgen recommends a more centralized system for housing coordination. The SU aims to extend its services to international students, primarily by offering their website in English and by increased cooperation with Student Services & Campus (DiSC) and the International Office.
Along the same lines, Jurgen also proposes that more information be disseminated in English. For a university that boasts of its appeal to international students, whose lingua franca is often English, too many websites, brochures, and administrative email are still available solely in Dutch.
Jurgen believes that while the attractive UT campus is certainly a selling point for the universiy, there is more to UT than green grass and friendly fowl. The university - not just the Student Union - must make every effort to extend the visual appeal of the community one sees when visiting to the sense of community one feels when joining UT as a student.
,aut Kristin Zimmerman
Jurgen Schutte
