Faridah Ohan is a new International Master's student at the University of Twente. She is majoring in 'Educational training system design' in the faculty of Behavioural Sciences.
How do you like it here in Holland and what did you think of the Introduction programme?
'It's great, I've been here a month now. The Intro was good. There was a Dutch language class that was conducted well. We were shown around the city. On the sports day, a lot of games were organised and we had to form teams, but since everyone was free to choose a team, there was a tendency for students of the same nationality to stick together. So I think next year, it would be a good idea for the organisers to group students more heterogeneously. At a SMIT workshop, we were given a general idea of the culture here û stuff like how people stand a meter apart in queues!'
So, any plans to learn Dutch?
'Oh no! Ik spreek al Nederlands! Actually, when I was 16, I participated in an exchange program organised by the 'Indonesian foundation for intercultural activities'; I lived in Belgium for a year -in Antwerp- with a Belgian 'host family'. I went to the Catholic School during that year, and since it was all in Dutch, I had to pick up the language real fast, but living with the family made it much easier. I still keep very close contact with them - they came to visit me here in Twente. I've been a volunteer at this foundation for the past 10 years now.'
What did you do before coming here?
'After getting a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, I landed a job as Branch Manager at the 'Centre for English Learning' in Makassar. We provided in-house training to various companies and conducted English language courses for University/Highschool students. I also taught part-time at the 'Professional Development and Educational Institution of Indonesia.'
What prompted you to choose this course at the UT?
'Well, the programme here seemed rather attractive, and it doesn't have very stringent admission criteria. I've been interested in Educational Systems in general ever since college. I think that my country still has a lot to do to improve its human resources quality. In my opinion, that can be done through a good educational system.'
What are your plans for the future?
'My friends and I are planning on starting a kind of training institute back home for undergraduate Engineering students to prepare them for the industry.'
Hometown-Makkasar, Indonesia
Languages-Indonesian, English, Dutch
Favourite Food - vegetable soup
Favourite Music-classical instrumental
Best part about Holland-things are really well organised
Worst part about Holland-sometimes, too much organisation takes
away the adventure in life!
Hobbies-reading books
Dream Destination-Egypt, Greece
Ramya Srinivasan
Faridah Ohan
