Last week an international party was held in the Vrijhof's foyer. UT Dutch and foreign PhD students exchanged their stories over a drink. It was the first time such a get-together had been organized.
Jan Rutger Schrader, one of the organizers of the meeting, recently took the course 'Tips for PhDs' with the UT's Dinkel-institute. He considered the lessons very useful, explaining 'The course gave me suggestions on how PhDs can best work with their advisors, colleagues and peers. It was said that maintaining contacts, especially informal ones, is very important. That resulted in the idea of organizing this get-together. Its purpose is for PhDs to share experiences, discuss common problems and learn from each other. But of course it's mostly about enjoying yourself.'
Kiran from India agrees. He thinks the gathering is a good initiative. The Applied Mathematics doctoral student already has many contacts with other foreigners, in part through the table tennis club. He really likes the Netherlands and hopes that more activities will be organized for PhDs in the near future.
Giancarlo from Brazil also enjoyed himself. He hopes that PhDs will do more things as a group. One of the things the Computer Science PhD student likes about the Netherlands is the cultural diversity. 'You get in touch with different cultures. That is very interesting.'
Giovanni Huisken from the Twente PhD-student Council (TAB) delivered a speech at the meeting. He explained briefly that TAB is 'an organization which concerns itself with the interests of PhD students at the University of Twente. The goal is to improve their working environment and inform them through informal meetings such as this one.' In his speech Huisken indicated the importance of his organization and emphasized that there is an urgent need for new members to attend and organize meetings.
In conclusion he called attention to TAB's symposium, "The art of supervision", which takes place on May 29th. He called on all attendees to come and take a look.
