Opinion

Teaching English at all costs

Stefano Stramigioli, professor of Advanced Robotics, is known for not mincing his words. He is a passionate scientist, a critical academic and lover of music and good Italian coffee. As a columnist for U-Today, he regularly writes about what's on his mind in the university world.
News

University Council wants to raise English requirements (again)

The University Council (UC) has, once again, expressed its concern about the low English language requirements of international students at the UT. Rector Tom Veldkamp agrees there is a problem and will propose a solution in September. ‘But if we raise the bar for international students, we also have to raise the bar for Dutch students.’
News
UT Language policy evaluation

‘We see an increased interest in Dutch’

Interest in learning Dutch is growing at the UT – not only among international students and staff, but also among native speakers whose Dutch is declining. That is one of the conclusions of the recent evaluation of the UT language policy. Katja Hunfeld, Head of the UT Language Centre and author of the evaluation, explains more.
Opinion

Spring awakening with dark clouds

Lisa Waldera (25) is a master’s student Communication Studies from Bremen, Germany. For three years now, she’s been living on campus. Next to her study, she regularly visits the cinema and enjoys concerts of all music genres. Every other week she writes about her life at the University of Twente.
Opinion

English everywhere, please

Lisa Waldera (24) is a master’s student Communication Studies from Bremen, Germany. For three years now, she’s been living on campus. Next to her study, she regularly visits the cinema and enjoys concerts of all music genres. Every other week she writes about her life at the University of Twente.
News
English chitchat at English High Tea

‘You will make mistakes, just laugh about it’

Scones, small sandwiches and discussions about English. That was a High Tea organized by the Language Policy working group in the Gallery yesterday. The event was meant to help UT staff with the transition toward English.
Opinion
Opinion piece by Sevim Aktas

‘English a problem? Well, not for us students.’

The language discussion is taking its second round in ‘Let’s get more ridiculous’. Last Thursday, the court case against the UT and MU took place. ‘The house is burning but the fireman are not taking action.’ Really? What a circus, with BON in the leading role.
News

About 18 UT teachers might not be allowed to teach

New UT Language Policy – if approved by the University Council – will make English the official language of communication at the UT. We interviewed Katja Hunfeld, the Head of the University’s Language Centre (TCP), which has been actively involved in drawing up the policy, to discuss its possible consequences.
Opinion

UReka: ‘It’s time to make education in English understandable’

The current fraction of the University Council party UReka wrote a wake-up call to rector Thom Palstra concerning the level of English at the UT. An opinion article: ‘We are behind schedule and need to put in the effort to catch up!’
News

'There is not a lot of sympathy for Dunglish'

English has many varieties, but is Dutch English one of them? How do we decide what is a legitimate variety of a language? That was the main topic of a Studium Generale lecture, held on the 10th of March 2015 and presented by Alison Edwards, a researcher with a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Cambridge.
News

Speaking English in 2018? Small majority says yes

Opinions are divided on UT’s intention to change the language of communication of this university to English. A small majority of the voters (52 percent) on a poll on this website agrees with this plan; 48 percent doesn’t like English to be the official language of communication.
News

English language of communication

By 2018, English will be the UT's language of communication. Thus the 2015-2020 Internationalization Vision. This vision forms part of the Vision2020 strategy document, which details the UT's objectives of becoming excellent and entrepreneurial, but also 'heavily oriented towards the international arena'.
News

Second-year students surprised: programme no longer in Dutch

It came as a surprise to upcoming second-year Communication Studies students: yesterday, they received the news that after the summer holidays, their programme will be predominantly in English. ‘We should have communicated this better,’ agrees Menno de Jong, Programme Director.
News

Learn a language in three days!

An expected misconception from people reading the title, is that I mean it would take exactly three days to learn a language, and that I am about to present the magical formula for this. I apologize for foiling your dreams, but I do not have any magical formula, neither do I know how long it would take you to learn a new language. Unfortunately, the answer to ‘How long does it take to learn a language?’ is only determined by the learner himself.

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