Sit down, have a snack

Nieuws | de redactie
22 juni 2012 | How can university decision makers overcome the communication barrier between them and their students? A leading Dutch tech university tries a novel approach. Have dinner with them and talk about it, is the philosophy.

The setting: a mix of 30 Dutch and international students, oneRector Magnificus, snacks and drinks for everyone. At a communitycalled Quarrel Court (“Krakeelhof”) Delft University rector Karel Luyben sat down with his students andtalked about their worries, the Eurocrisis and the quality of Dutchhigher education.

Everything is intertwined

Back in 2005, his predecessor Jacob Fokkema launched “Meeting the Rector“, an initiative thought upby Library Program Manager Marion Vredeling. The goal was to “makethe gap between students and university decision makers smaller” asVredeling puts it.  When Luyben was appointed rector two yearsago, he decided to continue this project. By now, he meets eighttimes a year with students, both international and Dutch.

Now, he sits on a scuffed white leather chair in front of alarge table loaded heavily with a crate of Heineken, chips andborrelnootjes. Once all is set, the students hosts take over. Theyprepared a number of topics that matter to them. They range fromstruggles with student housing to the aging European society to theincreasingly more expensive Dutch higher education. Everything isintertwined.

Micro level internationalization

One particular issue is internationalization. “We really try tofoster an international environment at Delft University ofTechnology, but we often see that Dutch and international studentsdo not mingle,” Elco van Noort, director of the InternationalOffice, comments.

“This is indeed tricky to arrange. Students themselves need tobe open-minded to arrange that,” one of the apartment hosts argues.”A basic rule we have is that once a non-Dutch speaker is in theroom we switch to English. We learn a lot from that as well, notjust language, but also culture wise,” explains his Dutch flatmate.

At this point, rector Luyben joins the conversation. “A firststep would be to make all education in English. I am a bigsupporter of that. I am convinced that both international and Dutchstudents would benefit.”

Same education, steeper price

“You know, I really think Europe has top level education tooffer,” one Aerospace Engineering student from India remarks. “Butthe tuition fees are getting steeper and steeper while the qualitystays the same.” Right now, Delft charges €8,818 per year forMaster students who have no EU/EEA citizenship. Still quite cheap,given that some institutes like the Rotterdam School of Managementcharges €15,450 per year for a Master’s degree.

“I agree with you. It is problematic that the Dutch governmentis shifting the financing burden towards students.But the question is what can we do with the money we have? In anideal situation we should take in every talent that applies,”Luyben argues. “We should also discuss at a European level withmajor HE countries like Germany how we get talented foreigners tostudy at our universities.”

If you would like to find out more about “Meeting theRector”, please contact Marion Vredeling via m.vredeling@tudelft.nl.


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