Embarrassing sighs from Dutch students
A Dutch presentation, sighing students whenever a subject is in English. Tilburg University isn’t properly equipped for Internationalisation, according to Master student Peter Güldenpfennig.
Peter Güldenpfennig
On top of the Koopmans building, the sign reads ‘Tilburg University’. When I go for a bite at twelve o’clock the name slowly disappears behind the roof of the K-building as I pass the ‘Study Store’ on my way to the ‘Food Plaza’.
At my own Faculty of Humanities, most lecturers still consider Dutch the official language of education, despite the fact that the number of foreign students is rising.
Recently, I had a lecture on the master thesis: consider it as the crown upon one’s work as a master student. An important subject and obligatory for all of us, on the course.
Therefore, it is no surprise that foreign students will be attending this lecture. At least, that’s what I thought. The entire presentation was in Dutch; the completely confused, Chinese student sitting next to me didn’t understand a word of what was said. When I asked whether the lecture could be given in English, it turned out that the foreign students hadn’t been taking into consideration. Whether they could e-mail the coordinator? The lecturer isn’t to blame, he was obviously just sticking to his schedule (which could be up for criticism too, but we won’t get into that here) Lecturers give numerous lectures, sometimes with and sometimes without foreign students. As time goes by, they can’t keep track of who is in which lecture.
There are lectures that are held in English. What is really striking about these lectures, are the disgraceful reactions by Dutch students, who are nowadays – and I’m choosing my words carefully – very unfriendly towards their foreign colleagues. Recently, a lecture of which I shall not name the subject, was held in English for the sake of a foreign girl. This went together with loud sigh
dfasdfadsfa Isn’t this an international University? Don’t students have to deal with English material all the time? Well now, the world is far greater than the student canteen and café Philip. One should be happy with the possibilities this University offers, as far as developing yourself internationally, is concerned. English should be the standard in every lecture. In each subject, regardless of the fact whether foreign students are attending or not. This isn’t a complaint, nor is it a wish, but a logical consequence of the position and the name that this University has adopted. It isn’t easy, but should students run into problems because their English isn’t up to scratch, they can always turn to the language centre here.
If I were a foreign student and I had chosen to do my Masters degree in Tilburg, I would have been pretty fed up over the course of the year. When I take a good look around me, I realize that I am studying at the ‘Universiteit van Tilburg’ and not at Tilburg University. Unfortunately.
[Peter Güldenpfennig is a master student in Human Aspects of Information Technology]
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