Foreign students must work more…but not yet

Foreign student needs to work more to get a study finance. And the new regulation is implemented soon. Or maybe not?

Foreign students will have to  work considerably more in order to be eligible for a basic grant, a public transport pass and a loan. Fourteen hours a week, instead of eight. National media announced early this  year that the measure will be introduced in the new academic year (starting…well…now). But foreign students at Tilburg University knew absolutely nothing about the new regulation. It remained a rumor, since they didn’t receive information from DUO, nor from the university. This is how Univers found out the details:

Who would know better than Job Slok, the spokesman of Halbe Zijlstra, responsible for the (austerity) measures? But Slok is unfortunately not home. Not available through his e-mail, not on his usual number, not on his mobile. “Please leave no message,” is all he has to say on his voice mail. “And you should really talk to Slok,” confirms a spokesman for the ministry who himself knows nothing about the measure.

Nuffic, the Dutch organization for internationalization in higher education, know all about the dreaded measure, but nothing of the implementation date. “If you know something, please let us know” asked the Nuffic employee.

The International Office at Tilburg University is inconclusive. “I know exactly what you’re talking about,” says director Rose Hogenkamp. “But I’m not sure when it comes into force. You must call DUO .” Easier said than done. DUO (the executive office for education) has no spokesperson, only a robot answering questions. After five minutes on the phone and nine (!) automatic redirections we can finally talk to an employee who gave the redeeming answer …. “One moment please, you will be assisted within 19 minutes. In the meantime, important journalistic work was piling up, so we decided to call back later.

UPDATE: News in the mail from the Front Zijlstra! Good news for all foreign students: the measure is not introduced from the beginning of this academic year, but on 1 January 2013.

Read more about working foreign students in the next issue of Univers .