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UR | TU/english or not TU/english
“What makes us Dutch?”. Personally, I haven’t got the faintest idea, but the Dutch politicians have strong opinions about it. In a relatively obscure corner of this philosophical question the ongoing debate about internationalization in higher education takes place. A part of the coalition parties (predominantly D66 and VVD), certainly see the merits of internationalization. Opposing them are parties such as the CDA, SP and PVV, who plead for (partially) undoing the internationalization on the universities.
Groep-één has pleaded the last few years for an ‘integral language policy’; we want an institution wide policy that clearly states which languages are spoken and what support will be provided consequently. This request kickstarted a project and as University-council-fraction we gave our input and saw the policy gradually taking shape.
However, when the plans were made public, a political bombshell exploded: in the Dutch House of Representatives SP and CDA immediately started asking crucial questions and they were not positive. Fortunately, the Minister was on our side and she handled the questions successfully.
A few weeks later Groep-één received an invitation from the Interstedelijk Studenten Overleg (a nationwide umbrella organization for University Council student fractions): 'Who will join us at the ministry of Education, Culture & Sciences to discuss internationalization?'. Of course we joined and our chairman and secretary traveled to Den Haag to take part in the discussion.
We were joined by two government workers who were fanatically taking pages of notes and minutes, which the minster would eventually use in debate with the House. After one and a half hour of discussion no consensus was reached, as the opinions and views of the institutions varied greatly. Some severely disliked internationalization and would not even dare to touch it with a ten foot pole, whilst others invited internationals with open arms.
Middle ground
What does Groep-één think? We consider this debate in a very nuanced manner. If we were to decide to only teach in Dutch, we would have to stop every program we are currently offering since there would be too few professors. On the other hand, we think that forcing everyone on campus to speak English a hundred percent of the time would probably destroy large parts of our community.
We therefore prefer the middle ground: departments decide what the best language is for their programs and the TU/e makes sure that everyone who studies here, lives here or works here can feel at home. We can achieve this by speaking English when an international is present and otherwise we just speak Dutch. Additionally, we feel TU/e is tasked with gathering as much knowledge about technology and fundamental sciences as possible. If that means that we should speak English as our primary working language, then that not only benefits the TU/e but also the Netherlands in its entirety.
Yoram Meijaard is a member of student fraction Groep-één
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