For English see below

Vanaf studiejaar 2017-2018 beginnen  16 bachelor opleidingen met een Engelse voertaal binnen de opleiding. Op het moment worden ruim 80 procent van de masteropleidingen al in het Engels aangeboden. De universiteit wordt steeds internationaler. Een landelijke trend die zich ook toont aan de UvA. Is een internationalere omgeving werkelijk een verrijking voor kwalitatief goed onderwijs of zien opleidingen vooral de financiële voordelen? Een vraag die ook de CSR bezig houdt. Op sommige faculteiten wordt al nagedacht over een tweetalige faculteit. Heb jij een sterke mening hierover? Reageer hieronder of laat het mij weten: ali.yurtseven@studentenraad.nl

Next academic year 16 bachelor tracks will have English as the official language of education. At the moment over 80 percent of the Master tracks is already in English. The university is becoming more international. Is this a positive development or is teaching in Dutch better?

Next academic year (2017- 2018) 16 Bachelor tracks begin with English as official language. At the moment over 80 percent of the Master track are already in English. The university is becoming more international. The national trend of  ‘internationalisation’ is also present at the UvA. Is internationalisation really an enrichment for education or is it mainly for the financial purpose of attracting more students? At some faculties they are thinking about making the whole faculty bilingual. Do you have a strong opinion about anglisication? Let me know: ali.yurtseven@studentenraad.nl

Ik heb ambivalente gevoelens over de verengelsing van het onderwijs. In principe is het een goed idee, zowel omdat er internationale studenten mee kunnen doen aan het programma als dat de studenten leren hun Engels te verbeteren. In de praktijk pakt het vaak anders uit. Het Engels van veel docenten is ronduit slecht, en van sommigen zelfs abominabel. Ik ben tot nu toe maar één docent tegengekomen die echt goed Engels kon, en dat was nota bene op een andere universiteit. Colleges van docenten met slecht Engels maken het alleen maar onnodig lastig om te begrijpen, bijvoorbeeld door de verkeerde vertalingen, rare zinsconstructies of gewoon vreemde uitspraak.
Ik ben dus als het op deze manier gaat tegen de verengelsing van het onderwijs. Als docenten die de vakken geven minstens een bepaald niveau van de beheersing van Engels moeten hebben of meer native speakers worden aangetrokken is het echter een heel ander verhaal.

I could not agree more with Kyle Snyder. I would just like to add that English is a vehicule of communication for all international students from which an inmense number are non-native English students. So I don’t even think is fair to refer to this issue as “Anglicisation” rather than “Internationalization” which, in my opinion, in no case does it harm the environment of a university. Quite the opposite, actually. If we do not conceive that as a positive thing, then I don’t know what would be.

A good reason to transform the Dutch universities to mostly English programmes is because very soon Dutch universities will not be able to support themselves without serious inyections of international students. It’s something that is already happening and that will continue to happen in the following years. And it should not be just a matter of the programmes, but the entire administration, as K.Snyder was addressing. If you offer international students the possibilitiy to be a part of the university, it cannot be restricted to the programme they are enrolled. If you are intrested in being involved in any other extra curricular activity, you should at least have the chance to do so. As it is now, international students cannot be involved in commisions, boards etc. because they do not speak Dutch.

I myself have always been invloved with Boards of studies at my home univerity, among other activities. Something I simply cannot do here.

Well said Mr. Snyder, well said!

As an international student, I do not care if courses are in Dutch. If I knew courses and university services/programs were going to be in only Dutch I would have just not come. However, if the university is going to advertise to me that courses are in English, but instead instruct them in Dutch, that is a serious problem. The university is happy to take money from foreign students who pay extremely high international tuition which benefits the university as well as all its students, without offering comprehensive English support (Board of Studies meetings held in Dutch for instance). So, to the university administration I say, “If you want non-Dutch money to support this university, offer the program and all ancillary support in English”.

Of course, this can be detrimental for Dutch students who lack higher proficiency in English. In some master’s courses I’ve had fellow students (Dutch and non-Dutch) who really could not perform at an academic level in English. On the other hand, for international students, they may take a course which is offered in English, but the content of the course requires Dutch knowledge. Such was the case with a core course I for my “international” MA program. In cases like these, non-Dutch students are disadvantaged. In sum, ensuring the quality of education in a globalizing educational context in the Netherlands is not only a concern for Dutch students who might be afraid of “Anglicisation”, but for international students as well. The university needs to address both sides of this problem.

In addition, I would like to address an issue with the picture you use in the newsletter: a classroom with one student asking “Could it be in English please?”. The fellow students are looking dumbfounded and the lecturer is shocked at the request. The image itself negatively targets international students, and when connecting this image to your request for opinions about “Anglicisation”, you are suggesting that non-Dutch students are the source of the “Anglicisation”. For reasons explained above, please direct your criticism toward the university administration and government bodies decreasing funding to universities. To target other students who are just looking for a good education is a serious misjudgment.

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