The University of Twente ranks well in the Autumn Wave of the International Student Barometer, which was published on Thursday 2 April. The UT earned the highest score of the eight Dutch educational institutes that participated. With this score, the University of Twente takes the 24th position (out of 39) in Europe and the 108th (out of 183) in the world. Students taking part in the satisfaction survey were asked questions about themes such as arrival, facilities and services and quality level of the educational programme.
Score
The reception of international students by the International Office was assessed very positively. This involves, for example, assistance in visa applications. On this section, University of Twente ranks 1st in the Netherlands, 6th in Europe and 21st worldwide. Another striking element was the positive assessment of the international student association, which scored 1st in the national list, 9th in Europe and 32nd worldwide.
Points for Improvement
Not only does the survey offer the University of Twenty a great opportunity to compare the study environment to that of other educational establishments; it also helps gain insight in those elements in the service provision to students that can be improved. As an example, the International Office of the UT has, based on experience, made arrangements with banks to facilitate procedures for opening a new bank account by international students. Since the questions in the survey are almost identical each year, it provides valuable insights in the development of student satisfaction since 2009.
The University of Twente will in the coming years especially focus on how students can be offered more opportunities to gain working experience during their studies. The benchmark shows that international students want to be well-prepared for a professional career through relevant experience in their working fields, gained during their studies.
Internationalization
Dutch institutions still have several gains to make on internationalization. For example, it is hard for international students to find part-time jobs. Also, finding affordable and good accommodation is a problem, especially in the bigger cities. The institutions do score well on safety and on challenging education.
International Student Barometer
The International Student Barometer is an initiative of I-Graduate, an international education research institution, and it is held since 2009. 165,000 respondents of 209 educational establishments in 18 countries have participated in the ISB.
Between October and December 2014, all international students at educational establishments have received an invitation to participate. Approximately 3,100 of them were students at the UT. Almost 1,000 students have filled out the survey. Apart from the University of Twente, other Dutch institutions that took part are the University of Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam, the University of Groningen, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Wageningen University, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and Saxion University of Applied Sciences.
