This Thursday, 15 June, Dutch Parliament will discuss internationalisation in higher education. Together with other Dutch universities, UT has provided input to the MPs for this debate. Internationalisation is essential for providing and conducting high-quality education and research, while we also recognise the bottlenecks that internationalisation currently poses.
In the memorandum to Parliament, the universities, united in Universiteiten van Nederland, provide a number of suggestions:
- Let the sector bear responsibility in directing intake and let universities and colleges ensure that education is accessible to all;
- Offer international students the opportunity to learn Dutch;
- Ensure that Dutch students also work on their native language skills during their studies.
- Together with educational institutions and (regional) governments, invest in increasing the chances of international students staying on after their studies.
We wholeheartedly endorse the input from Universiteiten van Nederland to benefit the Parliamentary debate. UT actively contributed to the creation of this input. We did so because, as a university of technology, we consider it very important to continue to provide Dutch society with highly educated talent with a High Tech Human Touch, and the most up-to-date and relevant research and innovation insights. As a university in a border region, we want to contribute to a strong (eu)regional economy and labour market, and we see in practice every day the added value of international students, colleagues, alumni and knowledge for our region.
The memorandum from Universiteiten van Nederland can be read on their website (in Dutch, an English version may be available soon). On our website, you will find more background information on the internationalisation debate.
