HomeNewsThe University of Twente is an international university in the Netherlands welcoming everyone

The University of Twente is an international university in the Netherlands welcoming everyone

“We cherish our native language and invite newcomers to learn it,” says Victor van der Chijs, President of the Executive Board of the University of Twente, about the official language policy, which will primarily be English from 1 January, after a transition period lasting several years. But this doesn’t mean that English will be the only language spoken or written. “Dutch is and will definitely continue to be used on our campus.” The decision is currently topical again in light of the House of Representatives debate on the bill recently put forward by Minister van Engelshoven on the issue of ‘Language and accessibility.’

Decision on internationalisation vision and English as official language taken back in 2015

As part of the new UT strategy Vision2020, an internationalisation vision was adopted with the support of the University Council in 2015. A key part of this vision was our desire to educate students to become ‘global citizens’ and offer them an international learning environment, with English as the official language. As a university of technology, we are a global player. In our field, and the future field of work of our students, English is often the official language.

One of the degree programmes was already taught in English back in 2002. Because of demand from the professional field and from students themselves, increasing numbers of programmes have followed suit since then. In adopting the internationalisation vision and official language policy, the University Council specifically called for degree programmes to have the finale say to determine whether or not to use English as the language of instruction. The recently-updated Code of Conduct also stipulates this. In recent years, many degree programmes have opted for English because they wish to offer their students an international classroom. For specific, discipline-related reasons, some programmes continue to use Dutch as the language of instruction if the context is Dutch, as in the case of Technical Medicine.

Since 2004, UT has been communicating as an organisation in both Dutch and English. Over the years, there were signals from prospective students that they wanted to opt for an English-language programme, seeing it as a more effective way of preparing for future work in an international setting. Partly in view of the fact that a third of the UT student population and more than 40% of the academic staff in the faculties are international, UT decided in 2015 to switch primarily to English also for its formal communications. The key principle in this is inclusiveness. UT aims to offer everyone an opportunity to contribute to the organisation. “Thanks to this move, our organisation has become increasingly attractive for both Dutch and international talent to come and work or study here. Even Dutch students are increasingly opting for programmes with an international focus, as our intake figures show,” explains Victor van der Chijs. “We also feel that our choice has been endorsed by the report recently published by the Inspectorate. In it, the inspectorate concluded that there is no suggestion that the use of English in any way constitutes a threat to overall access to higher education.”

So what will English as the official language actually mean at UT?

The change starting on 1 January 2020 will not be particularly noticeable because English is already widely used to communicate on and around campus. It has been agreed that, as of 1 January 2020, all formal decisions and (where possible) all related documents should also be available in English, in order to enable everyone to follow and contribute to UT decision-making.
Employees who find this difficult will receive additional support and training.
If the use of Dutch is required by law, such as for annual reports or staff handbooks, we will continue to make this happen. In many cases, this will mean that a Dutch-language version takes precedence and an English language translation is provided.

At coffee machines, in meetings or at interviews, the language we speak will be adapted to suit the people present. Alongside international staff and students, we will also encourage our Dutch students to keep their native language up to speed by offering a range of courses in Dutch writing and presentation skills. We also see proficiency in the Dutch language as an important factor in enabling employees to integrate effectively in our society and in retaining talent for the region.

More information

Further information on language policy at UT can be found at: www.utwente.nl/languagepolicy