/Mensen
/Nieuws
/Cultuur
/Studentenleven
/English page
/Onderzoek
/Ruis
/Harmpje
/Colofon
/Vacatures
/Mensa
/Oude cursors
/pdf formaat
/TUE
jaargang 42, 25 mei 2000
English page
|
/Voorpagina /Mensen /Nieuws /Cultuur /Studentenleven /English page /Onderzoek /Ruis /Harmpje /Colofon |
/Faculteits Berichten /Vacatures /Mensa /Oude cursors /pdf formaat /TUE |
|
jaargang 42, 25 mei 2000 English page |
|
TUE’s Executive Board are looking to engage foreign staff and students in an internal discussion on internationalisation. Chairman dr.ir Henk de Wilt has issued a general invitation to the English-speaking population for a meeting on June 15 at which he will talk about past, present and future university policy.
“I’m not doing this for my own benefit. I want reflection, reaction and debate. I hope to shake loose an active and focused discussion on internationalisation with those at TUE who are most directly involved,” he says.
Why TUE? “One of the things I want to talk about is why people come to TU Eindhoven in the first place. Indeed, why should they come? And what can we do to make the university more attractive? I want to know what we’re doing wrong and find out about needs not being met. Do people want better housing, more child-care or improved conditions for their partners? Obviously, these are things we need to keep working on, but there may be other ways we can improve our image.”
The foreign population at TUE is not a cohesive group. Necessarily, people are concerned with their individual projects and usually only know the people they work with directly. “I don’t know if people want to be more involved in what’s going on at the university. I do want to try to get our foreign population more interested in policy matters. I want to encourage people to look at the larger picture and to collaborate more. We are already seeing the positive effect of this in our research schools,” De Wilt continues.
Not Enough Students At present, TUE’s foreign population number about four hundred. Many of these people are post-graduates. Forty per cent of all post-graduates (aio) are foreign. The percentage of foreign post-docs is even higher: 62%. But, according to De Wilt, TUE are lagging behind in the number of foreign students they manage to attract. “We need to speed up internationalisation. Our ‘raison d’ętre’ is justified in an increasingly great part by our international reputation. In the future, our Dutch system will give way to an Anglo-Saxon model. The second phase of many our courses will be taught in English. Mechanical engineering and chemical engineering will be among the first courses where this idea is applied. This will make it easier for foreign students to spend time at TUE.”
Sabbaticals Teaching in English is of course not easy for lecturers whose first language is not English, be they Dutch, Russian or French. De Wilt thinks more lecturers should take sabbaticals in English-speaking countries. “About half of our design course is in English. We see some subjects being taught in English and some in Dutch, depending on what lecturers and students find more congenial. However, the discussion on the matter of teaching in English is only beginning.” De Wilt sees a future development of TUE in a management policy based on facts rather than opinions. “We should be looking at the technologies of the 21st century, find out what society will need in terms of technology and manpower. We should define ourselves by concentrating on the things we do well, like research and design. Some things we should drop or leave to others, such as the analysis of methods.”
“By concentrating on our strong points we make sure our effort isn’t weakened. We plan to combine our strengths rather than combat or weaknesses. With this approach, problems tend to disappear in the wake of enthusiasm successes generate.”/.
|
|
The eighth edition of the Virus festival went very well, apart from a few small incidents and fights. The varied program attracted some six thousand people to TUE campus. Whoever managed to defy the rain was treated to a high quality program with performances ranging from dance to poetry and from hardcore punk to Swedish folk music. The acts that really drew crowds were the pop sensation from The Hague, Kane, the Belgian author Herman Brusselmans and former Life of Agony singer Keith Caputo. The festival closed quite abruptly at 1.00 a.m. after a group of youths kept causing disturbances on the dance floor. To prevent escalation, the organisers decided to immediately end the closing party. Half an hour later there was a fight at the Auditorium. The police put an end to that without pulling any punches. Two men from Eindhoven were arrested.
|
|
Anyone who regularly plays sports at TUE has undoubtedly met Wim Koch at the Student Sports Centre. He coaches Hajraa, Esac and All Terrain and is also responsible for co-ordination with others at the Sports Centre. Koch will be away until October, due to the fact that he is acting as assistant coach to the national Dutch volleyball team, who are still qualifying for the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Koch is acting on the assumption that the team will attain the norm and actually take part. “I don’t think in doomsday scenarios. We should be able to win easily by 3 to 0 from all the teams we have to play to qualify. Our only problem is a certain lack of fighting spirit, something we are working hard at building.” Koch’s job is to prepare games for the “Orange” players, for which purpose he often watches videos of competitor’s games into the night to find out how they play. “I’m the one that gets the least sleep in this kind of period. It’s tough, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” The Dutch volleyball team are the reigning Olympic champions, but there have been many changes in the membership of the team during the last four years.
Road Closed
No Cursor
PC Project Revisited
|
