The Personnel and Organization department (DPO) ran a pilot project within Chemical Engineering and Chemistry last autumn, whereby international staff members who have been working at TU/e for some time are linked as buddies to international newcomers within their Departments. Based on a positive evaluation DPO intends to introduce the system at all Departments. Willem van Hoorn, who has set up this project from DPO together with Mariëlle van Gerven, is very enthusiastic about the results of the pilot. “We were glad that ST wanted to function as a test garden. There were some teething troubles in finding the first ten buddies, but in the end all participants have found the project very positive. It has also resulted in the creation of the ‘Handbook for Buddies’, which includes an explanation of the buddy system and practical information about everyday life in the Netherlands.”

According to Van Hoorn it is advisable to link international newcomers to foreign staff members. “There was also a Dutch buddy who took part in the pilot project at ST and he told us that his newcomer asked him all kinds of questions that he had never had to ask himself a s a Dutchman. Which also made it impossible for him to answer many of those questions. Foreign staff members who have gone through that process themselves do know the solutions. We also want to keep the couple within the same Department, for the assisting buddy already knows the lie of the land there, and we wish to link men to men and women to women as much as possible. Still, that will not always be possible, in which case you have to leave it to participants themselves whether they are prepared to form a mixed couple or not. How long couples want to tag along with each other is something they need to decide for themselves.”

Van Hoorn is quite pleased that the municipality of Eindhoven has also got involved with the first project. “The municipality has offered all ten couples an introductory package, containing all sorts of information about the city and vouchers allowing them to visit various cultural institutions. After all, in addition to a good job at the university, our foreign staff members are also looking for an environment that has something to offer them in the social and cultural sphere.” (HK)/.