The ratio of the number of international students coming to study at Twente and the number of Twente students going abroad for part of their master's program is lopsided. `Dutch students study abroad, but usually in the framework of an internship. We want students to take master's courses elsewhere more often.' says Theo van Dam, study adviser for Biomedical Engineering and co-organizer of the Twente-Polish exchange program. In addition, the intention of the cooperation program is to provide higher enrollment in UT master's programs.
The participating Polish universities are the Silesian Technical University in Gliwice, the Jagiellonian University, AGH in Krakow, the University of Wroclaw and the Technical University of Wroclaw, all of which are large institutions with some tens of thousands of students. The universities were selected after a visit from a small UT delegation in December. Van Dam: `A cooperation already existed between some departments, and we have some Polish PhD students here. They can fulfill an ambassadorship for their old university.'
Last week the universities presented themselves to UT students, and visitors were able to tour departments. Polish and Dutch students could converse informally about their education. Whether UT researchers and master's students will visit Polish universities is yet to be decided. The reciprocal visits are paid for by the UT, because Eastern Europe is one of the target areas in the field of internationalization. According to Van Dam, if you want to stimulate students to study abroad, the most successful way is by face-to-face contact. `Students see Polish vans at building sites, but they probably aren't aware that Poland has such good and large universities. You don't learn this information yourself and a brochure usually ends up in the waste bin.'
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| Krakow is a stunning, old university city in the southern part of Poland. Photo: UT-Nieuws |
