What does your work as a Faculty representative consist of?
'We give information and help to PhD students but the foreign aios seldom contact us. They trivialise their problems and think that others won't understand or won't give a solution. I have noticed that even if they have problems, they won't discuss them with us. They feel apart and want to stay apart.'
How does that feeling impact on their stay at the UT?
'Mostly, they just do their work and don't want to participate in any kind of social activity. Some foreigners think that by participating they are going to be assimilated into Dutch culture and they reject that. They are still individuals coming from different parts of the world, with different traditions and sometimes when participating in social activities planned by Dutch people, foreigners feel that they are losing their individuality.
That happens with societies here, there are societies for everyone but they have a Dutch pattern in the way of socialising and doing things. If you aren't a strong person, well-motivated and very open you will avoid going to meetings like that. And so most foreigners do not take the step to join.'
What can be done to improve the situation?
'In the beginning the strategy was to make the foreigners learn Dutch but what happens often is that people don't like to be forced to do this and anyway, English turns out to be the language that is spoken everyday. Foreigners need to be understood in their diversity and they, themselves, must be more active in letting others know what their needs are. They have to understand that their problems are not only theirs but are the problems of the foreigners that will come here in the following years.
I think that in the next four years the whole university will change, and to become a truly international university the UT needs an open and receptive attitude.'
Eliana Piemonte
Andreaa Merticaru
