The last meeting was attended by van Haare, SMIT president Alma Dijkstra, UReka member Andrea Hesselink, and ISAB members Maria Ulfa, James He, and Muzaffar Igamberdiev. The group addressed a variety of issues: the amount of confusing paperwork needed by the Dutch government and the university, confusing policies, integration into the university community, language problems, and the costs of participating in sports and clubs.
Van Haare began by emphasizing that the mission of ISAB was to give international students a voice at the UT and support through good advice. `Our role is not necessarily trying to find solutions, but providing knowledgeable advice about problems and issues.'
A suggestion that everyone agreed on was that better cooperation and communication between ISAB, SMIT, and UReka (the Dutch student wing of the University Council) would benefit all parties. SMIT president Dijkstra provides this link along with UReka member Hesselink.
One issue where all the students expressed some hope for improvement was the process of registration when coming to the Netherlands on an exchange program or course of study. `The individual faculties seem to have more responsibility for these programs than student organizations,' claimed Igamberdiev. Ulfa expressed her wishes for some sort of university-wide standard to help make the process of registering easier. `I see a real lack of communication between the International Office and the different faculties,' said Dijkstra. Van Haare stated that the IO meets five times a year with internship and internationalization coordinators, but it was difficult to standardize such a broad range of faculties with different needs and criteria.
Another issue discussed was the difficulty in following a curriculum in-line; sometimes students end up having to wait a long period for the necessary class to become available again, which can be a very expensive proposition for someone whose home is halfway around the globe. There can be real problems, especially if the matter involves an expiring visa. Being well informed ahead of time about the particular deadlines in one's faculty is imperative. There were also cases during the beginning of a new master's program where courses where not offered in English until the spring semester, but this problem should be a one-time occurrence with a new program.
Dijkstra stressed the importance of using the university's many sports and cultural clubs as meeting places for relaxation and better involvement in the community. James He commented that the price of the SUAC card was so high as to be a burden for many students. There was, however, general agreement that the card was still favorably priced compared to any private fitness club. Van Haare added, `At the moment we are working on a survey/questionnaire that is designed to find out international students' views on university clubs and sports. We hope this will improve the situation and make it more accessible for international students.' `I think if clubs and organizations really made an effort to provide information in English - something they are doing more and more - it would really help,' said Dijkstra. Look for the survey in your inbox within the next week and check out http://intoffice.utwente.nl/en/isab/ for more information about becoming a part of the solution.
