Due to the general nature of his bachelor's degree in integrated engineering from University of British Columbia, Wieringa needs to take three pre-master's courses before joining the Biomedical Signals and Systems research group as an international master's student. It turns out that because pre-master's classes are generally the same as bachelor's level courses, they are in Dutch, leaving international students like Wieringa in the lurch linguistically.
One common option for international students is to do an independent study for a particular course, while the rest of the Dutch members of the class meet regularly as scheduled. Not being included in the class socially ostracizes foreign students and lowers their motivation. Another option is a weekly tutorial, which is the solution for one of Wieringa's courses. He deems this a reasonable option because it ensures regular contact with the instructor and his peers. A third option, which is not Wieringa's experience, is that the international student remains in the class, which then functions in English. Even in this case, however, problems arise. Naturally among a large group of Dutch students, conversations often break out in Dutch or questions are posed and answered in Dutch, and the non-Dutch-speaking foreigner feels isolated and ignored.
Wieringa considers the language of instruction to be the direst and the most widespread concern among international master's students at the UT. He also feels that this is an aspect that needs to be addressed immediately. International students need to feel a connection to the university.
Wieringa concedes that international students `sign up for challenging situations' when they embark on a study program in another country. Moreover, he attributes some of the problems faced by international students to the `growing pains' of the any institution's attempt at internationalization. Overall, he is `impressed that the UT is trying to implement a standard of internationalization.'
When Wieringa discussed the problems he had been facing with another international master's student in his program, who admitted to having faced the same issues last year. He resolved to put an end to these issues. In his own words, `I did the Dutch thing and joined a committee. I want to see change.' Wieringa is now a member of ISAB (International Student Advisory Board), affiliated with the International Office. ISAB has compiled a list of complaints from international students and accompanied this list with possible solutions. The report is to be sent to Rector Zijm. Soon the ball will be in his court. Will he and the Executive Board dare to make the UT the international university it claims to be?
