Paardenkooper's personal history leads logically to her current position. While a student at the University of Amsterdam, she studied abroad in Madrid, Spain through a scholarship from the Spanish government. Reminiscing about the experience, she muses, `I loved sharing a house with students of all different nationalities.'
A few years later, Paardenkooper visited her aunt and cousins in Nice. And, voilà, she found herself falling in love with a French boyfriend. He joined her in Amsterdam, and eventually they had a baby together. But a baby didn't affect the couple's wanderlust. They set off for a year-long trip through Asia with their little Franco-Dutch tot in tow. Working along the way, they stopped in Taiwan, among other places, to teach English for a few months.
After the Asia trip, they settled down in Guadeloupe, where they set up a language institute with a Canadian expatriate as well as a translation service. For a variety of reasons, which included a devastating hurricane season, the family headed back to Amsterdam.
`What's next?' The answer was `Nice.'
Paardenkooper was totally blindsided by living in France. She explains that if one moves to China from the Netherlands, one anticipates the overwhelming cultural and linguistic differences. Hopping over the border to France for a Dutchwoman shouldn't be so shocking, but it was. Social mores, formules de politesse, personal interaction - all had to be relearned.
In 1995, Paardenkooper began teaching Spanish at the University in Monaco in Monte Carlo. `I really liked the atmosphere - people from all over - everybody was of two, even three, nationalities. And, I loved teaching Spanish. I adored teaching.'
By 2002, the university had been renamed International University of Monaco. Paardenkooper saw an opportunity and grabbed it. She approached the administration with the idea of starting an international office. During her tenure there, she had never seen anyone taking care of international students, there was `nobody to guide them.' `In September 2002, I started the IUM International Office. I loved everything about it: international people, Monaco, international conferences, colleagues from all over the world, taking care of students.'
When Paardenkooper tried to expand the office - asking for more staff members and a higher budget - it became clear that the IUM had different priorities. Eventually, she began looking for another position because `the university and I were not going in the same direction.' A few months later, friends in Amsterdam spotted the ad for the UT International Office director in the Volkskrant and sent it her way.
The question begs asking: Why the University of Twente in cold, damp Enschede? Paardenkooper replies with her typical vigorous enthusiasm, `One reason I came here was because I had never seen the UT anywhere, not at any international conference. If it weren't a challenge, I wouldn't have come to the UT, because I would have been bored.'
Like Executive Board Chairman Anne Flierman, Paardenkooper fervently believes the UT has great potential for internationalization. The ample on-campus student housing sets the UT apart from other Dutch, even European, universities. Nonetheless, Paardenkooper has no illusions about the personal commitment and dedication required to transform the UT: `If the UT wants international accreditation, if it wants to play a role on the world level, we will have to work hard for it.'
Regarding the recent spate of complaints from international students, Paardenkooper reports that the International Office sent a letter listing complaints and recommendations to Rector Henk Zijm, who subsequently agreed with every suggestion. The next step is for Paardenkooper to compose a concept letter, laying out the steps to be taken in order to enact the recommended changes. She has a sense of `being here at the right moment,' where her bold ideas are eagerly welcomed by the executive board.
Addressing the issue of inconsistent levels of English in the classroom, Paardenkooper declares, `The International Office is taking the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test coordinated by TCP (Taalcoördinatiepunt) shortly. Every person in the International Office has to take the test. We want to set an example. We would like everybody to do this.' She emphasizes that this is a `test not an exam.' The idea is to promote `in-house language training.'
Other goals include creating an international student handbook by August; organizing a day where professors, students, international coordinators, deans could convene to discuss the internationalization of the UT; and, making it compulsory that international students be received by the International Office first for a general, campus-wide orientation, before proceeding to individual faculties.
Karin Paardenkooper is determined to make the UT an active participant in the international education scene. In dead earnestness, she declares, `If we're not international, we won't survive.'
