<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-full-story-article-title">Rector says internationalisation should have limits</div><div class="gmail-full-story-article-title"><br></div>
<div class="gmail-full-story-info"><span class="gmail-full-story-writer">Jan Petter Myklebust</span><span class="gmail-full-story-date">12 January 2018</span> <span class="gmail-full-story-issueno">Issue No:488</span></div>
<div style="padding-top:38px;padding-bottom:48px">
<div class="gmail-addthis_toolbox gmail-addthis_default_style">
<a class="gmail-addthis_button_facebook_like gmail-at300b"><div class="gmail-fb-like gmail-fb_iframe_widget" style="height:25px"><span style="vertical-align:bottom;width:62px;height:20px"></span></div></a>
<a class="gmail-addthis_button_tweet gmail-at300b"><div class="gmail-tweet_iframe_widget" style="width:62px;height:25px"><span></span></div></a>
<a class="gmail-addthis_button_google_plusone gmail-at300b"><div class="gmail-google_plusone_iframe_widget" style="width:90px;height:25px"><span></span></div></a>
<a class="gmail-atc_s gmail-addthis_button_compact">Share<span></span></a><a class="gmail-addthis_button_expanded" target="_blank" title="More" href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180112115957454#">1</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-full-story-sidebar"> <div class="gmail-block-box-right">
<span class="gmail-sidebar-link">Join us on</span><a href="http://facebook.com/universityworldnews" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.universityworldnews.com/images/logo_facebook.jpg" border="0"></a><span class="gmail-sidebar-link">Follow us on</span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/uniworldnews" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.universityworldnews.com/images/logo_twitter.png" border="0"></a><span class="gmail-sidebar-text">News Feeds</span><a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/backend/UWN_Global.rss"><img src="http://www.universityworldnews.com/images/syndication.png" border="0"></a><span class="gmail-sidebar-link"><a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/backend/UWN_Global.rss" class="gmail-sidebar-link">Global Edition</a></span><a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/backend/UWN_Africa_Edition.rss"><img src="http://www.universityworldnews.com/images/syndication.png" border="0"></a><span class="gmail-sidebar-link"><a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/backend/UWN_Africa_Edition.rss" class="gmail-sidebar-link">Africa Edition</a></span><br>
<br><br>
<div class="gmail-full-story-disclaimer"><br>
<div class="gmail-full-story-disclaimer-header">Disclaimer</div><br>
All reader responses posted on this site are those of the reader ONLY
and NOT those of University World News or Higher Education Web
Publishing, their associated trademarks, websites and services.
University World News or Higher Education Web Publishing does not
necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with
any comments, opinions or statements or other content provided by
readers.</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-aligncenter">
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-full-story-content">
<div class="gmail-full-story-body">
<div class="gmail-block-box-right">
</div>
<div class="gmail-aligncenter">
</div>
<br>
There are limits to how far internationalisation in higher
education should grow and it is right to set them, said Rector
Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam, Professor Karen IJ Maex,
speaking at the celebration of the university’s <a href="http://www.uva.nl/en/content/news/news/2018/01/uva-celebrates-its-386th-dies-natalis.html?origin=kUP%2Byx6UTZqvuJiCJKnnEQ" class="gmail-bluelink">368th anniversary</a> on 8 January.<br>
<br>
The University of Amsterdam, or UvA, is at risk of becoming a hostage to
its own success in internationalisation, notably due to the rise in the
number of incoming students from other European countries. <br>
<br>
Maex said that while 15% of UvA’s students now are international, the
percentage of international first-year students is close to 25% due to a
“significant increase” in new English-taught bachelor programmes.<br>
<br>
Internationalisation is producing challenges and raising some pressing questions, she said.<br>
<br>
More widely, the debate about internationalisation and language policy
has provoked questions about whether every programme will soon be taught
in English, whether universities are internationalising just to make
money, whether Dutch students’ interests are being pushed aside and even
whether the command of the Dutch language is at stake, she said.<br>
<br>
But she sought to take the debate beyond these questions, asking: “What
is the university’s role in a society that is becoming more
internationalised, and what kind of education policy and
internationalisation policy is appropriate in this context?”<br>
<br>
<b>The right balance</b><br>
<br>
She said there are limits to growth and there is a need to strike the right balance.<br>
<br>
“With new developments it is tempting to strive for growth. The more
internationalisation, the better. What we spend too little time thinking
about is the optimal balance on three different levels: the balance
between Dutch and international students; the balance between English
and Dutch in the wider university environment; and the balance between
programmes taught in Dutch and English,” Maex said.<br>
<br>
She said with regard to the balance between courses taught in Dutch and
those taught in English that UvA wants to have both: “First, Dutch
programmes with a touch of English. Active use of English is important
for all students. This also makes it possible for international students
to come to Amsterdam for shorter periods of time. <br>
<br>
“We also encourage these exchanges for our own students. For example,
through the Global Exchange Ambassador Programme – a peer-to-peer
programme that pairs up students from different countries.” <br>
<br>
“And second, we want English-taught programmes with specific learning
objectives that also pay attention to Dutch language skills for the
Dutch-speaking students. This is a curriculum that includes
international cognitive learning outcomes, cultural skills, student
experience and language proficiency.”<br>
<br>
For disciplines with large student numbers, offering both an English and
a Dutch version is an enrichment, she said. For disciplines with
smaller numbers of students, the international character might lead to a
wider inflow.<br>
<br>
Maex said it was important to continue to teach in Dutch to fulfil UvA’s
social responsibility. “A university cannot become alienated from its
native surroundings. That has consequences.”<br>
<br>
<b>Rate of inflow</b><br>
<br>
Regarding the second issue of the ratio of Dutch students to
international students, she said it should be possible to control the
inflow of international students. <br>
<br>
A future in which 80% of the lecture hall is filled students from
Germany is “not in line with what we have in mind for an international
classroom”, she said. “It would not contribute to our goals.”<br>
<br>
She said as rector she could not cite specific ratios for each
programme. That can depend on context. “We want to have mixed groups
from different countries and the Netherlands. That means we must have a
way to steer this process accordingly – something that is still
difficult to achieve at the moment,” Maex said. <br>
<br>
<b>UvA’s international classroom</b><br>
<br>
Maex staunchly endorses internationalisation in higher education. She is
building on the ideas of Professor Dilly Fung, among others. In her
publication, <i>A Connected Curriculum for Higher Education</i>, Fung
said: “Education is not primarily about individual gain and personal
benefit, but about developing a sense of collective engagement and
responsibility. Education is not a set of technicalities, it embodies an
intellectual and ethical position.”<br>
<br>
It is these values she wants to promote through her model of
internationalisation in “an international classroom comprising students
of different nationalities, students with a variety of backgrounds and
cultures”, Maex said.<br>
<br>
In her conclusion she launched an action plan for “UvA’s international
classroom concept”. By 2020 she wants a significant number of UvA
programmes to include international and intercultural aspects in their
curriculum, and for these to be incorporated in teaching methods,
assessments and learning outcomes. <br>
<br>
“In the process we must recognise and set the limits for growth in
internationalisation, to ensure that we can go on providing quality and
added value,” Maex argued.<br>
<br>
She said the university’s policy must be adapted with requirements set
for the learning objectives of Dutch as well as of English programmes,
and the curricula adapted accordingly in a “balanced portfolio of Dutch
and English programmes”. <br>
<br>
This would enable UvA to be moulded over the next decade into a
“bilingual, internationally oriented and culturally integrated
university”.<br>
<br>
Caroline Sundberg, vice-president of the European Students’ Union, said
the ESU supports Maex’s international classroom concept. “For enhanced
quality in education we need students with different backgrounds and
culture in order to not reproduce the values, research and society of
today but to draft ones of tomorrow to combat the challenges our world
will face,” she said.<br>
<br>
But she said the ESU does not fully accept the need to set and recognise
limits of internationalisation. “Quality is mainly compromised by the
lack of funding, not the diversity of the student population,” she said.</div></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
</div>