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<h2 class="entry-title">BON loses Dutch EMI lawsuit against HEIs</h2>
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<small><span class="gmail-sep">Posted on </span><a href="https://thepienews.com/news/bon-loses-dutch-emi-lawsuit-against-heis/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2018-07-12T13:41:50+00:00">Jul 12, 2018</time></a> <span class="gmail-sep"> by </span> <span class="gmail-author gmail-vcard"><a class="gmail-url gmail-fn gmail-n" href="https://thepienews.com/author/claudia/" title="View all posts by Claudia Civinini">Claudia Civinini</a></span></small> </aside>
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<small>Posted in <a href="https://thepienews.com/section/news/" rel="category tag">News</a>, under <a href="https://thepienews.com/region/europe/" rel="tag">Europe</a>.<br>Tagged with <a href="https://thepienews.com/tags/bon/" rel="tag">BON</a>, <a href="https://thepienews.com/tags/maastricht/" rel="tag">Maastricht</a>, <a href="https://thepienews.com/tags/netherlands/" rel="tag">Netherlands</a>, <a href="https://thepienews.com/tags/twente/" rel="tag">Twente</a>.<br>Bookmark the <a href="https://thepienews.com/news/bon-loses-dutch-emi-lawsuit-against-heis/" title="Permalink to BON loses Dutch EMI lawsuit against HEIs" rel="bookmark">permalink</a>.</small> </aside>
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<p>A Dutch association that had launched a lawsuit against two
universities over “too many” courses taught in English has seen its
claims rejected in court.</p>
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<img src="https://d1pe6f90ru47yo.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/12093903/800px-Universiteit_Twente_Torentje_van_Drienerlo_2005-07-10-800x375.jpg" class="gmail-attachment-single-main gmail-size-single-main gmail-wp-post-image" alt="" width="800" height="375">Drienerlo Tower, an artwork by Wim T. Schippers on Twente University campus. Photo: W.J. Maaskant/Wikimedia Commons </figure>
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<small><strong>About Claudia Civinini</strong><br></small>
<small>Born and bred in Genoa, Italy, Claudia moved to Australia
during her masters degree to teach Italian. She studied and worked in
Melbourne for five years before moving to London, where she finally
managed to combine her love for writing and her passion for education.
She worked for three years as a reporter for the EL Gazette before
joining The PIE News.</small>
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<p>Dutch minister of education encouraged universities to “take responsibility” for internationalisation</p>
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<p>The University of Maastricht and the University of Twente had been
taken to court by association Better Education Netherlands contesting
their policy to teach some of their courses in English earlier this
year.</p>
<p>BON had been campaigning against the predominance of English in Dutch
higher education and alleged that the two universities’ motivation to
teach their courses in English was merely financial and not dictated by
the specific nature of the course taught, as the law requires.</p>
<blockquote><p>“BON’s statement that this was motivated by finance was…sufficiently contradicted by the University”</p></blockquote>
<p>But the judge found that the two universities had “sufficiently
substantiated” that their language policy decision complied with the
law, Twente University Spokesperson Bertyl Lankhaar told <em>The PIE News</em>.</p>
<p>“We are satisfied with the decision of the judge to reject the claims of BON,” she said.</p>
<p>“The reasons underlying our decision to offer the Psychology bachelor
program in English can be traced back to the criteria set out in
article 7.2 sub c of the WHW, namely the specific nature, organisation
and quality of the education and the national origin of students.”</p>
<p>“BON’s statement that this choice was mainly motivated by financial
motives was, according to the judge, sufficiently contradicted by the
University of Twente.”</p>
<p>Lankhaar added that the university will continue to remain actively
involved in the debate around higher education internationalisation and
to carefully assess the language policy in its educational programs.</p>
<p>Although its claims have been rejected, BON was positive about the
general outcome of the ruling. In their view, it will increase pressure
on the Education Inspectorate to scrutinise universities’ English
language policies, it said in a <a href="https://www.beteronderwijsnederland.nl/nieuws/2018/07/vonnis-rechter/">statement</a>.</p>
<p>Last month, the Dutch minister of education, culture and science presented a <a href="https://thepienews.com/news/dutch-minister-tells-heis-to-ensure-accessibility-in-letter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a>
to parliament to outline her position on higher education
internationalisation. She also urged universities to “take
responsibility” for their internationalisation policy and ensure higher
education remains accessible to Dutch students.</p></div></section>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="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>
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