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Everyone at the UvA with a basic command of Dutch - is that possible?
During the Dies Natalis, Rector Peter-Paul Verbeek made a plea for a university where students and staff are required to be proficient in both Dutch and English. How feasible is that? “If all international students have to learn Dutch, the UvA’s language institute won’t be able to handle it.”
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Exactly how Dutch should universities become? That question still hangs like a Damocles sword over the UvA ever since the Internationalization Mitigation bill was introduced before the summer. It is scheduled to take effect beginning September 1st, 2024. “We might be on the eve of a major change,” Rector magnificus Peter-Paul Verbeek commented at the Dies Natalis in early January, which was all about language.
The bill was created to provide universities with steering instruments to limit the exponential influx of international students. In addition to the requested numerus fixus for English-language programs, it also aims to preserve Dutch as the language of education and science. The law is intended to sharply reduce the number of English-language bachelor’s programs and to subject all English-language programs to a test of the suitability of the English language.
Not mandatory
What that means exactly—and whether all programs should revert to Dutch—is still unclear. Peter-Paul Verbeek mentioned in his speech at the Dies that a basic command of Dutch for all staff and students would be desirable: “We are only truly inclusive if we ask people who come to the Netherlands to have a basic command of Dutch.”
According to the current official UvA policy, only employees with the prospect of a permanent contract are required to start learning Dutch “within a reasonable period of time.” Learning Dutch is one of the assessment criteria in annual performance appraisals, although in practice this is not strictly enforced. Sometimes employees take a course and leave it at that, according to a survey of the various faculties. International students and employees on temporary contracts are at most “stimulated” and “encouraged” to learn the Dutch language.
The UvA is already working with other Dutch universities on agreements to promote Dutch language skills among staff and students. “The expectation is that the UvA will encourage the acquisition or improvement of Dutch language skills even more than is currently the case,” writes a UvA spokesperson in response to questions from Folia.
Big chunk
Language plays a different role at each faculty. At some faculties, such as Medicine and Dentistry, the Dutchification of education will pose few problems. After all, those programs are already almost entirely in Dutch to prepare students for the Dutch labor market. But at internationally oriented programs such as those at the Amsterdam University College (AUC) and the Politics, Psychology, Law, and Economics (PPLE) program, it is quite the opposite.
“At PPLE, an English language culture is actually encouraged,” says PPLE dean Radboud Winkels. “We ask students and staff to communicate everything in English, although we don’t always succeed.” Still, Winkels encourages permanent staff to have a basic knowledge of Dutch. “Basic knowledge of Dutch would be useful for everyone. But for many master’s, PhD, or postdoc students who come to the Netherlands for one or two years, learning Dutch would take a pretty big chunk out of their work or study time.”
High costs
In addition, Dutch language courses for students are often not yet reimbursed, unlike for UvA employees. “If you want to take Dutch at the UvA, you quickly end up at the Institute for Dutch Language Education and Advice (INTT), where a winter or summer course costs over €400, even with a student discount,” Irish UvA student Ella Bailey (25) explains. Nor is it cheaper at UvA Talen, where Dutch courses at various levels cost between €500 and €800.
Bailey wanted to take a Dutch language course as part of her European Studies bachelor’s degree. She applied on time, but because she had already taken a French language course earlier in her studies, students who had previously failed language courses were given priority at INTT, she tells Folia. “So twice I was unable to take Dutch classes during my study period. My parents were able to pay for extra language courses at INTT outside the curriculum for me, but for many students that is not the case.” The INTT does not recognize Bailey’s situation, according to a written response. Although course space at INTT is sometimes limited, it is only those students who register late that suffer.
Free language course
The Bachelor’s of Psychology program has been covering the costs of a language course for international students since last year. Following the same policy at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), international psychology students are allowed to register for a Dutch language course. If the student gets a spot, the UvA will reimburse the course up to €500.
The refund scheme is one of the steps taken by the Psychology bachelor’s program to restore the balance in internationalization, says Ingmar Visser, board member and head of the psychology bachelor’s program. “The broader objective of the course is to get students more involved in Dutch society.”
But this offer of reimbursement at Psychology has yet to gain traction. So far, 13 international psychology students have taken advantage of it. The hesitation of international students is understandable, given that the easiest course already requires a time investment of 12 hours per week for six weeks. However, there are hopes that attendance will pick up next semester. At FEB, the scheme has been in operation for three years and between 50 and 80 international students sign up each year, about 80 percent of whom also pass the course. The Faculty of Humanities (FGw) also reimburses summer language courses in July and August for incoming undergraduate and graduate students.
In addition, FGw and FEB offer students the option of taking Dutch within their study curriculum. That option is very popular but places are limited. This academic year there were 260 spots at FEB. Next year there will be 310 to meet the demand.
Investment
But to be able to speak Dutch, one course is often not enough. “Learning Dutch requires quite an investment,” says Sible Andringa, professor of didactics of second language acquisition. “Especially to be able to teach, it requires the second-highest language proficiency level of C1, which you don’t reach just like that.” The B1 level, at which people can understand simple Dutch, requires on average about 800 hours of study time, although highly educated people can probably do it a bit faster.
Student Ella Bailey took five Dutch courses in addition to her studies and spent around €1700 in total at INTT. She now speaks Dutch at B2 level, the level required to start work in the Netherlands.
When requirements take effect to teach Dutch to all international students, which Dijkgraaf’s internationalization bill intends to do, the huge influx of students at INTT may start to cause problems, Professor Andringa and the academic director of the Institute for Dutch Language Education and Advice (INTT) suspects. “We already have a shortage of language teachers, especially for Dutch as a second language. Although we welcome the interest in Dutch, we are also somewhat concerned about the bill, because the consequences are potentially huge. We have already signaled that as well.”
