News about education in the Netherlands

Spreken we Nederlands or should we talk English? Foreign PhDs need to understand the Dutch language for daily business. Heejung Chung and Annekathrin Ellersiek aim to raise awareness of the possible isolation of foreign PhD students because of the language barrier.

The new PhD procedure is a more effective guarantee of the quality of PhD theses. Nevertheless, a group of prominent professors has pointed out a number of weak points.

As of this year all Tilburg University lecturers, students, policy advisors, service desk personnel, administrative personnel, and secretaries will be required to take an English-language test.

Next academic year, the Faculty of Law will start a top class for the better bachelor's students. In addition to the standard study programme, the top-class students will take classes with extra depth.

Roel Mehlkopf (24, research master's, finance) and Victor Vlam (22, law) reached the semi-finals of the world debating championships for universities last week, in the category English as a second language.

The start of a new year invariably signals legislative change. We list the most important ones, from purchasing power to integration.

On Thursday 9 November the Law faculty council will decide on the introduction of more English-language courses at the department of European and International Public Law.

One of the first things you have to adjust to when coming to live in the Netherlands is the bikes. There are bikes everywhere and it seems to be the preferred means of transportation.

In three years' time the faculty of Economics and Business administration aims to offer all its Master's programmes, except Fiscal Economics, in English. Marketing Management is afraid of losing its appeal.

It is clear from those who go out to recruit talented students for their university that many prospective students consult global rankings. This increases the imperative to deal with this issue.