Campus

Brainstorming aerospatial internationalisation

This year, international students outnumber Dutch students at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. FSR is looking for ways to best integrate them into Dutch society.

The Aerospace Engineering (LR) Faculty Student Council (FSR) organised a lunchtime brainstorming session to generate ideas on how to improve the international environment at the faculty on February 29. The dean of the faculty, Dr. Hester Bijl, lecturers, support staff and students attended, making up around 100 participants. The response was so great that at the end the FSR announced that that there was no time to conclude with a round-up of all the ideas. They announced a follow up session at lunchtime on March 16 also calling for non-Dutch candidates interested in joining the FSR. The FSR acknowledged that just because there are more international students it doesn’t mean LR is an international faculty. The university can benefit from such international diversity and wants to stimulate effective interaction and collaboration. At LR all programmes are in English and oriented to the global aerospace business sector, so Dutch and non-Dutch need to integrate better to learn and explore with each other, recognising and bridging cultural divides.

The FSR representatives, who were all Dutch students, asked the participants how to improve and integrate intercultural skills into BSc and MSc programmes at LR. Many suggestions focussed on existing activities where Dutch and non-Dutch interact, such as group projects at BSc and MSc level. One suggestion involved targeting freshmen activities at the start of the academic year, which are currently quite segregated. Another called for more collaboration with the Dutch student fraternities. One more requested a buddy system to couple internationals to Dutch students and to professors within LR itself. Suggestions also proposed boosting social events, sports activities, parties and organising a massive international dinner. Then the participants split into five groups to further debate how to develop the suggestions before time was up.

It wasn’t just an in house LR affair though. Outsiders came, keen to share their ideas and experiences. Representatives from the FSR of TPM exemplified the inclusion of a non-Dutch member, Buse Tali, Engineering and Policy Analysis MSc student from Turkey. Also Laura van Utenhove, third year BSc at Industrial Design Engineering, and treasurer of the one-year-old Delft Erasmus Student Network (ESN), said they can share valuable expertise gained from integrating international bachelor exchange students.

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