”From the age of sixteen I wanted to go to university abroad, it seemed exciting,” says Sander Elvik, of Norse origin. In 1997 he came to Holland to read Aerospace Engineering.
”At first I wanted to go to England, but that was so incredibly expensive that I opted for Delft.” To learn Dutch he enrolled for a Dutch summer course which lasted two months. He got to know a lot of students of student union Sint Jansbrug and now speaks fluent Dutch.
Last year, Elvik represented the AAG faction in the Student Council. With regard to the TU’s internationalisation aspirations, he benefited from personal experience. ”Foreigners on regular courses integrate much more with Dutch students than the MSc students. Having paid a lot of money, they often prefer putting their efforts into academic progress to integrating with Dutch students. How many MSc students do you think join a student society?”
Elvik wants to see the TU actively promoting the entire syllabus, instead of focussing entirely on the master students: ”The general attitude concerning regular course students is that ‘they’ll come anyway’.” In collaboration with the TU, the Norse student association ANSA took an initiative: they made a folder for Norse pre university students. ”The TU is gradually taking note of the value of foreign students,” believes Elvik. ”When foreign students have finally arrived in Delft they can count on plenty of attention: issues concerning accommodation are raised more frequently, the students qualify for certain grants and will soon be entitled to RFOS funds (arrangement for financial support of students), whilst the TU is not obliged to offer these facilities.”
Translation:
.aut Alice Beurze
”From the age of sixteen I wanted to go to university abroad, it seemed exciting,” says Sander Elvik, of Norse origin. In 1997 he came to Holland to read Aerospace Engineering. ”At first I wanted to go to England, but that was so incredibly expensive that I opted for Delft.” To learn Dutch he enrolled for a Dutch summer course which lasted two months. He got to know a lot of students of student union Sint Jansbrug and now speaks fluent Dutch.
Last year, Elvik represented the AAG faction in the Student Council. With regard to the TU’s internationalisation aspirations, he benefited from personal experience. ”Foreigners on regular courses integrate much more with Dutch students than the MSc students. Having paid a lot of money, they often prefer putting their efforts into academic progress to integrating with Dutch students. How many MSc students do you think join a student society?”
Elvik wants to see the TU actively promoting the entire syllabus, instead of focussing entirely on the master students: ”The general attitude concerning regular course students is that ‘they’ll come anyway’.” In collaboration with the TU, the Norse student association ANSA took an initiative: they made a folder for Norse pre university students. ”The TU is gradually taking note of the value of foreign students,” believes Elvik. ”When foreign students have finally arrived in Delft they can count on plenty of attention: issues concerning accommodation are raised more frequently, the students qualify for certain grants and will soon be entitled to RFOS funds (arrangement for financial support of students), whilst the TU is not obliged to offer these facilities.”
Translation:
.aut Alice Beurze
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