New house for internationals

As part of its initiative to best serve all international students in Delft, Duwo has proposed building an International Student House, which function as a student community center. The building’s special feature is that the students themselves can decide what facilities they want the building to offer. Jan Benschop, Duwo’s executive director, explains the idea behind his brainchild, which he hopes will be completed by early 2014.

What was the motivation to create this new building?

“It started with the sudden influx of international students to TU Delft and ever since there has been a long-standing demand for a common meeting and activity center for them. The first stroke of inspiration came from one of our visits to a student house in London. And then during one of my personal visits to New York, I saw a similar student meeting house there as well. We figured that the place worked very well and the idea seemed to be a perfect option for Delft, with its large number of international students from different countries.”

What are some of the features of such international student houses?

”One common trait of these student houses is that they served as a meeting place for students wanting to do a common activity of interest, which might be anything ranging from watching movies to playing games, conducting student council meetings, etc. A group of Chinese students might want to watch a movie together, and later some the Greek students might want to sit down and discuss something. Another motivating factor behind our design was the thinking: ‘How would we want to be treated when we go to a foreign land?’ In the first few days, we would want to integrate with the local culture and such. But ideally, even before that, we wanted to create a place where international students could easily find anything, ranging from information about various places to even a small health clinic, without having to go through too much trouble.”

Where will the building be located and what facilities will it offer?

“The building will be next to the existing Duwo office on the Kanaalweg. Regarding facilities, the best thing about this place will bee its open plan: one could organize any type of activity there, from cooking clubs to parties, for example. It would also have certain fixed facilities, like a fitness center, sauna, bar, cafeteria, internet café, video room, etc. But predominantly there will be a large number of common meeting rooms. We’re also still open to suggestions. Ultimately, we’re trying to build a general purpose building with facilities that can be easily modified according to the changing trends in student demographics.”

How do you envision such common rooms functioning?

“Well, they would serve as meeting rooms where students can meet and discuss things related to their societies, student clubs, associations…or just chill out for an evening of fun. I guess the students would have to book the rooms beforehand to ensure they’re available, but we’ll provide lots of space for these rooms, so the numbers shouldn’t be a problem.”

Will Duwo build and maintain the building?

“Partly, yes. Duwo is mainly a student housing organization, and we’ll have to see what the best way to run the building is. We can maybe ask a fitness company to run the building’s fitness facilities, and similarly the cafeteria could be rented out to a coffee chain like Starbucks or Coffee Company. But that would be a cost burden on students, so we’ll work out the best options to rent it out. Duwo could handle the cleaning services and maintenance of the common areas, and we will not charge students anything for using the common facilities, like the meeting rooms or party halls. That’s the philosophy of creating this space. However, for using dedicated facilities run by organizations other than Duwo, students will have to pay.”

The university also provides facilities like gyms, cafeterias and meeting places. What differences do you see between those and the ones proposed by Duwo?

“We’re in a close relationship with the university and the city of Delft as well. We too want to provide dedicated services to the students. More than competing, it should be seen as providing more facilities, as the ones in the university might not necessarily satisfy the needs of every student.”

How much of a say do students have in the functioning of this building?

“The students are the beneficiaries of the building, so we’re trying to create a board of international students to get feedback and implement their proposals and interests. If for instance every international student wants a discotheque, we will provide one.”

Who can and cannot use this building?

“The building as such is designed especially for the international students. In my opinion, all international students, including those who do not live in Duwo housing, should be able to use it, but we’ll have to see if the other board members also agree. I personally do not wish to have any form of discrimination. You should also understand there is not much profit from this building, as DUWO has to spend millions on this without getting back the money. We’re doing this in order to have a great relation with international students and the university, ultimately.”

Why is this one big project? Why not small meeting or hang out places in all Duwo housing?

“What we have planned now is more than a common room in a single flat. The new building would act as a party center, a meeting place with lot of facilities, as I’ve previously mentioned. Another reason is the economics: the caretakers of the building need not run around to every building to maintain it; instead, they can just look after this one single building.” 

Het lijkt een soort mantra in het hoger beroepsonderwijs: geef meer macht aan de examencommissie. Dan zal het niveau van opleidingen weer buiten kijf staan en is er minder risico op incidenten als bij de Hogeschool Inholland.

Daarom hebben de hogescholen vorige week samen afspraken gemaakt over de examencommissies-nieuwe-stijl: er komen alleen deskundigen in, de leden hoeven geen verantwoording af te leggen over hun beslissingen en managers blijven erbuiten.

“Ik ben benieuwd hoe het gaat uitpakken, maar we kunnen alvast een paar problemen zien aankomen”, zegt René van Kralingen. Hij is docent aan de Hogeschool Rotterdam en geeft als onderwijskundige trainingen aan docenten en managers van allerlei hbo-opleidingen.

“De examencommissies moeten volgens de wet de kwaliteit van examens en tentamens borgen”, legt Van Kralingen uit, “en dat is nieuw. Daar had je vroeger de toetscommissies voor. Die mochten nadenken over het tentamen zelf: stellen we de juiste vragen, is de gokkans eruit gehaald, meten we wat we willen meten? De examencommissie ging over de juridische kant: een student is het niet eens met een cijfer, wil een extra herkansing, vindt de toets niet goed, vindt de beoordeling oneerlijk, en ga zo maar door.”

Die twee verantwoordelijkheden komen nu in één hand, aldus Van Kralingen. “Je krijgt daardoor een vreemde situatie: een soort politie die zijn eigen wet kan schrijven. Een wetgevende en controlerende macht ineen.”

Daar komt bij dat de commissies onafhankelijker worden en daardoor bijna niet op hun functioneren zijn aan te spreken. “De leden hoeven geen verantwoording meer af te leggen aan hun manager, zeggen de hogescholen. Dat maakt ze behoorlijk machtig.”

En dat kan weer scheve gezichten geven bij collega’s. “De leden van de examencommissies dreigen een soort managers te worden, maar dan in lagere loonschalen. Het zijn docenten die hun eigen collega’s moeten instrueren, terwijl de invloed van de echte manager kleiner is geworden. Dat is wachten op conflicten.”

Zo zijn er nog meer vragen te stellen. “Er komt werk bij, en wie betaalt die uren? Waar haalt de examencommissie haar deskundigheid vandaan? Hoeveel bijscholing mogen de leden krijgen? En wie houdt het overzicht over de hele opleiding, als een opleidingsmanager niet meer in de commissie mag zitten?”

Van Kralingen wacht af. “Ik vind het goed dat docenten weer meer te zeggen krijgen, maar denk niet dat alles hiermee is opgelost. Het blijft mensenwerk.”