As TU Delft’s MSc programs expand, undergraduate students and MSc students are rubbing shoulders more frequently. But are student unions including MSc students in their activities or are MSc’s still being ignored?”We’ve just started a committee for international students.
However, they’re exchange students, not MSc students,” says Marieke de Groot, a member of ‘Curius’, the student union for Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management. “But foreign exchange students do bring along MSc students as well.”
De Groot’s specially appointed international committee hopes to organize activities, company excursions and parties that involve MSc’s. “With company excursions, however, you have to wonder if it’s interesting for companies to host foreign and exchange students,” ponders De Groot.
Presently, the student unions for Technical Infomatics, Mechanical Engineering and Architecture hardly ever organize English-language activities. Although these courses attract a substantial number of MSc students, MSc’s are still a small percentage of the total number of union members.
Party
At Chemical Engineering, however, MSc student power is growing. This year, the fourteen new chemical engineering MSc’s are a rather large group compared to the first-year undergraduate class, which numbers less than forty students.
In the faculty building’s basement, a special Common Room for MSc students is located next to the ‘Technological Society,’ the undergraduate student union. Roel Meulendijk is a member of this student union: ‘We don’t see many MSc students in here; they seem to be more serious than undergraduate students. But, because of the increasing number of MSc’s, we’re now taking them into account. For example, the design competition is organized in English so that MSc’s can compete as well.”
ETV, the student union for Electrical Engineering, hasn’t reached such an enlightened state yet. “We hardly have any contact,” says Staffan Nelemans, a student union member. “They arrange everything directly with the managing director of Electrical Engineering.”
But with the increasing number of MSc students, Neleman’s believes MSc%s can no longer be ignored: “Fourteen MSc students started the course this year, instead of the usual three students. And about thirty MSc students are expected next year. When that happens, half of the senior student population will be foreigners. Consequently, we’re going to have to start integrating with them.”
Perhaps, in future, ETV will join forces with De Groot’s international student committee, which is planning a big party for all international students. De Groot is anxious to see the result: “So far, the MSc%s have got totally different ideas of how to throw a party than we do.”
As TU Delft’s MSc programs expand, undergraduate students and MSc students are rubbing shoulders more frequently. But are student unions including MSc students in their activities or are MSc’s still being ignored?
“We’ve just started a committee for international students. However, they’re exchange students, not MSc students,” says Marieke de Groot, a member of ‘Curius’, the student union for Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management. “But foreign exchange students do bring along MSc students as well.”
De Groot’s specially appointed international committee hopes to organize activities, company excursions and parties that involve MSc’s. “With company excursions, however, you have to wonder if it’s interesting for companies to host foreign and exchange students,” ponders De Groot.
Presently, the student unions for Technical Infomatics, Mechanical Engineering and Architecture hardly ever organize English-language activities. Although these courses attract a substantial number of MSc students, MSc’s are still a small percentage of the total number of union members.
Party
At Chemical Engineering, however, MSc student power is growing. This year, the fourteen new chemical engineering MSc’s are a rather large group compared to the first-year undergraduate class, which numbers less than forty students.
In the faculty building’s basement, a special Common Room for MSc students is located next to the ‘Technological Society,’ the undergraduate student union. Roel Meulendijk is a member of this student union: ‘We don’t see many MSc students in here; they seem to be more serious than undergraduate students. But, because of the increasing number of MSc’s, we’re now taking them into account. For example, the design competition is organized in English so that MSc’s can compete as well.”
ETV, the student union for Electrical Engineering, hasn’t reached such an enlightened state yet. “We hardly have any contact,” says Staffan Nelemans, a student union member. “They arrange everything directly with the managing director of Electrical Engineering.”
But with the increasing number of MSc students, Neleman’s believes MSc%s can no longer be ignored: “Fourteen MSc students started the course this year, instead of the usual three students. And about thirty MSc students are expected next year. When that happens, half of the senior student population will be foreigners. Consequently, we’re going to have to start integrating with them.”
Perhaps, in future, ETV will join forces with De Groot’s international student committee, which is planning a big party for all international students. De Groot is anxious to see the result: “So far, the MSc%s have got totally different ideas of how to throw a party than we do.”
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