After years of studying, graduation brings sweet relief. Or does it?
For the many TU Delft international students, the post-graduation happiness phase ends in about a week – that is, if they’re planning to stay in the Netherlands for an extra year hunting for jobs.
With no income whatsoever, high living expenses, and huge study loan debt, you’re required to pay 600 euros just for ‘zoekjaar’ status. Though many of my international friends try to act cool, they’re in fact under intense pressure.
Most internationals come to Delft thinking that a good education here will ultimately help them land the jobs they always wanted. Some even refuse job offers back home, thinking an MSc degree abroad will pave the way for a better life with better pay. The reality however is shocking. Apparently, in the Netherlands, excellent grades, intelligence and skills don’t matter as much as one’s ability to converse in Dutch! ‘Spreekt u Nederlands?’ is a question difficult to avoid during most job applications. Worse, ‘nee’ or even ‘een beetje’ are simply unacceptable answers.
Pre-2000, all international students had to learn Dutch to even start studying at TU Delft, but now English is the MSc language of instruction, so Dutch is no longer a requirement. But outside of Delft, on the Dutch job market, Dutch remains a requirement. For many international students, learning Dutch as an extra elective was a second priority, given the large amount of course work that had to be done. Now however, realizing the importance of knowing Dutch to land jobs here, learning Dutch should’ve been given top priority.
Why didn’t TU Delft make it obligatory for all international students to learn Dutch, when it knows that this is equally or even more important than other obligatory courses to our future career prospects? Why aren’t international graduates given the full support needed to set up subsequent careers in the Netherlands, especially when, by doing so, they benefit the country by being the ‘right kind’ of (highly educated) immigrants the Dutch knowledge economy claims to want?
Is education just a business then, exploiting non-Dutch speaking internationals for cash but offering no real career prospects here later? We internationals study hard and graduate with high grades, while amassing huge study loan debts, for one reason: to land good jobs when we graduate. If we can’t consistently land jobs in the Netherlands, the country we studied in, invested in for two years, without speaking Dutch, then TU Delft must make Dutch courses mandatory for internationals again. Or if not, then at least add a line to the TU’s glossy recruitment brochures that helped lure us here: ‘Note: if you want work in the Netherlands after graduation, you better learn Dutch!’ Now that would be direct and honest, something the Dutch are apparently famous for.
Do you agree or disagree with the points raised in this week’s Talking Point? Let us hear your opinion: start or join the discussion in the website’s Comments section at www.delta.tudelft.nl
Comments are closed.