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3/21/09

Spiegel: The Globalization of College: English Becomes Lingua Franca at Dutch Universities - by Marlies Hagers

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English Becomes Lingua Franca at Dutch Universities - by Marlies Hagers

As education becomes an export product, Dutch universities are increasingly switching to English as the language of instruction -- some say that higher education is suffering as a result.The proposal to make English the official language of instruction at Dutch universities was first introduced in 1990 by the country's education minister at the time, Jo Ritzen. If Dutch higher education wanted to continue to pull its weight in the sciences, Ritzen argued, it had to become more international.

Internationalization is the magic word everywhere. Education has become an export product and a university's competitiveness is measured, particularly by the executive boards, by the number of foreign students it hosts. At many faculties, deans are charged with tasks like organizing partnerships and student and faculty exchange programs with universities around the world. "It is part of globalization," says Gerry Wakker, deputy dean of education and internationalization in Groningen. "More and more people are working abroad for a long or short time or they are studying there for a year. We prepare them for that by creating groups of students that are as mixed as possible."

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