Imperial College London vs. TU Delft

Social activities often take precedence over academic ones in the student mind, so a vibrant social life is a major selling point. How do the two universities compare socially?

This article isn’t intended to discuss the question of integration. It doesn’t really matter whether TU Delft’s a melting pot of nationalities or not (and Imperial College London (ICL) certainly isn’t), because this is out of the hands of the university organization. It’s up to students as individuals to mix and this happens by itself.

Everyone likes to party and nobody needs the college holding their hand. The university’s obligation is only to provide equality of access to services and opportunities for all students. Is TU Delft fulfilling its obligation?

Delta’s English pages frequently praise Dutch society’s fairness and tolerance. Fairness does however have its drawbacks: here, everything must be paid for. Getting something for free in the Netherlands is like borrowing money from a Scotsman (or like offending two nations with one simile) . very difficult! Not least the fun things, like the TU sports card. €60 before you can even start playing? Is it fair to force foreign students . who already pay close to €10,000 in fees alone . to hand over another €60?

And is it fair to house the same students at great expense in Delft’s much-maligned ‘spaceboxes’? It’s hardly surprising that many of them are soon ’thinking outside the box’. But escaping a spacebox brings the extra stress of house-hunting and two-month notice periods. Why this solitary confinement in spaceboxes? Why not proper international student houses? Like those across the Noordzee, where ICL students are placed together in halls of residence, regardless of country of origin. Of course this doesn’t automatically create a utopian community of international friendship, but it’s certainly better than isolated spaceboxes. In addition, basic gym membership is free to all ICL students.

The ICL Student Union is the center of student life, comprising over 250 sports, cultural, religious, political and social clubs. “We know that students can be extremely lazy, so the Union tries to make joining clubs as easy possible,” says Sameena Misbahuddin, ICL Union president.

At the start of the year, ICL’s clubs present themselves at the ‘Freshers’ Fair’, (‘freshers’ being new students) and this is mainly how they attract new members. “This year we had about 400 e-mail addresses submitted,” says Peter Huthwaite of ICL’s ‘Photosoc’, “and about 90% of our current members are people who found our stall then.” A handbook of ICL’s clubs and societies is also published. Running a similar event at TUD would be a good idea.
Double Dutch

Delft has the additional problem of a language barrier. Academically, TU Delft’s staff and students share a high level of English, but in most other areas Dutch is prevalent. Of 42 TU sports clubs’ websites surveyed in 2005, only 16 had pages in English. It’s debatable whether this in itself is a barrier to joining these clubs, but the information should be accessible to all students.

Another potential social barrier is the Dutch fraternity system, which has its own mentality and traditions that aren’t shared by most non-Dutch students, but is often a means to joining other clubs. “A lot of foreign students come to the Sports Centre and ask where they can play football,” explains Raoul Loeffen, president of Ariston 80. “Since we’re the only independent student football club in Delft, they often come to us.”

There is evidence that these challenges are being met. Some clubs, like the DSTV Obvius tennis club, are becoming fully bilingual, and others report increasing numbers of foreign members. This all comes with increasing the amount of English used at all levels, which is indeed noticeably improving.

The fact that this process is taking so long implies that perhaps Delft, in its eagerness to ‘go international’, neglected this issue in the past. It’s probable that greater involvement in clubs and societies will lead to greater social interaction and, yes, integration, between Dutch and international students.

But it takes two eggs to make an omelet: Dutch students and institutions should expect internationals to make an effort to learn Dutch. However, the TU’s ‘Green Book’ Dutch course is underemphasized and oversubscribed. The course is currently run four times a year with 50 students per group. This year there are over 300 new Master’s students, a number that’s rising annually. It just doesn’t add up. Automatically offering every international student a place on this course would greatly help matters.

TU Delft has ten years of international experience .

compared to decades for ICL – so, understandably, has some catching up to do. Many issues can be dismissed as relativistic cultural differences, to be expected as part of the fun of studying abroad. Others can be traced to the dual-language set up (Dutch students are understandably unlikely to speak English when not forced to).

The raison d’être of any university is to educate, to impart knowledge purely for its own sake, not only academically, but also in the wider sense of ‘life skills’. For TU Delft to fully achieve this aim, it must continue working hard to fully open the doors of TU student life to its international community.

This article isn’t intended to discuss the question of integration. It doesn’t really matter whether TU Delft’s a melting pot of nationalities or not (and Imperial College London (ICL) certainly isn’t), because this is out of the hands of the university organization. It’s up to students as individuals to mix and this happens by itself.

Everyone likes to party and nobody needs the college holding their hand. The university’s obligation is only to provide equality of access to services and opportunities for all students. Is TU Delft fulfilling its obligation?

Delta’s English pages frequently praise Dutch society’s fairness and tolerance. Fairness does however have its drawbacks: here, everything must be paid for. Getting something for free in the Netherlands is like borrowing money from a Scotsman (or like offending two nations with one simile) . very difficult! Not least the fun things, like the TU sports card. €60 before you can even start playing? Is it fair to force foreign students . who already pay close to €10,000 in fees alone . to hand over another €60?

And is it fair to house the same students at great expense in Delft’s much-maligned ‘spaceboxes’? It’s hardly surprising that many of them are soon ’thinking outside the box’. But escaping a spacebox brings the extra stress of house-hunting and two-month notice periods. Why this solitary confinement in spaceboxes? Why not proper international student houses? Like those across the Noordzee, where ICL students are placed together in halls of residence, regardless of country of origin. Of course this doesn’t automatically create a utopian community of international friendship, but it’s certainly better than isolated spaceboxes. In addition, basic gym membership is free to all ICL students.

The ICL Student Union is the center of student life, comprising over 250 sports, cultural, religious, political and social clubs. “We know that students can be extremely lazy, so the Union tries to make joining clubs as easy possible,” says Sameena Misbahuddin, ICL Union president.

At the start of the year, ICL’s clubs present themselves at the ‘Freshers’ Fair’, (‘freshers’ being new students) and this is mainly how they attract new members. “This year we had about 400 e-mail addresses submitted,” says Peter Huthwaite of ICL’s ‘Photosoc’, “and about 90% of our current members are people who found our stall then.” A handbook of ICL’s clubs and societies is also published. Running a similar event at TUD would be a good idea.
Double Dutch

Delft has the additional problem of a language barrier. Academically, TU Delft’s staff and students share a high level of English, but in most other areas Dutch is prevalent. Of 42 TU sports clubs’ websites surveyed in 2005, only 16 had pages in English. It’s debatable whether this in itself is a barrier to joining these clubs, but the information should be accessible to all students.

Another potential social barrier is the Dutch fraternity system, which has its own mentality and traditions that aren’t shared by most non-Dutch students, but is often a means to joining other clubs. “A lot of foreign students come to the Sports Centre and ask where they can play football,” explains Raoul Loeffen, president of Ariston 80. “Since we’re the only independent student football club in Delft, they often come to us.”

There is evidence that these challenges are being met. Some clubs, like the DSTV Obvius tennis club, are becoming fully bilingual, and others report increasing numbers of foreign members. This all comes with increasing the amount of English used at all levels, which is indeed noticeably improving.

The fact that this process is taking so long implies that perhaps Delft, in its eagerness to ‘go international’, neglected this issue in the past. It’s probable that greater involvement in clubs and societies will lead to greater social interaction and, yes, integration, between Dutch and international students.

But it takes two eggs to make an omelet: Dutch students and institutions should expect internationals to make an effort to learn Dutch. However, the TU’s ‘Green Book’ Dutch course is underemphasized and oversubscribed. The course is currently run four times a year with 50 students per group. This year there are over 300 new Master’s students, a number that’s rising annually. It just doesn’t add up. Automatically offering every international student a place on this course would greatly help matters.

TU Delft has ten years of international experience .

compared to decades for ICL – so, understandably, has some catching up to do. Many issues can be dismissed as relativistic cultural differences, to be expected as part of the fun of studying abroad. Others can be traced to the dual-language set up (Dutch students are understandably unlikely to speak English when not forced to).

The raison d’être of any university is to educate, to impart knowledge purely for its own sake, not only academically, but also in the wider sense of ‘life skills’. For TU Delft to fully achieve this aim, it must continue working hard to fully open the doors of TU student life to its international community.