Nibs

TU Delft’s website received high marks for its user-friendliness and depth of general information. But because TU Delft didn’t answer two emails within six weeks of receiving them, the university’s site scored ‘0.0’ for ‘email response’. The emails were sent by the research organization, Overheid.nl (Government.nl), which conducted the test. “Of course, this is really terrible,” said TU website content manager Martijn Krenn. “I’m surprised that this can happen. Of course it can take us a few days to answer an inquiry, because we are ourselves may not have the answer or we must ask for advice. Some emails we send to experts. But an email that’s not answered within six weeks…that to me is an extreme exception.” The TU’s Marketing and Communication department plans to contact overheid.nl to determine which mails exactly were not answered. Krenn: “We really want to know what went wrong.”
Dirty students

Mountains of dirty dishes, empty beer crates in the hallways, the contents of full garbage bags festering and rotting in kitchens…welcome to the majority of Dutch student houses. But now Duwo has had enough. The housing corporation has sent a letter to student houses saying that this “situation” has been tolerated in the past, but will no longer be. Duwo has therefore established a set of cleanliness standards that students must conform to. Duwo’s new standards state that, for instance, dirty dished can be left on kitchen counters for a few days, but “at the moment they start to rot or stink, the cleanliness standard has been breached.” Walls, kitchen counters and stoves need only be “kept fairly clean of oil.” Full garbage bags may not be left in kitchens but can be left in hallways, and while stacks of beer crates cannot be left in hallways, one crate is acceptable. Thus, Duwo houses are now allowed only to stink a little bit.
Participation please

The Netherlands’ various national student organizations have submitted a joint-proposal to Mark Rutte, the country’s under-secretary for education. The students want to have voting rights on many issues, to have one of their members sit on the Board of Overseers, and to have a ‘Students’ Right to Know Act’ implemented. Last year, Rutte pledged to improve the students’ participation. In the past months, a number of Dutch parliamentarians have also called for greater student participation.
Promising

Dutch magazine ‘Blvd’ named Sabine Roeser (34), an instructor in TU Delft’s Philosophy department, as one the Netherlands’ ‘Top 100’ most promising women. In the magazine’s article, Roeser states that researchers should always take the feelings of citizens into account. “Emotions are needed to understand the problems that come with risk,” she said. “That people are afraid of a second Chernobyl is entirely rational, but science says the chance is very small. Yet if you live near a nuclear reactor, it’s only logical to fear disaster.”
Student info

With an eye toward encouraging life-long learning, Under-Secretary of Education Mark Rutte wants to retain the academic results and personal details of ‘failed students’. Rutte’s plan calls for saving, for a maximum of 20 years, personal information about students who fail to graduate. If, after a number of years, a student wishes to restart their education, the IBG-Groep will then have information about the student and will be able to give it to universities and other institutions of higher education.
Student grant

The Dutch government has decided that EU students living in the Netherlands for five years qualify for national student grants, OV student cards and loans. This decision stems from a recent European Court of Justice ruling, which found that a French student who had lived in England for three years was entitled to a student grant from the British government. EU students who live in the Netherlands and work a minimum of 32 hours per week for Dutch companies also qualify for student grants.

Lowly website

In the ranking of the top 14 Dutch university websites, TU Delft has dropped from its fifth place ranking last year, to last place (fourteenth) this year. TU Delft’s website received high marks for its user-friendliness and depth of general information. But because TU Delft didn’t answer two emails within six weeks of receiving them, the university’s site scored ‘0.0’ for ‘email response’. The emails were sent by the research organization, Overheid.nl (Government.nl), which conducted the test. “Of course, this is really terrible,” said TU website content manager Martijn Krenn. “I’m surprised that this can happen. Of course it can take us a few days to answer an inquiry, because we are ourselves may not have the answer or we must ask for advice. Some emails we send to experts. But an email that’s not answered within six weeks…that to me is an extreme exception.” The TU’s Marketing and Communication department plans to contact overheid.nl to determine which mails exactly were not answered. Krenn: “We really want to know what went wrong.”
Dirty students

Mountains of dirty dishes, empty beer crates in the hallways, the contents of full garbage bags festering and rotting in kitchens…welcome to the majority of Dutch student houses. But now Duwo has had enough. The housing corporation has sent a letter to student houses saying that this “situation” has been tolerated in the past, but will no longer be. Duwo has therefore established a set of cleanliness standards that students must conform to. Duwo’s new standards state that, for instance, dirty dished can be left on kitchen counters for a few days, but “at the moment they start to rot or stink, the cleanliness standard has been breached.” Walls, kitchen counters and stoves need only be “kept fairly clean of oil.” Full garbage bags may not be left in kitchens but can be left in hallways, and while stacks of beer crates cannot be left in hallways, one crate is acceptable. Thus, Duwo houses are now allowed only to stink a little bit.
Participation please

The Netherlands’ various national student organizations have submitted a joint-proposal to Mark Rutte, the country’s under-secretary for education. The students want to have voting rights on many issues, to have one of their members sit on the Board of Overseers, and to have a ‘Students’ Right to Know Act’ implemented. Last year, Rutte pledged to improve the students’ participation. In the past months, a number of Dutch parliamentarians have also called for greater student participation.
Promising

Dutch magazine ‘Blvd’ named Sabine Roeser (34), an instructor in TU Delft’s Philosophy department, as one the Netherlands’ ‘Top 100’ most promising women. In the magazine’s article, Roeser states that researchers should always take the feelings of citizens into account. “Emotions are needed to understand the problems that come with risk,” she said. “That people are afraid of a second Chernobyl is entirely rational, but science says the chance is very small. Yet if you live near a nuclear reactor, it’s only logical to fear disaster.”
Student info

With an eye toward encouraging life-long learning, Under-Secretary of Education Mark Rutte wants to retain the academic results and personal details of ‘failed students’. Rutte’s plan calls for saving, for a maximum of 20 years, personal information about students who fail to graduate. If, after a number of years, a student wishes to restart their education, the IBG-Groep will then have information about the student and will be able to give it to universities and other institutions of higher education.
Student grant

The Dutch government has decided that EU students living in the Netherlands for five years qualify for national student grants, OV student cards and loans. This decision stems from a recent European Court of Justice ruling, which found that a French student who had lived in England for three years was entitled to a student grant from the British government. EU students who live in the Netherlands and work a minimum of 32 hours per week for Dutch companies also qualify for student grants.