In March, internationals working at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) will be able to start a course in Dutch that’s especially tailored towards the faculty.
This news came out during a meeting organised by the faculty board and faculty council about the internationals’ concerns about the Balanced Internationalisation bill.
The training will start in March and consists of a language course that has been designed together with the Language Centre. The programme is specifically tailored towards the needs and preferences of internationals working at FEB.
Bilingual education
Although it’s currently unclear how exactly the bill will affect matters, it’s likely that some things will have to change, says dean Peter Verhoef. The changes will apply to several bachelor programmes, such as economics and business economics, programmes that attract a large number of internationals. These programmes will potentially have to switch to bilingual education.
Programmes such as international business and econometrics and operations research might be able to get permission to continue entirely in English. But it’s possible that this would involve putting a cap on the number of students and that active recruitment of internationals will have to end.
International faculty
Even though the situation is uncertain, Verhoef ensured people that the faculty would try its absolute best to continue to provide its staff with sufficiently attractive opportunities. ‘We are an international faculty and we want to stay that way’, he said.