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Diva 2Where to get that waffle 6Ready for the challenge? 8Speaking Gronings to the dog 11Zij doet het in het Nederlands 20

Yes we can!

Can we kick it?Here it is: the very first all-

English edition of the UK.

Why? Because we can.

And because the University

is becoming more and more

international.

Read this last UK before the

summer holidays.

And read more next year!

Foto Reyer Boxem

Newspapers are being hit hard by the economic crisis, but also by the competi-tion with the internet. A committee, established by the Minister of Culture to find a way to rescue newspapers, has advised a levy on internet connections. The money raised could be used by newspapers to innovate. Is that fair?

By René FRansen and ChRistien

Boomsma

It is important for our democracy to support traditional media in this time of transition, says Marcel Broersma, Professor of Journalism Studies and Media. He just finished reading the report of the Brinkman-committee:“The infrastructure of journalism is under pressure. Papers are strug-gling because their information-gathering is very labour-intensive. But TV stations often base their re-ports on articles in the local pa-pers. Bloggers and internet sites also rely heavily on the traditional media. So when the infrastructure comes crashing down, you have a serious problem.

The whole internet levy is on-ly meant for additional financing. This aspect is being highlighted in the media, but there are more ways of raising money for innovation.

The committee has correctly sta-ted that it’s not just about saving companies. You need journalists for a democracy to function.

This is a time of transition. The traditional media must change and concentrate on small groups of people. That could bring in new advertisers. However, these things take time and I think it is impor-tant for the news coverage and de-mocracy to organize a soft landing so the flow of quality news and in-formation can be guaranteed.”

Wim Vuijk, lecturer in Communica-tion Studies, thinks the money will be spent on a lost cause:“To implement a tax in order to rescue newspapers, like an endan-gered species, that seems silly. I’m rather curious, in fact, what will happen to the newspapers. I have every confidence in the creativity of journalists to come up with so-me idea about how to connect with the internet generation. And I’m sure there will be some more com-

mercial people who will know how to make money out of this. Society is changing; you see developments like free newspapers and news on internet.

Of course, the internet is not as reliable a news source as newspa-pers. But then again, the first news-papers that were printed were also not reliable. That has changed, and such a change may also happen on the internet. And who knows, if a news site is really good, you may

even want to pay for a subscripti-on to it.”

Professor of Customer-Based Marketing Peter Verhoef thinks it strange that internet users should pay for bad management:“To support newspapers in this way seems like state support to me. And why? In my opinion, news-papers have failed to adapt to the changes that have occurred. It’s fundamentally a product life-cy-

cle. Printed newspapers are on the downward slope, the online media are on the rise.

Consumer preferences are chan-ging, the younger generation – but also some members of the older ge-nerations – are switching to the internet for news. There’s a lot of news there, much broader in scope even than in the newspapers. But newspapers are reluctant to invest in their websites, they are afraid it will cannibalize their print edition.

Dutch newspapers have suffered huge losses from mismanagement. Newspaper publisher PCM lost millions when it was taken over by an investment group. And the Al-gemeen Dagblad acquired a ran-ge of regional newspapers, but that didn’ t work out either. It is very strange if the bill has to be footed by the consumer. After all, newspa-per publishers are commercial en-terprises, some of them are even on the stock market.”

Rosa DivaRosa

I woke up because my phone was sin-ging to me. “I’m a diva, I’m a diva”, Beyoncé – I love her, but not at 9 a.m. I didn’t answer my phone until I re-ceived twenty text messages. Suddenly I realized: it’s my birthday.

It felt good, I was so through with be-ing 21. Fuck 21! Unfortunately year 21 wasn’t through with me. The next day I found a pink card with flowers and glitters on my doormat. A late birth-day card. I began to fear the sender, my friends wouldn’t do something like that. They don’t forget my birthday and if they do, nobody mentions it later. It’s our unwritten rule to prevent wars. Yes, I’m sensitive about my birthday. There was one possible pink card send-er left: the man who broke my heart. I read the card – it was from him. He wrote: “I wish you lots of love.”

First he breaks my heart and now he wishes me love? It’s like shooting someone in the leg and telling them to have a nice morning run. The nerve!

For a second there, I wanted to cry.

Then something beautiful happened: I didn’t.

That is one true result this year. But there’s another milestone: after four years I finally finished my propaedeu-tic year! Amazing what a little deter-mination, or just an empty life – you decide – can do for your studies. My parents still don’t believe me. I called my mom and she kept saying, “Is this for real?” I think she’s in a shock. And my dad got so emotional he gave me half his steak. Rather unusual. I dis-covered studying has more side effects: with every exam I pass, I feel my heart healing a bit more. It’s a shame I didn’t know this until now – I could have had my Master’s degree, what with all the men who dumped me. But all that’s wa-ter under the bridge now. It’s summer-time and I’m going to enjoy it. Next year I will be a study diva again. Even at 9 a.m.

Rosa Timmer, fourth year student Linguistics

Colof on

Should we help s t r uggling new spaper s by a lev y on inter net conne c t ions?

‘This is a time of transition’

“Finally set to read the paper, is the internet working again” - Loesje Photo Gerrit Stel

UK editorial address:Oude Kijk in ’t Jatstraat 28,P.O. Box 80, 9700 AB Groningen. telephone: 050-3636700; Telefax: 050-3636698; e-mail: uk@rug.nlInternet: www.universiteitskrant.nl

editorial board: Hanneke Boon-stra (editor-in-chief) 3636697, Jan Blaauw (news coordinator) 3636696, Christien Boomsma (editor) 3637802, René Fransen (science) 3636695, René Lapoutre (design) 3636693, Harry Perton 3636317, Sieb de Ruig (editorial secretary) 3636700, Ernst Arbouw (International Page) 3636130.other editorial staff: Wouter Beetsma, Simon Beijer, Ana van Es, Hinke Hamer, Peter Keizer, Lieke van den Krommenacker, Teodor La-zarov, Janita Naaijer, Tjerk Notten, Elisabeth Oosterling, Rosa Timmer, Dorien Vrieling.staff: Bart Breman, Michel Dijkstra, Hans Miedema, Ronald Veldhuizen, Marcel Wichgers.Photos: Reyer Boxem, Jeroen van Kooten, Elmer Spaargaren.

drawings: Bert Cornelius, Robby van der Meulen, Eric van der Wal, Kees WillemenPublished by: Stichting Univer-siteitsbladPrint run: 20,000 copiesPress office: The UK cooperates with other university papers in the Higher Education Press Office (HOP) advertisements: Bureau Van Vliet bv, P.O. Box 20, 2040 AA Zand-voort, tel. 023-5714745, telefax 023-5717680University of Groningen ad-vertisements, announcements and UKaatjes: Heiny de Ruiter (3636699)subscription: € 30 per year, (inter-nal rate € 20). Change of address: in writing to the UK administration office Change of address for University of Groningen personnel: inform the relevant Personnel department.

©UK. Copyright reserved. No article may be reproduced either wholly or in part without the per-mission of the editor-in-chief.

2 T H I S W E E K UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Putting an end to a legal battlePhD students, the AbvaKabo trade union and University of Groningen managers are awaiting an important court ruling that may end a grim legal battle on the status of ‘bursalen’ – scholarship PhD students – in Groningen.

A ruling is scheduled for 2 July in a lawsuit brought by the AbvaKabo trade union against the Universi-ty of Groningen. AbvaKabo wants full employee contracts to be offe-red to Groningen scholarship PhD students. The dispute gravitates around the question whether scho-

larship PhD students actually work for the university or act as indepen-dent research entrepreneurs on in-dividual projects.

Any court ruling will have signif-icant ramifications, as the number of Dutch and international scholar-ship PhD students has been rising steadily in recent years. At the same time, political pressure is mount-ing. Minister of Education Ronald Plasterk spoke in favour of employ-ee status for PhD students on sever-al public occasions and in Decem-ber 2008 a vast majority in Dutch Parliament voted that PhD students should be considered employees.

Chairman Poppema of the Uni-versity maintains that the Univer-sity of Groningen scholarship stu-dent policy is well-designed and perfectly legal. But his board ex-pressed discontent when the Gron-ingen association for PhD students Grasp! posted standard protest forms on its website for PhD stu-dents who want a ‘labour discount’ from the Dutch tax office.

Part of the University policy is based on an understanding arrived at with the regional inspector of the tax office, entailing that PhD stu-dents will not be involved in teach-ing or other forms of labour and that

then the university will not have to pay the full amount of taxes.

Under pressure, Grasp! decided to remove the form from its website. “We felt that a good understand-ing with the Board of the Universi-ty was of greater importance to us”, says former chairperson Lotte Krab-benberg. By then, two PhD students had used the form with success.

Frans Zwarts and the Universi-ty legal department downplay the significance of all this. “These de-cisions come from the same or-ganization that we have sol-id agreements with”, says Zwarts. [ JAn BLAAUW ]

A unique confidant has passed away

Virologists crack down on H1N1Virologists from the University of Gron-ingen and the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) want to investigate material from a Dutch patient infected with the ‘New Flu’ (aka Swine Flu or Mexican Flu), currently being treated in the Intensive Care Unit of the UMCG.

They want to know whether the pa-tient’s serious condition is the re-sult of mutations in the virus. To test this, virologists need to iso-late the virus and work out its ge-netic sequence. For safety reasons this work has to be performed in a special ML-III biohazard laborato-ry. Unfortunately, the UMCG ML-III lab is currently closed for annu-al maintenance. “We can’t put that off”, virologist Anke Huckriede ex-plains. “It is a huge logistical oper-ation involving technical staff from many different companies.” She ex-pects the lab to reopen next week.

Diagnostics and patient care are not affected. Diagnosis of the ‘new Flu’ is performed at the Lab-oratory for Surveillance of Infec-tious Diseases (LIS). “Only when the number of suspected cases ris-es will a number of other labs be-come involved in the diagnosis, in-cluding the Clinical Virology lab of the UMCG.”

The Molecular Virology Group, of which Huckriede is associate pro-fessor, is working on new methods to produce flu vaccines, but this has not yet led to practical applications. [ REné FRAnSEn ]

Second opinion on explosion

The Board of the Faculty of Mathematics & Natural Sciences will seek a second opinion on the cause of an explosion in a fume cupboard last November, which seriously injured a lab technician.

An internal review committee, which included external special-ists, was unable to pinpoint the ex-act cause of the blast. The person-nel faction in the Faculty Council therefore requested a second opin-ion. Initially, the Faculty Board re-jected this because they felt the review had produced enough infor-mation to take appropriate action. When the plan of action was dis-cussed in the Faculty Council, last week, the personnel faction repeat-ed the request. This time the Board concurred. [ REné FRAnSEn ]

Copenhagen Uni refunds feesEighteen international stu-dents at the University of Co-penhagen in Denmark will be refunded over 600,000 Kro-ner (EUR 80,600) in tuition fees which they paid as part of the European ‘Erasmus Mundi’ Master’s Programme. The stu-dents had paid Copenhagen University around EUR 3000 in tuition fees for a programme which is jointly taught at three universities in Denmark, Ger-many and Wales. Students who started the programme at the other universities did not pay extra tuition fees. The Eu-ropean Commission decided that the tuition fees should not have been charged.

Swine flu outbreak at Bristol UniAt least twelve students at Bris-tol University in England have been diagnosed with swine flu after an outbreak of the virus at the institution. The first two students were diagnosed with the H1N1 strain of influenza last Wednesday. Seven oth-ers tested positive for the vi-rus on Friday and three more students were diagnosed early this week. A spokesman told the press the university will remain open despite the influ-enza outbreak.

Appeal against murder sentenceThe Public Prosecutor will lodge an appeal against the sentence imposed by a lower court on Dirk Z., a 20-year-old man charged with murdering 25-year-old English student Suzanne Martens. Z. was sen-tenced to 14 years in prison for the murder, while the Pub-lic Prosecutor had requested a 20-year prison sentence.

According to the prosecutor the “14 years imprisonment is too little for such a horrible crime”. Suzanne Martens was killed in her apartment early November last year. She was stabbed nineteen times in her face and neck.

Stone Age camp excavatedAt Meerstad, east of Gronin-gen, archaeologists have ex-cavated a campsite of hunt-er-gatherers from the Middle Stone Age. Thousands of piec-es of flint lay scattered at the site. 26 first-year archaeology students worked at the exca-vation. Jeroen Mendelts, their supervisor, dates the camp to around 7000 BC. “We know that by the design of the tools, mainly the arrow points.”

Groningen student wins Ladies RunMarieke Falkmann, student of movement sciences at the Uni-versity of Groningen, has won the Pink Ribbon Ladies Run, which took place last weekend in the city of Groningen. Falk-mann, a member of Groningen Atletiek, ran the 10.8 kms in 39 minutes and 30 seconds.

The run supports the battle against breast cancer. More than 1500 women participa-ted.

Sienus Nijborg (89) died last week. From 1950 to 1985 he was jack-of-all-trades of the Albertus Magnus student society.

After the Second World War Sienus nijborg owned a little coffee bar in a cellar near the Grote Markt. In 1950, members of Albertus proposed es-tablishing their clubhouse there. He agreed, went to work for Alber-tus and then moved with them to the Hoge der A (1960) and later the Brugstraat (1967).

The first years he was regularly flabbergasted about the new world he had wandered into. However, he

started to appreciate the students. In the fifties he worked alongside of them grubbing up potatoes in Smil-de, to raise money for the club.

Gradually he became the club’s handyman. “He was really a unique guy”, says University of Gronin-gen employee Han Borg, a member of Albertus from 1975 until 1985. “nijborg was the building manag-er and took care of beverages, pur-chases and cleaning and he taught generations of students the fine art of bartending.”

He worked sixty to seventy hours a week, Borg remembers. And he was also very thrifty. “He had a keen

eye for prices and that’s why sup-pliers were not a great fan of him. The beer glasses were also slight-ly smaller than standard glasses, so our society made a bit of profit. If you gave away too many beers, he would have a little private chat with you in the kitchen.”

To the students he was always Mr nijborg. Despite the distance he kept, he was a confidant for students with problems. Borg: “If members flunked an exam or were lovesick he would listen to them and com-fort them.”

Sienus nijborg was cremated last Tuesday. [ HARRy PERTOn ]

Dutch Iranians and their sympathizers demonstrate on the Grote Markt Photo Reyer Boxem

‘Death to the dictator!’About a hundred Dutch Iranians and their sympathizers demonstrated on the Grote Markt last Monday. They were protesting against the election results in Iran. “Death to the dictator!”

Some photos showing the recent vi-olence in Iran are attached to the steps in front of the City Hall. Peo-ple are wearing green clothes, just like the Iranian protestors in Tehe-ran or the other big cities in Iran. “Down with Khamenei, down with Khamenei!”, yells a man with a megaphone in his hand. When si-lence falls, a man from the crowd starts yelling “Death to the dicta-tor!” The rest of the people follow

his example. “It really is a big thing when Ira-

nian people start yelling things like that”, says Hossein Moeini, a PhD student from Iran. “Khamenei is al-most a holy figure in Iran, so it real-ly is something when people say he should leave.”

Since the recent events in Iran, Moenini can’t keep his eyes off the news channels BBC or Cnn. “The Iranian people have been fed up with the regime for a long time. The elections have just triggered the whole thing. The people want free-dom.”

Every night Moeini chats over the internet with his friends in Tehe-ran. They send him their pictures of the protest actions in the city.

Moenini puts them online, to show the world what’s going on.

Iranian-born professor nasser Ka-lantar (experimental nuclear phys-ics) also showed up at the Grote Markt. “It is very hard to predict what will happen in Iran”, he says. Mousavi’s movement seems strong at this moment in time. But it is still possible that it will be crushed.”

Moeini is hopeful: ten years ago, when I was studying at the Uni-versity of Teheran, a student pro-test broke out. The police came and ended it very violently. One student got killed. now I think that that protest was just a first sign. I hope, I really hope, that this time things will change in Iran.” [ TJERK nOT-

TEn ]

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009 N E W S 3

| a n a ly s i s | Europe wants to create a common education market. Interna-tionalisation is supposed to be good for students and universities. But is it worth the effort?

By René FRansen

In 1733, on 20 September, a young man from Aberdeen signed up as a student at the University of Gro-ningen. He studied Law for three years and then returned to Scot-land, where he graduated and even-tually became a High Court Judge. As Lord Monboddo he organized ‘learned suppers’ to which he in-vited representatives of the ‘Scot-tish Enlightenment’ like David Hu-me. Monboddo was also known as an eccentric. He proposed that man evolved from apes, a century be-fore Charles Darwin published his Des­cent of Man. Howev-er, Monboddo did so on the grounds that – as he firmly believed – humans were born with a tail that was discretely chopped off direct-ly after birth by the midwives.

Around 1500, a young Polish stu-dent spent ten years in Italy, the country of Michelange-lo and Leonardo da Vinci. At that time, Italian artists were experi-menting with perspective, radical-ly changing the art of painting. Per-haps his exposure to the new and fascinating art form helped Nico-laus Copernicus to change his per-spective on the solar system and come up with the radical idea of the Earth orbiting the Sun.

These two anecdotes contain three lessons on internationalization. First, it’s nothing new. If anything, students were more mobile in past centuries than in the 20th and 21st. It was no problem for Copernicus or Monboddo to study elsewhere. All universities used Latin as a lin-gua franca.

Second, the fact that someone has studied abroad doesn’t mean he is a good scholar. Monboddo was pri-marily an eccentric, and his stu dies on the evolution of languages re-ceived no more praise than his out-landish ideas about human origins. The third lesson, however, is that a change of perspective can open up your mind. Going places, exploring a different culture and tradition, can help a student to mature into a scientist.

Of course, the situation in the 21st century is radically different from the world of Copernicus or Mon-boddo. The number of students has increased spectacularly over the last

fifty or so years. A university edu-cation is no longer an ‘upper class’ privilege, but this also means that students rely on grants to get them through their education. They can’t just pack up and leave for another country. And these days, the lingua franca of academia is broken Eng-lish, but this is not as widely used as Latin was. Moreover, Latin was a ‘second language’ for everyone, whilst English gives a clear advan-tage to those who speak it as their mother tongue. Furthermore, each country has its own rules and reg-ulations for Higher Education. All these things are a hindrance to free movement of students across the world.

Europe is set to create, alongside its common market, a common sys-tem for Higher Education. Barri-ers must come down and spending

time abroad should be a normal part of university life. The Europe-wide intro-duction of the Bach-elor’s-Master’s sys-tem is one step in that process. But are we getting a better system in the proc-ess?Money is one prob-lem. In the Neth-erlands, legislation was passed this year

which allows students to take their grants abroad. On the other hand, Dutch universities are paid per graduate, not for visiting students coming for just one term. So, inter-national students have to pay high-er tuition fees. Financial barriers are still present.

The language barrier is also impor-tant. There’s more to it than finding the right course in English. On av-erage, lectures by non-native speak-ers are inevitably of poorer quality than lectures given by native speak-ers. And students for whom English is a second language will probably absorb less from a lecture in Eng-lish, even if it is given by a native speaker.

Going abroad also means lots and lots of paperwork and planning. In Europe, the ECTS credit points sys-tem should mean that you know how many credits you will get for the work you’re doing. In reality, the system is not yet perfect. And outside Europe, things are even more complicated. Planning is an-other worry for those venturing abroad. Academic years may start on different dates, and terms might last six months or four. Also, there’s little room for absorbing unexpect-ed delays. You can’t just go back to resit an exam.

So even once all countries have a Bachelor’s-Master’s system, there are still important barriers. But then

Lots and lots of paperwork|_ So why would you want to study abroad?

4 R E M A R K A B L E UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Pigeon soup in ChinaHow do you get thirty students to take a three-week trip to China? You let them do research to make money, create a new module within the study programme and reward the whole thing with ECTS. “That we managed it was a great kick.”

By PeteR KeizeR

They wanted something com-pletely different from a week of drinking in Dublin or Budapest. So the study association TBV Lu-gus, of Industrial Engineering and Management, thought up an intercontinental study trip so that their students could gain in-ternational experience. But how do you organize something like that? Six students were faced with the task. Their goal: China.

“The trip turned out to be a lot more expensive than a week in Dublin”, chairman Victor de Beus admits. It wasn’t easy, but even-tually he and his fellow students came up with a smart plan – let the students work their way to the Far East. The thirty partic-ipants had to do six months re-search at Dutch companies like

Friesland Foods, Grontmij and Stork to raise money.

Then they came up with anoth-er plan. “We also wanted to earn ECTS for the trip. So together with some lecturers we set up the IEM project module.”

The module was themed ‘Made in China. A search for quality’, because China is famous for both mass production and poor qual-ity. However times are changing in China too. Participants were to do preliminary research in the Netherlands and then check in China how quality was guaran-teed.

At the beginning of April, after months of preparation, the stu-

dents finally left for Shanghai and Beijing. There they visited sev-en companies and debated with their general and quality man-agers. That wasn’t always easy. “Even managers of companies with over 8000 employees do not automatically speak English”, one of the participants wrote on the trip’s blog.But fortunately it wasn’t all work. Thanks to the preliminary work they had done at home, enough time was left to explore China. They visited The Yellow Moun-tains, biked through Beijing, took a whole day to walk along part of the Great Wall of Chi-na and visited the Summer Pal-ace. De Beus: “One day we visited a genuine Chinese company. Its general manager wanted to im-press us with a slap-up lunch. A typical Chinese lunch, that is – chicken feet and duck webs with their claws still attached and pi-geon soup with the head floating in it. Some enjoyed it more than others. But it was a great expe-rience!”

Read the study trip blogs: www.iemproject.com/studenten/Dagverslagen

Last man standing in GroningenSantanera is the probably the most international year club in Groningen. Eleven out of a total of twelve mem-bers of the Albertus Magnus student society have been abroad for their studies. That’s 91.6 percent, far above the University of Groningen average of thirty. What’s their secret?

By Rosa timmeR

It’s not a virus but if it were, Er-jen Prins was not contaminated. While his friends pack their bags to go abroad, he alone plans to re-main in Groningen. “Maybe it’s because I’m not so much a follow-er. I lead. And I lead my friends into De Kroeg”, he smiles.

No – there’s actually a real rea-son that Prins has never left the university: it’s because he stud-ies architecture. “Only Curaçao

or the other Dutch Antilles are possible destinations, and I don’t want to go there.” Poor boy, he doesn’t want to go to beauti-ful sunny beaches to collect his ECTS.

We ought to show him some compassion.

His friend Ewoud Venema isn’t afraid to use a little sun block every now and then. He went to Argentina, learned Spanish and studied there. “I came into con-tact with students from all over the world. That’s what I liked the most. Also, I experienced anoth-er culture. I’d advise everybody to study in a country that you would not normally go to. It’s so much fun.”

Santanera’s men can list Ar-gentina, Israel, Brazil, New Zea-land, Spain (twice), Australia, In-dia, Asia and America (twice) as destinations. They visit each oth-

er sometimes at their universities abroad. Ewoud: “We went to Va-lencia and we’ve been to Tel Aviv. It’s nice to see your friends in a different environment.”

Still firmly planted on the cob-blestones of Groningen, Erjen sometimes gets tired of all the conversations he can’t participate in. “I’ve heard so many stories about the differences between rich and poor they have seen and stuff like that. I feel like I have to say ‘oh, how nice for you’ all the time. But actually I don’t think their trips were all that special.”

But there is hope for Erjen, be-cause in the future he’s going to Delft to study. And then he also wants to go abroad. “I want to see all the things they talk about. I want to know if the bungee jump-ing and jumping off a bridge is re-ally as much fun as they say it is.”

Sjoeke Snijdelaar (60) was one of the first women to join the International Office of the University of Groningen. It was a difficult time, a struggle against cutbacks, in 1980. But… how exciting!

By HanneKe BoonstRa

How did it feel to be a pioneer?“Oh, no, I wasn’t! The Interna-tional Office already existed, al-though on a modest scale. But it was a very difficult time due to heavy government cutbacks. I was the only employee, apart from a conscientious objector.”

Only the two of you? How did you cope?

“We managed and the office slow-ly moved forwards. We set up an alliance with Burkina Faso and later on with Ethiopia. Fortunate-ly, we had a lot of support from the committee of development cooperation within the Univer-sity. They urged the Board of the University to develop a more in-ternational policy.”

Still with only you and the other guy?“No, in 1983 Els Boerma arrived and Madeleine Gardeur, who be-came head of the International Office, joined us in 1984. I’m glad it expanded, especially for the students, they now had all those international contacts and it was so good for them. Nowadays it’s nearly all about America and Eu-

rope and I think that’s a pity. I thought it very important that we dealt with developing countries, which was more the spirit of the 1970s and the 1980s.”

Best memories?“The struggle against all odds, in the beginning. And the success. Exciting!”

In recent months you worked for the Lustrum Bureau, now you’re retiring. Is it hard to say good­bye?“Not at all. I’m going to write a book about my grandfather who was a member of the Union of Ty-pographers and I’m a member of a choir. I’ll also stay in touch with the University of Groningen as a volunteer.”

Que s t ion & ans wer

‘Nowadays it’s all about America’

‘The fact that someone

has studied abroad doesn’t

mean he is a good scholar’

Lots and lots of paperwork|_ So why would you want to study abroad?

Illustration Pluis

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009 R E M A R K A B L E 5

again, these are less daunting than ten, twenty years ago. And the com-mon education market is still very much a work in progress. There is

every reason, therefore, to adopt a ‘the glass is half-full’ attitude. We’re getting there, albeit slowly. This brings up the more fundamen-

tal question of why we want to get there in the first place?

Doing a ‘grand tour’ of Europe-an universities used to be the fin-

ishing touch to an upper-class edu-cation. You learned about different ideas, saw the sights and came back with lots of experience. These days,

the world is much smaller. ‘Abroad’ isn’t that far away, most students take several international trips per year. They already know what’s out there.

Of course, students might pick up some interesting new ideas in another country. But on the oth-er hand, most students will spend their term abroad at the equivalent of some British redbrick universi-ty, rather than at Oxbridge. So the intellectual stimulus might not be that great. And – rumour has it – sampling the social life is as much a priority as sampling a new and dif-ferent academic tradition.

An important reason to go is that it looks good on your resumé. Em-ployers like students who show ini-tiative, and going abroad is deemed to be proof of this quality. Of course, when a large percentage of students do as policymakers want, and fol-low part of their education abroad, the effect on the resumé will dimin-ish.

This all sounds a bit grim. Is there no good reason then to take all the trouble to arrange six months at a university in Spain, Sweden or Swa-ziland? Of course there is. It’s fun. It’s experience. And yes, if you man-age to get into a good university, or get selected for a high-quality Mas-ter’s programme, it is undoubtedly good for your career. But most of all, you should enjoy the experience. And by all accounts eccentric Mon-boddo seems to have had even more fun than the great astronomer.

Finally, what’s in it for the universi-ties? Why is the University of Gro-ningen setting targets to increase the number of international stu-dents? It’s the Red Queen effect. On the European market for higher ed-ucation, you need to run ever fast-er in order to stay in the same place. Europe is making it easier to study elsewhere. Even if that’s hard at present, no university can afford to miss out on the academic migrants.

Of course, the strongest compe-tition is for the most talented stu-dents. You’d rather have Coperni-cus on your alumni website than Lord Monboddo. So universities have to do their utmost to get those rare talented students. The Univer-sity of Groningen has a lot to offer, but obviously can’t compete with Harvard, Cambridge or the ETH Zürich. On the other hand, it will have a much bigger pond to fish po-tential prize students from.

So overall, breaking down the bar-riers to internationalization is well worth the effort. And it seems that the ideas of Lord Monboddo on e-volution inspired the French natu-ralist Comte de Buffon, who in turn inspired Charles Darwin. Perhaps universities shouldn’t focus just on academic talent. After all, it takes all sorts to make a world.

The Chinese miss their fishNo matter what kind of fish it is, the Dutch deep-fry it. Mang, a Chinese student of human resource manage-ment, has seen it on the Groningen Vismarkt – ‘fish market’. She pulls a face. “It all tastes the same!” Back home in China, she likes to eat fish soup with tofu. But also whole fish, fried, only in a different way than the Dutch do. “In China, there are many ways of frying. We use only a little oil.”

Mang can find most things she needs in a regular Dutch supermar-ket: “I don’t eat very spicy food.” She points at a guy walking by in the hallway of the big internation-al student house on the Winschot-erdiep. “He’s a very good cook. He goes to the Asian supermarket all the time.”

Colin Xie, student at the Hanze International Business School, is just about to put a ready-to-eat plas-tic bowl of Chinese mie into the mi-crowave. Just like Mang, he miss-es the Chinese fish. “Here they only eat fish from the sea, right? In Chi-na we also eat fish from rivers and small lakes.”

Once a week Xie visits Amazing Oriental, an Asian market on the Korreweg, and sometimes some smaller shops he doesn’t know the names of. He buys rice there, tra-ditional Chinese pepper, Chinese noodles, tofu and a special kind of spicy soy bean.

A halal butcher in the FolkingestraatAtta Urrehman, PhD student of drug exploration at the UMCG, is more of a meat eater. He goes to several Muslim shops in the cen-tre of Groningen to get halal meat.

He gets several items, like Pakistani spices, at a shop in the Poelestraat, next to club Enzo. “They claim their meat is halal, I guess we have to be-lieve it,” he smiles. He knows an-other halal butcher, though, in the Folkingestraat.

A Slovakian buys a whole loaf of breadJozef, a student of law from Slova-kia, noticed that Dutch bread is very different from the kind he eats back home. “We buy whole loaves of bread, here the bread is sliced. And it’s much softer.”

He misses the harder Slovaki-an kind, which tastes better. Many other things differ – yoghurt, sau-sages, salami. Salami? How Slova-kian is that? “The brands are dif-ferent, so the ingredients and taste are different as well.” The same ap-plies to biscuits and other sweet food. “We eat a lot of waffles, with all kinds of flavours. They are hard to find here.”

Jozef also prefers Slovakian sweets – they have all kinds of boiled sweets, while the Dutch seem to prefer chewy ‘snoep’. “I’m not into that.”

Swiss chocolate is so expensiveThe Swiss are famous for their watches, their cheese and, of course, their chocolate. Real Swiss chocolate is hard to find in Gronin-gen, Mark Knecht, a student of re-al estate management at the Hanze University Groningen, found out. “Or it’s very expensive.”

And yes, the cheese is different. When he visits his parents back home he brings cheese back with him. Just like Slovakian Jozef, he prefers the bread he’s used to at

Where to get that waffle? |_ How international students find those flavours of home in Groningen

6 U N I V E R S I T Y UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Measur ing up (1)

Discovering the universe| s e r i e s | The University of Groningen wants to be international. But how does the staff measure up to an international yardstick? We put four of them to the test. First: Amina Helmi.

By lieke van den krommenacker

“in argentina the nights are usual-ly very clear, then you can see a lot of stars. You don’t see that very often here in Holland.”

From the window of her office, the argentinean associate professor in astronomy and astrophysics ami-na Helmi can see the Blaauw observ-atory on the Zernike complex. The large Gratama telescope on top of the building emphasizes not only the in-ternational, but also the intergalac-tic character of Helmi’s field; the near universe. Helmi works at the kapteyn astronomical institute in Groningen, where she explores how the milky Way came into being.

Her international academic star has been rising ever since she left her na-tive country in 1996, after gaining de-grees in mathematics and natural Sciences. Four years later, Helmi ob-tained her Phd in leiden, went back to argentina, worked in Germany for a couple of years and returned to the netherlands in 2003.

Travelling is a major part of her work. in the past few months she visited america twice. last week she went to both italy and england for meetings. Her next trip is to cambridge, Uk, in July. “The average amount of travel is once a month. astronomy is very internationally orientated. i try to keep the number of foreign trips limited though. i have a three-year-old son; it is hard to be away from him.”

Helmi does a lot of teaching and writing, but she rarely does so in dutch. only for first and second-year students are most modules offered in dutch. But even then, all the liter-ature is in english, which results in a funny mix of dutch and english in discussions sometimes. also quite a few of Helmi’s Phd students are ar-gentinean. “i presume there’s a caus-al connection here”, she smiles.

Helmi does not dream of travelling into outer space. “i am more a theo-retician”, she explains. “The fact that

laws of mathematics and natural sci-ences, developed here on earth, allow you to examine things so far away…that’s magic. When i discover some-thing new, it feels as if i’ve unravelled a secret.” recently Helmi received a starting grant from european re-search council (erc). She aims to use the scholarship to build up a re-search group that will develop mod-els that can analyse measurements on stars and determine the history of the milky Way.

The astronomer has analysed her personal statistics as well. When she is asked about the number of times she has been cited so far, she knows the answer by heart: “about twenty-five hundred times.” as she has fif-ty-five publications to her name, this means that on average she is cited fif-ty times for every article or book she has written.

does she know all about the scores of the University in international ranking lists too? “no. i know that the kapteyn institute is famous the world over. People don’t know where to find Groningen on the map, but they can find the institute.”

Speaking of topographical knowl-edge, we have one last question to de-termine whether Helmi really can be called the ultimate international aca-demic: in which country is Timbuk-tu situated? a loud laugh. “i haven’t a clue.”

Amina Helmi Photo Reyer Boxem

Grades get lost in translation| b a c k g r o u n d | The European Credit Trans-fer and Accumulation System (ECTS) was developed to make it easier for students to study abroad and take their credits home. Unfortunately there are still a lot of obsta-cles that have to be overcome. “We can’t even get our own faculties to synchronize their academic schedules.”

By PeTer keiZer

Foreign students have a hard time understanding the Dutch grading system. ‘Why can’t I get a 10, when

I’m an excellent student?’ they often ask. “It annoys them”, says Angelica Kaus, head of the International Of-fice. “Foreign students are used to getting high grades. “And they don’t understand the Dutch grading cul-ture, in which a 6 is all right and an 8 is excellent.”

ECTS was meant to make it easier for students to participate in inter-national mobility programmes and to transfer their study results. But the European system hasn’t had the desired effect. “There are too many obstacles”, according to Regine van Groningen, of the Office for Inter-

The international yardstickif it wasn’t for the dutch points system, Helmi would have given herself ten points for the test. “But that’s impossible in Hol-land, so i give myself a nine.” despite Timbuktu, we definitely think Professor Helmi earns a ten. after all, a certain sense of adaptability can also be conside-red proof of successful internati-onalization.

| b a c k g r o u n d | Once in Groningen, you have to get used to the weather, the bikes, the Dutch language and, of course, Dutch food. But many international students yearn for the flavours of home. “I’m not into those chewy sweets.”

By dorien vrielinG

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Where to get that waffle? |_ How international students find those flavours of home in Groningen

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009 U N I V E R S I T Y 7

home to Dutch bread. He’s found a solution: he toasts it before eating.

Where’s the Norwegian porridge?Astrid Lydersen, student of bio-technology, has not found her fa-vourite Norwegian porridge yet. Grøt is what it’s called. Could it be the same as Dutch grutten, also an old-fashioned kind of porridge? It might be, she says, she’ll look for

it in the dairy section of the super-market, “But I can make it from scratch as well. I’ve done that a cou-ple of times.”

Peppermint tea for an AustralianAustralian Callin Ivanovici, stu-dent of psychology, hardly misses anything she eats at home, down under. “I can’t find peppermint fla-voured tea, but that’s probably be-

cause I don’t know the Dutch name for it,” she smiles.

Where to shop?Looking for ingredients for borsjt-sj, blinis or a nice bottle of kvas? You’re most likely to find them at Vjatka, the only shop in Groningen that sells Russian specialities. Pa-terswoldseweg 90.

Amazing Oriental is an Asian su-

permarket that sells fresh vege-tables, as well as many kinds of fish, frozen banana leaves, spices and freshly made snacks like lem-per (Indonesian rice packages with chicken). Korreweg 51.

The Folkingestraat, located between the Zuiderdiep and the Vismarkt, might well be the cutest shopping street in Groningen. Between reg-ular shops, there’s the well-known Turkish / Islamic butcher, as well

as the characteristic Le Souk, a North African bakery and grocery store. Folkingestraat 51.

Toko Melati is a relatively big Asian store. It offers vegetables, spices and many kinds of rice. You can also get your cooking hardware there, such as rice cookers and bamboo steam-ers. Interestingly, Melati even sells muscle balms, Asian cosmetics and necessities for Afro hair. Gedempte Zuiderdiep 126.

Grades get lost in translationnational Relations. “Translating national grades is a huge problem. The Dutch grading system us-es grades from 1 to 10, in Belgium there’s a maximum of 30 and the highest grade in Poland is a 5. In a lot of countries a Dutch 8 doesn’t seem like a big accomplishment, al-though we think it’s one of the high-est marks you can get.”

Translating grades is a problem for a lot of countries, according to Robert Wagenaar, Director of Un-dergraduate and Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Arts. He has been directly involved in the develop-

ment of ECTS since 1989. “Dutch lecturers reward the same effort two points lower than their Span-ish or Polish colleges. The grades of our students are therefore underes-timated in other countries and the grades of foreign students are over-rated here.” As a result there are a lot of ‘excellent’ Italian and German students, but hardly any from the Netherlands.

It’s hard for foreign students to understand that the grades 1 and 10 are rare, Wagenaar says. “Changing the grading culture is almost impos-sible.” Examining the grading cul-

ture could provide an answer. “You can check how often a grade is giv-en. After that universities need only to determine the actual percentage of students that receive each ‘local’ grade. This allows a more straight-forward comparison.” A Dutch 8 will become more important inter-nationally. Dutch students will be valued accordingly.

But it isn’t just the translation of grades that causes problems. A lot of countries still have a long way to go in implementing the Bologna Declaration, that was supposed to make sure that students could eas-

ily study at different European uni-versities, especially countries like Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

‘We’re lucky to have the European system’

More and more countries are par-ticipating, but it’s a slow process. “We can’t even get our faculties to synchronize their schedules. Be-sides, getting an 8 at one faculty can

be a lot easier than at another. If we can’t even agree on grades within our own university, it’s not hard to imagine how difficult it’s going to be in Europe”, Van Groningen says.

For now, ECTS only works when universities work together and lec-turers agree on the quality of train-ing. But when there’s no direct con-tact, it’s difficult to assess the level of a study programme. “The more we internationalize, the better it gets”, Kaus said. “Five years ago it was even harder for students to fol-low modules abroad. We’re lucky to have the European system.”

Photo Reyer Boxem

| b a c k g r o u n d | Almost every student can chit-chat in English, but palms get sweaty when they have to write academic papers in English, or present research results to an international audience. So, should we worry now that English is slowly becoming the official language of the University of Groningen?

By peter keizer and lieke van

den krommenacker

“Who do I have to speak here fore?” This example shows that writing in English isn’t as easy as most stu-dents think it is. A small translation test undertaken by twenty-five stu-dents in the University library re-vealed that many students have a hard time expressing themselves in English (see box). According to Kevin Haines, coordi-nator and lecturer at the Language Centre, this isn’t strange. “The structure of the way you put lan-guage on paper is different from the way you speak it. The flow of ide-as in a person’s head has to some-how change into correctly written English.”

And this is exactly where things go wrong. Students coming from the Dutch secondary school sys-tem underestimate communica-tion in an academic context. Even worse: they continue to translate their thoughts instead of thinking in English. “That’s a fairly unnatu-ral thing to ask of students.”

Kees de Glopper, director of the Centre for Language, Education and Communication, recogniz-es these difficulties among PhD and Master’s students. “Colleagues sometimes worry about their stu-dents’ level of English. Of course, you cannot lump all students to-gether, because the differences in writing skills are large. For a lot of students, writing in English is a big challenge, one they can’t cope with.”

‘For a lot of students, writing in English is a challenge, they

can’t cope with’

Haines agrees with De Glopper that there are many different types of student. “Students who choose an international study programme, where everything is taught in Eng-lish, probably have greater lan-guage experience than students who choose a Dutch programme. An international programme is more challenging than those where you only have to read in English, for example.”

To be certain that a student is ready for the challenge of following an in-ternational Master’s programme at

the University of Groningen, he or she is first put to the test, literal-ly. The Common European Frame-work of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has determined six differ-ent levels at which student’s skills in English are assessed: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. “Five years ago the international programme required a B2 level. But it turned out to be in-sufficient, so we raised the levels”, says Kirsten Wolkotte, coordina-tor of the International Office of the Faculty of Law.

Haines: “There has been research done in Britain that tried to map the academic use of English in Europe. The most important point was that level C means people can commu-nicate with a certain ease in Eng-lish. They find themselves in the comfort zone, which allows them to study naturally in English. Most people coming from secondary school, however, score no higher than B2. They don’t have a realistic view of their language abilities.”

That’s the core problem, under-lines De Glopper. “English lessons in secondary school are not focused

Are they ready for the challenge?|_ Students have an unrealistic view of their language abilities

8 U N I V E R S I T Y UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Measur ing up (2)

A period overseas is overrated| s e r i e s | The University of Groningen wants to be international. But how does the staff measure up to an international yardstick? We put number two to the test: Nico van Yperen.

By hinke hamer

“My research does not feel like work. It is a passion. I would do the same thing even if I was not paid for it.” Nico van Yperen is a professor of Or-ganizational Psychology. He is di-rector of the Graduate School of Be-havioural and Social Sciences and conducts research in the fields of achievement motivation, leadership and work stress. According to him, he is “one-hundred percent interna-tionally oriented”. He proves this with graphics on his homepage. There it says he currently has 49 ISI publica-tions, he has been cited 946 times and has an average of more than nineteen citations per publication. More impor-tant, he has an ‘H-index’ of eighteen.

“An H-index of eighteen means that I have written at least eighteen articles that have been cited at least eighteen times”, he clarifies. In the field of psy-chology, an index of eighteen seems to be pretty good, so here Van Yperen earns himself points on the interna-tional yardstick.

He does not want to call himself a ‘conference tiger’: only twice a year does he visit international conferences and every two years he attends the meetings of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology. He sometimes even visits conferences outside his professional domain. “Achievement motivation is also important in sports and education, so I occasionally visit some of those conferences.”

When he does visit assemblies abroad, he checks out topics and lan-guage use beforehand. For example last May, in Santiago de Compostella. “The introduction to the conference was all in Spanish and I did not mind missing that.” So you don’t speak Spanish? “No, I don’t speak any lan-guages besides Dutch and English.”

He has lived abroad, but only in Eng-lish-speaking countries – a couple of months at Wharton School in Phila-

delphia, and a few months at the Uni-versity of British Colombia in Van-couver. Van Yperen: “Usually a period overseas is overrated. Not the expe-rience itself, but the very fact of do-ing research there. At best you’ll get a desk and a computer, but mostly of the time you’ll be working in a small room without any windows.”

So in the end Van Yperen enjoys the facilities as well as the working atmos-phere best back home in Groningen. “I do not go abroad often, so I might not seem to be that internationally oriented, but virtually I sure am. And also in my orientation and experience. And I also think it is obvious that we, as a university, have to be internation-ally oriented.”

But when asked if he can mention at least three international rankings for the University of Groningen, he hes-itates. “I think we are number 124 in one very important ranking, but I don’t know which one that is.” He on-ly knows about the Shanghai index, in which five hundred universities are evaluated. “We do quite well, there”, he knows, but can’t be more specific.

But then there’s the internation-al ranking of the University Newspa-per, where does he see himself? Van Yperen hesitates. “What is the refer-ence group? Is it other scholars or the Dutch population? I guess I do pret-ty well compared to my peers but I am not an absolute top scholar.”

Nico van Yperen Photo Elmer Spaargaren

The international yardstickan h-index of eighteen is ok, but professor van Yperen loses points for the fact that he doesn’t know more than one internation-al language. But then, his research group is “one-hundred percent in-ternationally oriented” and does very well when it is evaluated. professor van Yperen gets eight points out of ten.

Illustration René Lapoutre

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Are they ready for the challenge?|_ Students have an unrealistic view of their language abilities

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009 U N I V E R S I T Y 9

on academic writing, they concen-trate on practical skills.”

But at university it’s not about ask-ing directions to the station or or-dering a hamburger at McDonald’s. De Glopper: “People really underes-timate the difficulties of writing in a second language. Even for advanced users of English like me, writing in English means a lot of extra effort. You lack the flexibility you can re-ly on when you write in your own language.” Haines adds: “Neverthe-less this does not seem to be a spe-cifically Dutch phenomenon. Other nationalities struggle with the same difficulties.”

‘Other nationalities struggle with the same difficulties’

“It has everything to do with how close your own language is to Eng-lish”, says Haines. Dutch people have a relative advantage compared

to people from southern European countries because the Dutch lan-guage originates from the same language group as English. “On the other hand, we are not as good at English as some Scandinavian countries, where people use Eng-lish as a genuine second language.”

Haines: “If you want to be inter-national, you have to create an en-vironment in which English is used as a genuine natural language. The International Business and Man-agement programme, for example, has a lot of foreign students. There the need to speak English is genu-ine, not artificial. You still get a lot of switching between languages in such an environment and you con-stantly move back and forth be-tween different mother tongues. In this way, students become flexible users of a language.”

Furthermore, students who fol-low an international programme are capable of improving their Eng-lish very rapidly. Students who fol-low a ‘normal’ study path probably just increase their passive knowl-edge, mostly in terms of vocabulary.

“They are not being asked to repro-duce it and don’t get the opportuni-

ty to increase their productive use of English,” explains Haines.

Martin van Hees, professor of Eth-ics and Political Theory, is a lectur-er in the English-language Research Master’s in Philosophy. He not only discusses the work of his students with respect to the content, but al-so helps them to improve their lan-guage skills. In general, he is very satisfied with their levels. “What I notice are small faults in style or grammar, overly long sentences or the incorrect use of punctuation, for example. But these are not big mistakes.”

Moreover, students tend to link sentences with words such as ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘so’, says Haines. However, at an academic level, words like ‘fur-thermore’, ‘however’ and ‘nonethe-less’ are more commonly used. Yet it is too simplistic to speak of mis-takes, thinks Haines. “It’s not just mistakes that prevents them from functioning on an academic level. It is also vocabulary range and flexi-bility in structuring text.”

Van Hees also believes that the distance between what you have in mind and what you would like to write down on paper occurs in Dutch as well. Haines endorses this notion. “When students start uni-versity they have no experience at all in writing essays or reports in an academic style. Doing so in a second language is an even bigger challenge.”

And that is not to mention the differences between cultures and the way those differences influ-ence language use and understand-ing. Haines: “You send messages to people in certain ways, verbal-ly and non-verbally. A person from another country might understand the message differently, and con-sequently the message is misinter-preted.”

Apart from the differences in lan-guage and culture, sometimes it’s simply a matter of different rules. In Finland, it is not desirable to spend much time on your conclusion to a presentation, clarifies Haines. “Speakers do not want to insult their listeners by repeating some-thing people should already know if they listened carefully. This illus-trates once more the close relation-ship between the use of language and cultural diversity.”

As English becomes more and more important at the University, it’s inevitable that we invest in Eng-lish language and writing skills. De Glopper: “Things could get a bit messy if we don’t pay enough atten-tion to internationalization.”

As well as the University’s efforts in this matter, students can also im-prove their skills on their own, us-ing numerous websites, for exam-ple. Haines: “There are computer programmes where you can type a word and then the computer re-peats it for you. You can find a lot of links on the Language Centre’s Blackboard site. It’s a great advan-tage that there are a lot of free re-sources online.”

‘Who do I have to speak here fore?’

The UK asked twenty-five students to translate a few sentences. The results were surprising. A few examples:

Ik versta u heel slecht/ I’m afraid I can’t hear you very well- I can hear you very bad- I can’t here you

Verwacht u mevrouw Z vandaag nog terug? / Is Mrs Z expected back later today?- Is miss Z comming back today?

Wie zou ik hiervoor moeten hebben? / Who should I speak to?- Do you know who I need for this subject

Met wie spreek ik? / Hello this is…- Who is this?

Wat is uw postadres? / Could you give me your full address?- What is you zipcode excatly?

Illustration René Lapoutre

| b a c k g r o u n d | Administrative and support staff usually don’t mind speak-ing English when needed. But were it imposed, in say consultative bodies, trouble would be the result. “It’s still too early for that.”

By harry perton

English is a compulsory subject in Dutch secondary education, and if you ask the administrative and sup-port staff (abbreviated in Dutch as OBP) of the University of Gronin-gen whether they personally strug-gle with the spread of English at the University, almost everyone says no. “It is not so bad”, says Jaap van der Linde, of the Porter’s Office in the Academy Building. “Every day we give people directions in Eng-lish. We never fail to communicate. But for us it is fairly simple.”

Maarten Goldberg, librarian at the Faculty of Law, speaks English “fairly easily”. “I can manage”, says Harry Timersma, research engineer at the KVI. But there are huge dif-ferences in the levels of enthusi-asm. “Certainly I can chat in Eng-lish”, says Lies Baars, secretary at the Faculty of Economics and Busi-ness, “but it’s not my favourite lan-guage, personally I dislike it.”

While she takes minutes of Eng-lish-spoken meetings in Dutch, her colleague Herma van Vleuten, fur-ther down the corridor, does so in English. “When I get home in the evening”, says Van Vleuten, “I’m sometimes still speaking English!”

But Baars and Van Vleuten are not hampered by self-consciousness. “I am not afraid to make mistakes”, says Baars. And Van Vleuten re-marks: “For many people their fear is greater than their unwillingness. They are really afraid of making mistakes and they shouldn’t be.”

OBP staff have mixed feelings about the spread of English. “I am not a great fan”, says Baars, “but nor am I fundamentally opposed.”

Her colleague, Van Vleuten, thinks it’s all part of the job: “If you don’t want or don’t have a working knowledge of English, you should find something else to do.”

“I think it is too early to do eve-rything in English”, says Timersma, however: “Most administrative and support staff are not really ready, especially not the people in the low-er wage scales, but I assume that it will be commonplace ten or fifteen years from now.”

A more fundamental stance is tak-en by Jan Visser, analyst and presi-dent of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natu-ral Sciences: “It is wonderful for the University to internationalize, but we are a Dutch university and for-eigners should know that. Someone who stays here longer than, say, a year should at least learn Dutch.”

Goldberg has a similar reserva-

tion: “We like having internation-al students over here, and it is good that their lectures are in English. But academics from other countries should nevertheless acquire some knowledge of Dutch. Certainly, offi-cial documents and decisions need to be in Dutch as this prevents a lot of hassle if legal problems arise.”

So, there’s a big difference between using English more or less volun-tarily on the job and having it im-posed. And certainly, the compul-sory introduction of English into

employee consultative body meet-ings would be a bridge too far.

‘Their fear is greater than their

unwillingness’

If this occurred, obstinacy would be the result. “It would be wrong

‘We are still Dutch’|_ Imposing English on the staff can result in trouble

Photo Reyer Boxem

10 U N I V E R S I T Y UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Columbia University Photo Ana van Es

Who wants to study in New York City?| r e p o r t | Ana van Es swapped the University of Groningen for that of New York City for a few months. “I am sure you will make it to Amsterdam or The Hague eventually, if you really try”, her mates tried to comfort her.

By ana van es

After a few days in New York City, it became clear that the blank looks I faced on proudly mentioning my home university (“the University of Groningen”) was more than a coincidence. It may seem unbelievable, but Americans know neither Gro-ningen nor its university, and New Yorkers are no exception. They can’t even pronounce its name properly: English native speakers have difficulty with strong gutturals, so “Groningen” sounds like it’s pronounced in Limburg dialect at best.

“Wow, you must have come a long way then”, some said sym-pathetically, after I explained that Groningen is a lovely old university town two hours north of Amsterdam – because all New Yorkers know Amsterdam, their founding father. Two hours, the poor girl! “I am sure you will make it to Amsterdam or The Hague eventually, if you real-ly try”, one housemate tried to comfort me.

For a student from Groningen, studying in NYC can be very re-warding. “The students are so motivated. They really want to become lawyers”, says Stephanie, a Leiden law graduate who sub-sequently studied at Ivy League Columbia University in Man-hattan. “It’s completely differ-ent from the Netherlands, where they pick studying law as a last resort.” The study pace is faster and as grades are often compet-itive, your classmates are prob-ably not so eager to share their notes with you. That’s a refresh-ing experience after years of “zesjesmentaliteit”, the idea that a pass grade is enough.

There is a downside to this at-titude towards excellence – stu-dent pubs certainly don’t stay open until six a.m. In the city that never sleeps, it is not unusu-al for a grad student to complete-ly abstain from partying. “In the Netherlands, we would consider

ourselves happy with the nine-to-six working days observed by most researchers”, emails Stijn, a Groningen alumnus and phys-ics PhD student in Delft, who came to New York as a visiting research fellow.

Because of a lack of public funding, most American uni-versities are constantly short of money. “Research grants elapse after quite a short time, while on our old continent, money is al-lotted for much longer periods of time”, Stijn says. “So American research groups are constantly searching for new, ‘hot’ research topics.” Columbia University told me off the record that when considering admissions, it takes the extent to which the social network of the applicant could be beneficial to the university in the future into account.

For a semester abroad, the closest international ‘RUG part-ners’ in the US are in Pennsylva-nia and Massachusetts. That’s a long commute. A student from Groningen considering swap-ping d’Olle Grieze for the Statue of Liberty for whatever reason should arrange his or her own exchange as a ‘free mover’. This is a complicated affair and means you have to pay extra tuition fees as well, but you’re no longer lim-ited to the official partners of the University of Groningen. Grad-uating in Groningen before em-barking on a degree in the States is another – possibly even more expensive – option. In any case, it could be a lengthy affair.

And for Groningen students, there is a definite downside to the States: the Board of Examiners converts an American grade “A” into a Dutch 8. Therefore, Gro-ningen students who ultimately want to graduate “cum laude” – which means a grade point aver-age of 8 or higher – may want to avoid the United States as an ex-change destination because one measly “B” can spoil everything.

‘We are still Dutch’|_ Imposing English on the staff can result in trouble

Photo Reyer Boxem

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009 U N I V E R S I T Y 11 Measur ing up (3)

Speaking Gronings to the dog| s e r i e s | The University of Groningen wants to be international. But how does the staff measure up to an international yardstick? The UK puts number three to the test: Goffe Jensma.

By Lieke van den krommenacker

He speaks Gronings to his dog, talks ‘cat’ with his cat, was raised mainly in Dutch by his Frisian parents and stud-ied in Paris for eight months, where he conversed in German and Eng-lish. Nonetheless Goffe Jensma was installed as Professor of Frisian Lan-guage and Culture in 2008. He chuck-les. “At home we used to read the Fri-sian bible”, he explains the roots of his Frisian mother tongue.

Although Frisian language and cul-ture is not the first specialism you’d expect to be operating in an interna-tional context, Jensma warns us not to be too negative. “It’s not as provincial as you might initially think. Within the specific field of Frisian studies it’s hard to internationalize. It’s the sub-ject itself that offers possibilities.”

As one of at least fifty officially rec-ognized minority languages, such as Sami in Sweden and Finland, and Catalonian in Spain, the internation-al approach of Frisian can easily be fo-cused on literature written in those languages. This is one of the topics of Jensma’s research. “Last year I joined a Scandinavian congress about minor-ity languages in literature. They have a lot in common and encounter the same challenges.”

Jensma visits two or three interna-tional congresses a year. He certain-ly wants to make use of all possible opportunities to increase the inter-national character of Frisian Studies. “We’re busy developing an English e-journal. We are also examining the possibility of starting a joint Master’s programme with our partner universi-ty in Kiel, Germany.”

Nevertheless Jensma puts some criti-cal notes on an all too hasty run along the international road. “What does in-ternationalization mean? The Univer-sity of Groningen focuses in particular on foreign students and publications in highly ranked international jour-

nals. I don’t say that you should not aspire to that; I’m trying to get in-to those journals as well. But the dan-ger is that you might undermine your own infrastructure.”

“For example, Friesland has three Frisian scholarly journals, which are well read by three thousand subscrib-ers in total”, continues Jensma. “You could choose not to write for those but publish in ones with a better rep-utation abroad. However, that would mean alienation from your own rank and file.”

After this subtle elucidation, it’s time to ask the Frisian professor for his own share in the sea of international publications. “English publications? I don’t think I’d even reach ten!” What about citations then? “Well, not too many either”, he concludes. Jensma – tactful and modest – seems to be avoiding revealing an exact number, just to underline the relativity of cita-tion scores.

“The Humanities are often ap-proached as if they were hard science, with a lot of attention to citations. They are definitely important, but you should not forget the social relevance of the Humanities. We bring profun-dity to society, participate in debates, give lectures and write opinions in newspapers.”

for consultative bodies such as the University Council to only discuss matters in English”, says Timersma. “It is still too early for that, we must not turn a blind eye to reality.” Maarten Goldberg thinks the same: “It would put too much pressure on the Dutch.” Both fear that a large number of OBP staff would with-draw even more from participation in decision-making, as even now it’s difficult to get people involved. This is also a fear for Jan Visser. “Cer-tainly the employee’s own language

should be used in consultative bod-ies,” he says. “People are not just members of such boards, usually they have already been working at the University for some time.”

He also thinks reading documents in English takes much more effort and time. Moreover, in many coun-cils students sit for one year and employees for two. “If you stay in the country for such a long time, it’s reasonable to expect you to master Dutch. After all, we Dutch also have to speak foreign languages abroad.”

Goffe Jensma Photo Elmer Spaargaren

The International YardstickThe fact that Jensma uses his flair for languages even to raise his pets multilingually deserves a lot of re-spect, as does his attempt to be as international as his typical dutch specialism allows him to be. Still, he could have made a more pro-found effort to practise not on-ly his German and english in Par-is, but his French as well. Final conclusion: Professor Jensma gets eight points out of ten.

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| b a c k g r o u n d | Without international experience it is ‘very, very difficult’ to get tenure at the University of Gronin-gen. That sometimes leads to bizarre situations. And to promising researchers leaving.

By ernst arBouw

Science is international. But is it re-ally necessary for a successful sci-entist to have international experi-ence? According to the Board of the Faculty of Mathematics and Nat-ural Sciences, it is: anyone apply-ing for a staff position must have at least one year work experience at an institute outside the Nether-lands. At other faculties, interna-tional experience is not essential but it is “very, very difficult” to get a position without it.

The matter is actually quite sim-ple, says Professor Lou de Leij, Dean of Research at the university’s Fac-ulty of Medical Sciences. “Working in a different environment is bene-ficial to your development as a sci-

entist.” Internationalization in aca-demic research is about having your ideas and your views challenged, it is about working in surroundings with another professional culture and other ways of tackling prob-lems and dealing with intellectual challenges, he explains.

De Leij himself never worked at a university outside of the Neth-erlands. He turned down an offer from a prestigious American uni-versity. “I did my postdoc research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. It is a very highly thought of institute”, jokingly add-ing: “Amsterdam is actually quite a long way from Groningen.”

“For us, it is a very firm require-ment that anyone applying for a tenure track position should at least have one, but preferably two years of international experience”, says Professor Franjo Weissing of the Board of the Faculty of Mathemat-ics and Natural Sciences. Only in very, very special situations does the Faculty make an exception, he adds. “But even then, we make it

perfectly clear that it is necessary to go abroad during the first period of the tenure track.”

Science, explains Weissing, is all about finding new ideas and new ways of doing things. “And to find new ideas, it is necessary to look at things from another angle from time to time.”

‘Amsterdam is actually quite

a long way from Groningen’

Dean Gerry Wakker of the Facul-ty of Arts subscribes to Weissing’s point of view. Like the other two faculties, the Faculty of Arts em-phasizes international experience as a requirement for applicants – even for scholars working in seem-ingly not-so-international fields like Dutch history or Dutch litera-

ture. “Groningen isn’t the measure of all things”, she says. “Someone working in the field of Dutch lan-guage or Dutch literature can gain international experience in, let’s say, Ghent, or at a German univer-sity.”

Wakker rejects the suggestion that current staff without interna-tional experience should be obliged to work abroad for one or two years. “That may be fundamentally cor-rect, but is completely impractical.”

One question remains: isn’t it pos-sible to experience another envi-ronment and professional culture by working at another Dutch uni-versity or research institute, like Professor De Leij of the Medical Faculty did? Weissing disagrees. “No you can’t, because the academ-ic culture in Amsterdam is virtual-ly identical to the academic culture in Groningen. You could argue that Groningen is closer to the German university town of Oldenburg, but the difference in professional cul-ture between Groningen and Old-enburg is far, far greater.”

Foreign experience required|_ But is time spent abroad really necessary for a scientist?

Dr Jolanda Smit’s lab Photo Reyer Boxem

12 S C I E N C E UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Why Harvard?By Klaas van BerKel

why would anyone want to go to Harvard? the teaching there is not necessarily bet-ter than at major universities elsewhere. In my field, the his-tory of science, the Harvard department certainly counts among the best in the us, but is it the best? I don’t know. Furthermore, the Harvard way of approaching the history of science is certainly not appre-ciated by all leading histori-ans of science. Finally, even at a smaller institution like san Diego state university, where I lectured eight years ago, I met ambitious young lecturers who were as good as some of my new colleagues at Harvard. so why go to Harvard?

not all programmes at Har-vard are better just because Harvard is the # 1 universi-ty in the world. there is some truth in the often heard criti-cism of international ranking lists that states that you can-not compare universities as a whole and that the only thing you can compare are individu-al programmes.

Yet you only have to vis-it Harvard once to know that this is not true. as soon as you start to walk around and see what is on offer in all the de-partments, you realize that a good university is not simply a summing up of individual pro-grammes. It is the combina-tion of all these programmes that counts. again, in my field, it is no use looking only at the History of science depart-ment. Just reach for the course guides of the History depart-ment, the Philosophy depart-ment and the History of art department and you will see why this is the place to be if you want to become a really good historian of science. the endless possibilities for in-tellectual cross-fertilization make the difference.

the symbol of all this is widener library, the central library dominating Harvard Yard, “truly the elephant in the university’s living room”, as someone called it. the li-brary was donated to the uni-versity by eleanor elkins widener, of Philadelphia, as a memorial to her son Har-ry, class of 1907. Harry and his father were on the Titanic on its fatal journey across the atlantic ocean in 1912 and did not survive. since Har-ry had been a keen book col-lector and had already decid-ed to donate his collection to Harvard, his mother decided to donate $ 4 million to build a library to house it. the library was erected in 1913-1914 and impresses the visitor to this day. You only have to enter the building and roam among the three and a half million books on ten floors of stacks and some 65 miles of shelving to realize that Harvard really is different.

Professor of Early Modern and Modern History Klaas van Berkel will spend five months at Harvard University as Erasmus Lecturer in History and Civilization of the Nether-lands, starting on 1 September.

Foreign experience required|_ But is time spent abroad really necessary for a scientist?

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009 U N I V E R S I T Y 13 Measur ing up (4)

A network called ‘the world’| s e r i e s | The University of Groningen wants to be international. But how does the staff measure up to an international yardstick? The UK puts number four to the test: Frans Zwarts.

By hinke hamer

Danisha, Frans Zwarts’ six-year-old granddaughter, recently started teaching her granddad Papiamentou, he proudly relates. “Do i get many points for that?”

he seems to be quite competitive and pulls out all the stops to beat Goffe Jensma on our internation-al rating scales. Because he doesn’t speak ‘cat’ or Gronings fluently, he has to sing a different tune.

Frans Zwarts is rector magnificus of the University of Groningen, and being the head of a university that is travelling down an internation-al path, we expect him to achieve the top score. and he is feeling the pres-sure.

he continues: “my granddaughter has an antillian father and her moth-er was raised by us in english as well as Dutch. my wife is from the Unit-ed States but we brought up our chil-dren in the netherlands. Dutch was the main language they were taught at school, so the only way to raise them to be bilingual was to speak english at home.”

Frans Zwarts met the mother of his children in 1973 after finish-ing his university degree in linguis-tics in amsterdam and heading off to miT in Boston. “i wanted to leave the netherlands coûte que coûte,” he says, eagerly hoping to earn points for mul-tilingual sentences. “in Boston i had a once-in-a-lifetime experience which determined the rest of my life.” This was not only because he met his fu-ture wife in the States, or watched the 1974 World Championships on a Boston cinema screen surrounded by Germans, but because he realized that he was part of a network called ‘the world’.

he took this awareness back to amsterdam and then to Groningen, where he brings the University of Groningen international fame to this very day. in the mid-1980s, Zwarts was involved in the creation of one of the first erasmus networks, establish-

ing contact with the universities of edinburgh and Toulouse, and Trinity College in Dublin. he has also great-ly developed the network.

in 1992 he went back to the States once again, living in Los angeles for a while, where he did research at the University of California (UCLa). During this time he drove to and from the airport about sixty times to pick up students and research-ers from the netherlands, eager as he was to promote international ex-change between universities.

his contacts at UCLa encouraged him to promote student exchang-es and today he is busy investing in developing contacts between Gron-ingen and Los angeles. how impor-tant it really is to him to make Gron-ingen part of the international world network becomes clear when Zwarts says: “it is part of the university’s ex-istence.”

returning to his most recent cause for pride: the language lessons from his granddaughter. When asked to come up with some words in Papia-mentou, he backs down. “Well, to be honest, i only know a few. Tio, means ‘uncle’, i know that.”

Obviously this is one of the most useful words you could possibly learn in Papiamentou.

Frans Zwarts Photo Reyer Boxem

The international yardstickall of us expected Frans Zwarts to gain a score of ten out of ten – and for competitiveness as well as eagerness he certainly gets the top score. But perhaps he did not choose the right means to con-vince us: to be honest, the Pa-piamentou example was slight-ly disappointing. But then, for the international opportunities he provides to us as students, he gains the highest praise. mr Zwarts, thank you! Congratulati-ons on your 9.7!

She seems to be a truly interna-tional scientist. Trained in Ger-many as a biologist, she turned down a secure position in Lübeck to spend six months at the Uni-versity of Groningen. in that time, she managed to get a marie Cu-rie Fellowship – a european grant scheme that was introduced to in-crease the mobility of scientists within europe. She married a Dutch scientist and got two pres-tigious Dutch grants, a Veni in 2003 and a ViDi in 2006.

her work led microbiologist Son-ja albers to collaborate with re-search labs across the world, and she published papers in coopera-tion with many of them.

her Dutch husband Dr Chris van der Does spent three years as a postdoc in Frankfurt, while she was working in Groningen on her Veni grant research. “it’s a per-sonal grant, but back then you weren’t allowed to take the mon-ey abroad.” When Van der Does re-turned, the couple got married and two children were born. “i wasn’t free then to just drop everything and go abroad”, she says.

The years in Frankfurt meant that Van der Does could success-fully apply for tenure in Gronin-gen, but when albers applied, she was asked if she would be pre-pared to spend two years abroad –

she had, after all ‘no international experience’. “i told them that when they could get me and my entire family a place abroad, i’d be happy to go.” She didn’t get the position.

around the same time, Dutch sci-ence funding agency nWO hon-oured her application for a pres-tigious ViDi grant. “The so-called lack of experience was not impor-tant there.” about a year ago, al-bers was turned down for a ro-salind Franklin Fellowship, again due to a lack of foreign expe-rience, though she was said to be one of the top candidates on purely academic grounds. Short-ly afterwards, she was offered an independent Junior research Fellowship by the German max Planck Society and now leads a group at the institute for Terres-trial microbiology in marburg. She took her ViDi grant and her hus-band – who was offered a job as a group leader at the institute – with her. She is happy there, with lots of opportunities and the freedom to start a new research group. But she’s also puzzled and disappoint-ed. “i still don’t understand”, she says. “i agree that international ex-perience is very important. But the rules that the University of Gron-ingen drafted are only about time spent abroad, not about your actu-al ability.” [ rené FranSen ]

Puzzled, disappointed, and gone!

“i think foreign experience is actu-ally very important, but it is possi-ble to work in an international con-text in many different ways”, says Dr Jolanda Smit, assistant Profes-sor at the University medical Cent-er Groningen (UmCG). medical microbiology is by definition al-ready a very international disci-pline – it would be quite difficult to find a microbiology research group in Groningen where Dutch is the official language – but Smit works in a field that is perhaps even more internationally orientat-ed: research into the tropical dis-ease dengue.

Smit does not have internation-al research experience in the tradi-tional sense: she never worked in a foreign lab for a prolonged peri-od. “no two ways about it: it is im-portant for every scientist to have a fully developed professional net-

work, both a national and inter-national one. i went to quite a few foreign universities for shorter working visits, ranging from per-haps a week to up to a month”, she explains. Those visits have helped her to broaden her view, Smit says.

after a clerkship at the UmCG’s department of medical microbi-ology, Smit was offered a PhD po-sition. in 2002, she defended her thesis and around six months lat-er she was awarded a prestigious Veni grant. after that, she was of-fered a tenure-track position. She now works as an assistant profes-sor at the UmCG. isn’t she afraid that the fact that she has nev-er worked outside Groningen will prove a disadvantage? “no, not re-ally. as long as you can prove that you are working internationally, it doesn’t matter, i guess.” [ ernST arBOUW ]

A view broad enough

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| b a c k g r o u n d | English-taught Master’s programmes are everywhere now. But will Dutch students consider following them? ‘It is perhaps a bit of a leap, but that would never be an argument for me not to do it.’

Text and PhoTos by ernsT arbouw

Start now! ( Because you’ll inevitably will have to

use English in your professional career )

14 U N I V E R S I T Y UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

| r e p o r t | In the US, an academic year can’t end without a traditional Alumni Holiday & Reunion. The link with alumni is more crucial than ever for the financing of private universities.

by renske heddema

Sixty-plussers from the Class of ’64 are sitting on wooden chairs overlooking the rolling lawns of the campus and studying the programme. Forty-five years ago, here, on this hill, they re-ceived their Bachelor’s degree certifi-cates. In and around the Class of ’89 party tent, people in their thirties are playing hide-and-seek with their chil-dren. Graduates of the Class of 2004 jog past in a sweat. It’s the annual Am-herst College reunion. Everything – the classical, redbrick buildings, the stately tall trees and perfectly main-tained paths – shows the tranquilli-ty of matter-of-course wealth. Some buildings display a sign with a year on it. They tell you which cohort is stay-ing where this weekend. The classes of 1944 and 1949 – significantly reduced – have been housed together. You see them shuffling from the dormitory to the lecture halls, some of them with the help of a Zimmer frame. Loyalty to the Alma Mater is extreme. What mat-ters is a shared history.

Amherst’s ambitious motto is Terras Irradient: ‘Let them give light to the world’. What students learn at Amherst should mark them for the rest of their lives. Dedication, critical abilities, re-spect for each other’s opinions. Critical comments are always politely worded. At Amherst it’s “Your data seems to in-dicate…” or, for more persistent peo-ple: “Let me challenge you once more”.

The feeling that they belong to a spe-cial group in society is drummed into every member of the Amherst commu-nity right from the start. Tony Marx, the 18th president of Amherst, under-lined this in his speech in the John-son Chapel – ‘what an amazing differ-ence four years can make in the life of a person’. During this Reunion, too, the ‘lifelong friendship with people we share this experience with’, is celebrat-ed in style, and not only for emotion-al reasons.

Never in its entire history has the Col-lege’s endowment fund lost so much money as in the past academic year. No less than 30 percent evaporated. For the first time Amherst is having to face retrenchment. Salaries have been frozen and new appointments post-poned. However, next academic year the College has been able to accept 25 more students and give them grants. And quality is not going to be affect-ed. That’s possible, says Marx, because thanks to its thoroughgoing invest-ment strategy Amherst has built up a significant buffer. The new fundraising campaign is also going well. By the end of April $ 226 million of the new cam-paign’s target of $ 425 million had al-ready been raised. In fact, Amherst is

The secret of Amherst

Marga Veenem

an (21)International R

elations and International O

rganizations

Lies Kom

brink (22)Journalism

student

Inevitable

“Yes, I think I would consider doing an English-taught Master’s programme; the fact that it would be in English would not hold me back. It wouldn’t hurt to use more English at the university. Science is becoming more and more international and it is inevitable that you will have to use English in your professional career, so it is better to start using it while you are at university.”

Useful

“As I am studying International Relations, it does seem obvious to follow the English-taught programme. I am hoping to have an international career, so it would be sensible and, moreover, quite useful to start using English while I am at university. It is perhaps a bit of a leap to study in another language, but that would never be an argument for me not to do it.”

Harm

Jan van der Spek (20)B

usinessA bit more difficult

“It is a good way of improving your English, which is useful if you are aiming for a career in internation-al business. It will perhaps prove to be a bit more difficult at times because I wasn’t really that good at English when I was at school, but over the last two years I have had to use English so much that my command has improved signif-icantly.”

A major plus

“I would certainly consider following an English-taught Master’s programme for International Relations and International Organizations. On the other hand, I also study Art History; if you do that through another language, it could just as easily be Italian or French. I cannot really see the advantage of an English-taught programme for Art History; but as I said, for International Relations it is a major plus.”

Sanne Roefs (21)

International Relations and International

Organizations, A

rt History

www.eerstejaarsingroningen.nl

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009 U N I V E R S I T Y 15

The secret of Amherst

Nobel Prize laureate Joe Stiglitz (right) with classmates of the Class of ’64 Photo Renske Heddema

still rich. Marx doesn’t say it in so many words, because the gentle ob-ligation to make a donation whenev-er you can continues to be his central message. This year, between a quar-ter and a third of the alumni have not yet made a donation.

There’s a barbecue in the Class of 1964 tent. Nobel prizewinner for eco-nomics Jo Stiglitz has sat down next to Chuck Lewis, investment banker, and Jesse Brill, lawyer. Between the chicken legs and the brownies, the class organizer asks for everyone’s attention. Jesse, who among other things is chair of the National Asso-ciation of Stock Plan Professionals, has an announcement to make. The Class hasn’t achieved the financial targets for this year yet, and that’s not on. Every new donation, says Brill, made tonight or in the next fortnight will be matched by him. “There is a cap, though,” he adds. “I’m going to go up to $ 25,000. Come on guys, the College needs us.” The Class also has to be warmed up for the 50th re-union, in 5 years time, when they’ll be expected to make a major do-nation. For example, the Class of 1959, attending in force, donated $ 22 million this year.

Lectures during the reunion range from Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet via ‘Prospects for Peace in the Middle East’ to ‘The future of American Ed-

ucation’. Not only current staff, but mainly alumni-professors, writers, doctors, lawyers and business peo-ple organize lectures and fill the dis-cussion panels. The lecture halls are chock full. Allan Cohen, ’59, Dean and professor of Babson College, ex-plains the secret of Amherst. Thanks to the fantastic success of the en-dowment funds, private elite colleg-es could compete with each other at the cutting edge. But the productivi-ty of the type of education that every Amherst alumnus enjoyed so much cannot be scaled-up. Face-to-face ed-ucation, with the best lecturers and the best facilities, means that this niche product will remain just that.

That evening Jesse Brill takes the microphone again during the offi-cial Class dinner. He’s had a quiet heads together with Chuck and Jo and they’re going to join in. Together they’ve decided to raise the amount. Every new gift to Amherst, up to a total of $150,000, will be matched by the three of them. And if he’s got the wrong end of the stick, what the heck, then he’ll do it alone.

Renske Heddema lives in Zurich, she is correpondent for inter alia Radio 1, El-sevier and AD.

AmherstAmherst College, founded in 1821, is a College of Liberal Arts. It heads a list of exclusive colleges in New England that in-cludes Williams and Wellesley. With high academic standards and a long tradition, these col-leges train students for a Bach-elor’s degree in Arts or Sciences. Good exam results play a role in admission, and some students are recruited on the basis of their sports capability. Amherst follows an active diversity policy and has only 1600 students and a teaching staff of 164. Annu-al tuition fees are over $ 45,000; Amherst awards 52 percent of its students grants of $ 35,000 on average. The College’s en-dowment fund is over $ 1.6 bil-lion. It shrank this year by about a third, to $ 1.25 billion.

www.eerstejaarsingroningen.nl Online: 1 July

Willemen

Nederlandse Defensie Academie zoekt hoogleraar militaire logistiek

Werken bij het Rijk betekent werken aan zaken die de hele maatschappij aangaan.

Zoals vrede en veiligheid, in Nederland en daarbuiten. Daarvoor staat het

ministerie van Defensie. De Nederlandse Defensie Academie (NLDA) leidt mensen

op tot professionele en gemotiveerde o� cieren voor de Nederlandse krijgsmacht

en verricht wetenschappelijk onderzoek. De Faculteit Militaire Wetenschappen

(FMW) in Breda verzorgt de wetenschappelijke onderdelen van de opleidingen.

De FMW bestaat uit negen kennissecties, elk onder leiding van een hoogleraar.

De hoogleraar militaire logistiek is voorzi� er van de sectie Logistiek en Informatie.

Hoogleraar militaire logistiek (m/v)Ministerie van Defensie, NLDA, Faculteit Militaire Wetenschappen, Breda

Om operaties wereldwijd te kunnen uitvoeren, worden er bijzondere eisen gesteld aan het volgen van en het voorzien in benodigde middelen. Om die

reden speelt militaire logistiek een cruciale rol in gevechts- en vredesoperaties. Als hoogleraar militaire logistiek houdt u zich binnen de bacheloropleiding

Militaire Bedrijfswetenschappen voornamelijk bezig met vakken op het gebied van logistiek en informatiekunde. Als leerstoelhouder ontwikkelt u het

onderzoek op het gebied van militaire logistiek verder. U doet dat in overleg met andere relevante secties binnen de FMW. Daarnaast werkt u nauw samen

met onderzoeksgroepen binnen TNO Defensie en Veiligheid en het in Breda te vestigen Topinstituut Logistiek.

Functie-eisen: u hee� een afgeronde academische opleiding en een promotie op logistiek gebied. U hee� ervaring met of aantoonbare interesse voor

militaire logistiek en ruime bestuurlijke en leidinggevende ervaring in het wetenschappelijk onderwijs. U hee� langdurige ervaring en internationale

erkenning als excellent presterende wetenschapper op het gebied van logistiek; hiervan getuigt een reeks publicaties.

Arbeidsvoorwaarden: het brutomaandsalaris bedraagt maximaal € 7.253,- (schaal 16) op basis van een 38-urige werkweek. Het betre� hier een

functie voor 32 uur.

Informatie en/of sollicitatie: www.werkenbijhetrijk.nl/DEF090446-UK

Voor inhoudelijke informatie over de vacature: Prof.dr. W. van Rossum, decaan Faculteit Militaire Wetenschappen (076–5273723, 06–83206208).

Voor informatie over de sollicitatieprocedure: Mevrouw M. Mak-Brienen, P&O adviseur (076-5273265, 06-10277276).

Datamanager TRAILSUniversitair Centrum Psychiatrie

Medisch nucleair werkerNucleaire Geneeskunde & Moleculaire Beeldvorming

Postdoctoral researcherDepartment of Psychiatry/TRAILS

Management assistentPathologie & Medische Biologie

SecretaressePathologie & Medische Biologie

Meer weten over deze vacatures?Kijk op www.werken.umcg.nl

Bouwen aan de toekomst van gezondheid

Zin in een zomer vol creatie en inspiratie?

diverse lezingen en work-shopsTijdens de zomermaanden stellen wij ons huis aan

het Emmaplein open. Voor iedereen die vragen heeft over solliciteren, ontslagdreiging, loopbaan, ondernemerschap, starten onderneming, loopt je werk wel in de pas met je persoonlijke leven, enz.

Tussen 19 juni tot 18 septemberiedere woensdag van 13.30 tot 16.30 uur

Nadere informatie:

Van Ede & Partners GroningenEmmaplein 5, 9711 AP Groningen

Telefoon 050 312 34 85 groningen@vanede.nl

www.vanede.nl

Neem een abonnement ■ Surf naar volkskrant.nl/studenten

(dit aanbod geldt alleen voor uitwonende studenten t/m 27 jaar)

Studenten50%

korting

volkskrant.nl/studenten

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Eye Care Foundation works at preventing and fightingeye diseases in developing countries

Ingezonden mededelingen voor studenten en medewerkers

Mededelingen25 juni t/m 20 augustus 2009

Algemeen

College van beroep voor de examenscbe-zitting 30 juni 2009Op dinsdag 30 juni a.s. houdt het College van beroep voor de Ex-mens zitting van 9.30-10.15 uur m.b.t. de volgende beroepzaak: 9.30 uur: betr. datering bachelor-bul (Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen) De zitting is openbaar en vindt plaats in de faculteitskamer Eco-nomie, Broerstraat 5, eerste ver-dieping.

c.a.m.kesselaar@rug.nl

Universiteits­bibliotheekUb dit weekend weer langer open!De tentamentijd dendert door, en daarom kan er komend weekend weer extra lang gestudeerd wor-den in de Universiteitsbibliotheek: zaterdag 27 en zondag 28 juni zijn we geopend van 10.00 - 22.00 uur

http://www.rug.nl/bibliotheek/locaties/ub/index

Kees Willemen signeert in de Ub!Deze en volgende week zijn de meer dan honderd academi-sche tekeningen van Kees Wille-men voor het laatst in de UB te zien. Op vrijdag 26 juni signeert de tekenaar om 16.00 uur op de vierde verdieping van de UB het boek ‘getekend door een acade-misch leven’ van Jan Blaauw, dat ter gelegenheid van deze expositie verscheen. UK-lezers kunnen het boek met de kortingsbon uit dit nummer goedkoop aanschaffen!

http://www.rug.nl/Bibliotheek/nieuws/tentoonstelling

Universitair On­derwijscentrum Groningencursussen voor docentenTot 2 weken voor de start kunt u zich aanmelden voor een cursus Training voor aio’s en student-as-sistenten: 24 aug (9:30-12:30), 25, 27 aug (9:30-16:30), 24 sept, 27 okt (13:00-17:00).

A.Huizinga-Walsma@rug.nlhttp://www.rug.nl/uocg/

cursussen voor docentenDe data voor de nieuwe uitvoe-ring van Basisvaardigheden zijn bekend: 3, 17 sept, 1, 15, 29 okt, 12 nov (9:00-16:30). Deze cursus is be-stemd voor beginnende docenten van de Rijksuniversiteit Gronin-gen. Als u nu inschrijft, bent u ver-zekerd van plaatsing.

A.Huizinga-Walsma@rug.nlwww.uocg.nl

cursusaanbod voor DocentenDe nieuwe brochure ‘Onderwijs-kundige Professionalisering’ is

verspreid. Hebt u de brochure niet ontvangen dan kunt u deze via on-derstaand email adres aanvragen. Op de website van het UOCG vindt u tevens het cursusaanbod voor RUG-docenten. U kunt zich via de website aanmelden voor de cur-sussen, individuele trajecten en op maat aanvragen.

A.Huizinga-Walsma@rug.nlwww.uocg.nl

Training for Lecturers and TAsYou can enrol in a training via our website up to two weeks be-fore the start: Training for Tea-ching Assistants (August 24, 9:30-12:30, August 25, 27 (9:30-16:30, Sept 24, Oct 27 (13:00-17:00); Basic Teaching Qualification (BKO): the course “Teaching in higher educa-tion” starts in January; Course on testing & assessment by arrange-ment; Professional consultation and Individual support by arran-gement. More information about the Training for Lecturers is on our website. You can apply for the brochure 2009-2010 via the email address below.

A.Huizinga-Walsma@rug.nlwww.uocg.nl

Faculteiten

RechtsgeleerdheidA LG E M E E N

Onderwijsstage Strafrecht 3De sectie Strafrecht zoekt twee studenten voor een onderwijssta-ge. Bij het vak Strafrecht 3 kan een bonuspunt worden behaald door middel van het maken van casus-opdrachten. De sectie zoekt stu-denten die meehelpen bij het nakijken en beoordelen van de ca-susoplossingen. Ter voorbereiding woon je de docentenbesprekin-gen bij. Ook kun je, desgewenst, zelf een casusopdracht maken. Een en ander gebeurt in het kader van een (interne) onderwijsstage (7 ec’s). Strafrecht 3 wordt gege-ven in het eerste semester. De sta-ge loopt dus in de maanden sep-tember t/m december van het komend collegejaar. Voorwaarden: - Strafrechtelijke bachelorvakken hebben gehaald (Strafrecht 1, 2 en 3) - goede studieresultaten voor de strafrechtelijke vakken Heb

je belangstelling, stuur dan een brief met CV, naar: Mr. H.D. Wols-wijk Vakgroep Strafrecht & Crimi-nologie Postbus 716 9700 AS Gro-ningen Of stuur een e-mail, met CV, naar: h.d.wolswijk@rug.nl Voor meer informatie kun je contact opnemen met Hein Wolswijk (050-3638343, )

h.d.wolswijk@rug.nl

Recht, religie en samenle-ving: Juridisch vak en AVV 2009-2010 (Oldenhuis) Het zindert ook dit jaar van ac-tualiteit: klokluiden, haatzaai-en, oprichten van een rokerskerk; uniform politieuniform? Een rech-ter met een hoofdoek? Een kep-peltje? Of een oorbel? Handen schudden verplicht? Een keur van gast=topdocenten geeft in 7 we-ken een overzicht op het snijpunt van recht en religie. Voor niet- jur. studenten drie extra- colleges; vanaf maandag 31 augustus 2009 van 13-15 uur (Oldenhuis). Hoofd-colleges: Vd Leeuwzaal woensdag van 13-15 uur. 2 september 2009: mr. M.A.H.P van Stiphout,Capita selecta over de historische ont-wikkeling en betekenis van een scheiding van Kerk en Staat 9 sep-tember 2009 prof.mr. F.T. Olden-huis), De exclusiviteit van kerkge-nootschappen en de begrenzing ervan in de multireligieuze samen-leving 16 september 2009 (eerste uur) prof.mr. F.T. Oldenhuis, Hoe ver gaat de individuele vrijheid van geloof en belijden? ‘Schippe-ren’ tussen exclusiviteit en (in)tole-rantie 16 september 2009 (tweede uur), mw. mr. A.H. Santing-Wubs, Alternatieve geschilbeslech-ting binnen kerkgenootschap-pen 23 september 2009 prof.mr.drs. A.H.M. Dölle, De (uitwendi-ge) grondwetsgeschiedenis van de godsdienstvrijheid in de Neder-landse gedecentraliseerde een-heidsstaat (thans art. 6 Gw ); een parlementair-constitutioneel-his-torische invalshoek 30 september 2009 prof dr. F. Leemhuis, Recht en Islam; een introductie. Hoe het is ontstaan, hoe het is vorm gegeven en hoe het zich heeft ontwikkeld 7 oktober 2009 prof.mr. J.G. Brou-wer, De vrijheid van godsdienst en de openbare orde 14 oktober 2009 mr. H.D. Wolswijk (eerste uur), Strafrechtelijke grenzen aan de vrijheid om uiting te gegeven aan religieuze overtuigingen 14 oktober 2009 prof. dr. A.L. Molen-dijk (tweede uur), Dwarsverbanden tussen recht, religie en samenle-ving; een samenvatting Inlichtin-gen: bij f.t.oldenhuis (coördina-tor): e-mailadres: f.t.oldenhuis@rug.nl, 050-3635472 of via het vak-groepsecretariaat: 050-3635767 en voorts via. http://www.rug.nl/Rechten/nieuws/advertentieRrs alsmede via nestor.

JFV Studiewinkel gaat slui-ten Van 6 juli tot en met 26 augustus is de JFV Studiewinkel gesloten. Collegeaantekeningen of uittrek-sels nodig voor je augustustenta-mens? Kom dan naar het JFV Hok, Turftorenstraat 17. Alleen contan-te betaling is mogelijk!

jfv@jfvgroningen.nl www.jfvgroningen.nl

Medische weten­schappen

B I B L I OT H E E K

Nieuwe data cMb-workshopsVanaf september a.s. biedt de CMB de volgende workshops aan: - PubMed. Tips & trucs; - Systema-tisch literatuur zoeken voor een

review/richtlijn; - Reference Mana-ger voor beginners; - Impactfac-toren en citaties. Voor informatie m.b.t. cursusinhoud, -data en aan-melding zie de CMB-website.

www.rug.nl/umcg/bibliotheek

Wiskunde en Natuur­wetenschappenA LG E M E E N

Science topics nu in eerste semesterScience topics, wnecst05, maakt al jaren deel uit van het assortiment avv-vakken. Ook in 2009/2010 wordt het weer als zodanig aange-boden. Ook maakt het deel uit van de minor modern science. Belang-rijk verschil met vorige jaren is, dat het vak in het eerste semester gegeven wordt, op maandag van 16.15 tot 18.00 uur, Nijenborgh 4. Het eerste college is op maandag 31 augustus. Vind je dat je eigen-lijk toch wel iets over natuurwe-tenschappen zou horen te weten, maar weet je niet hoe je dat moet aanpakken? Dan is het vak ‘Scien-ce Topics’ iets voor jou. Op het ni-veau van de wetenschapsbijlage van dagbladen wordt een aan-tal onderwerpen uit de natuurwe-tenschappen aan de orde gesteld. Wat is bijvoorbeeld het belang van het human genome project. Wat houdt een DNA-onderzoek ei-genlijk in? Hoe is de stand van za-ken met betrekking tot zonnecel-len? Wat is een waterstofcel? Hoe werkt een motor eigenlijk. Wat is quantum mechanica eigenlijk, waar gaat dat over en wat kun je ermee. Deze onderwerpen wor-den gedurende een tiental hoor-colleges behandeld. Ook een prac-ticum maakt deel uit van dit AVV. Je zult zelf DNA uit je eigen wang-slijmvlies isoleren. Je zult zelf een zonnecel bakken en zien dat je die kunt gebruiken voor de energie-voorziening. Opzet van het vak. Een tiental hoorcolleges van 2 uur en een practicum, dat twee zal du-ren. Afsluiting met een essay. De colleges worden gegeven door do-centen van de faculteit wiskunde en natuurwetenschappen. Coördi-nator en inlichtingen: Jan Apothe-ker, T: (363)4365;

j.h.apotheker@rug.nl

LetterenA LG E M E E N

Werkcolleges Arthur JapinArthur Japin, dit najaar de gast-schrijver van de RUG, verzorgt zes werkcolleges voor RUG-studen-ten over het thema ‘De waarheid verzonnen’. Fictie biedt zowel de schrijver als de lezer de gelegen-heid een geschiedenis weer tot le-ven te doen komen. In de werk-colleges gaat Arthur Japin met de studenten op zoek naar de moge-lijke bronnen van hun eigen schrij-verschap en onderzoekt hij op wel-ke manier die het beste zijn aan te boren. De colleges zijn van maan-dag 28 september t/m 9 novem-ber (m.u.v. 19 oktober), 16.00 - 18.00 uur. Op 6 oktober en 9 november is er een dubbelcollege van 14.00-18.00 uur. Aanmelding bij het se-cretariaat van de vakgroep Ne-derlands, Harmoniecomplex, 4e verdieping, telefoon 363 5858. Er kunnen maximaal 16 studenten deelnemen aan de werkcolleges: acht letterenstudenten, en acht studenten van buiten de Letteren-faculteit; bij overintekening wordt geloot. De werkcolleges zijn voor niet-letterenstudenten een Alge-meen Vormend Vak (AVV). Uiter-ste aanmelddatum: 12 september.

> Verzorgd door de UK; eindredactie Heiny de Ruiter, tel. 3636699

> Mededelingen kun-nen ingediend worden via www.universiteits-krant.nl

> Aanleveren is mogelijk tot uiterlijk maandag 10 uur voor de UK van dezelfde week

> De volgende UK ver-schijnt op 20 augustus 2009

1

AgendaIn de AGENDA worden alleen universitaire evenementen op­genomen die voor iedereen toegankelijk zijn. Aankondigin­gen inleveren uiterlijk vrijdag 12.00 uur voor de week van verschijnen: per fax naar (050) 363 6300 o.v.v. UK­Agenda, per e­mail naar communicatie@rug.nl of per post naar: afdeling Communicatie, UK­Agenda, Postbus 72, 9700 AB Groningen.

PROMOTIES EN ORATIES

26 juni Promotie: M.J. Beinema, wiskunde en natuurweten-schappen. Titel: The optimization of coumarin anticoagulant therapy: pharmacogenetics and computer assisted dose finding. Promotores: prof.dr. J.R.B.J. Brouwers, prof.dr. J. van der Meer †. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 13.15 uur.

26 juni Promotie: J. Areephong, wiskunde en natuurweten-schappen. Titel: Dithienylethene optical switches. Multicompo-nent molecular systems. Promotor: prof.dr. B.L. Feringa. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 14.45 uur.

26 juni Promotie: J.M. Lubelska, wiskunde en natuurweten-schappen. Titel: Genome-wide analysis of the regulation of su-gar transport in the archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus. Promotor: prof.dr. A.J.M. Driessen. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 16.15 uur.

29 juni Promotie: Moh. Mustajab, ruimtelijke wetenschap-pen. Titel: Infrastructure investment in Indonesia: Process and Impact. Promotores: prof.dr. J. van Dijk, prof.dr. P.H. Pellenbarg. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 11.00 uur.

29 juni Promotie: P. Zhao, ruimtelijke wetenschappen. Titel: Compact development and metropolitan growth. Exploring the impact of urban land development on job. Promotores: prof.dr.ir. G.J.J. Linden, prof.dr. B. Lu. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 13.15 uur.

29 juni Promotie: M. Miharja, ruimtelijke wetenschappen. Ti-tel: Inter local government collaboration in Indonesian metropo-litan transport planning. Promotores: prof.dr.ir. G.J.J. Linden, prof.dr.ir. B.S. Kusbiantoro. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 14.45 uur.

29 juni Promotie: mw. M. Krokavcova, medische weten-schappen. Titel: Perceived health status in Multiple Sclerosis pa-tients. Promotor: prof.dr. J.W. Groothoff. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 16.15 uur.

30 juni Oratie: mw.prof.mr. H.M. Vletter-van Dort, Rechtsge-leerheid. Titel: Back to basics. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broer-straat 5. Tijd: 16.15 uur.

1 juli Promotie: M.J. Vos, medische wetenschappen. Titel: Small heat shock proteins. Implications for neurodegeneration and longevity. Promotor: prof.dr. H.H. Kampinga. Plaats: Acade-miegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 13.15 uur.

1 juli Promotie: mw. W. Zeng, medische wetenschappen. Ti-tel: Angiogenesis in human liver tumors. Promotores: prof.dr. S. Poppema, mw.prof.dr. G. Molema, prof.dr. N. Zhang. Plaats: Acade-miegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 16.15 uur.

2 juli Promotie: mw. N. Ding, gedrags- en maatschappijwe-tenschappen. Titel: Computer-supported collaborative learning and gender. Promotor: prof.dr. R.J. Bosker. Plaats: Academiege-bouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 13.15 uur.

2 juli Promotie: mw. J. Hofstra, gedrags- en maatschappij-wetenschappen. Titel: Attaching cultures. The role of attach-ment styles in explaining majority members’ acculturation atti-tudes. Promotores: prof.dr. J.P.G.M. van Oudenhoven, mw.prof.dr. K. van Oudenhoven-van der Zee. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broer-straat 5. Tijd: 14.45 uur.

2 juli Promotie: A. Buursma, letteren. Titel: ‘Dese bekommer-lijke tijden’. Armenzorg, armen en armoede in de stad Groningen 1594-1795. Promotor: prof.dr. M.G.J. Duijvendak. Plaats: Academie-gebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 16.15 uur.

3 juli Promotie: H. Najafi Zarrini, wiskunde en natuurweten-schappen. Titel: Receptor-like kinases. Proteome, dynamics and function. Promotor: prof.dr. J.T.M. Elzenga. Plaats: Academiege-bouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 11.00 uur.

3 juli Promotie: A.G. Dijkstra, wiskunde en natuurweten-schappen. Titel: Models for nonlinear optical spectra of coupled oscillators. Promotor: prof.dr. J. Knoester. Plaats: Academiege-bouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 13.15 uur.

Voor u ligt de laatste Universiteitskrant van dit acade­misch jaar. De eerstvolgende editie van de UK verschijnt op 20 augustus.

Mededelingen hiervoor kunt u (de hele zomervakantie) inleveren tot uiterlijk maandag 17 augustus 10 uur.

Redaktie en medewerkers van de UK wensen u een mooie zomer!

Zomervakantie

Vlak daarna krijgen alle deelne-mers nadere informatie.

Bachelorstage LetterenVanaf september 2009 kunnen 3e jaars bachelor-studenten Letteren een stage in hun vrije ruimte doen. De bachelorstage levert 10 ECTS. Er zijn twee voorwaarden: je moet aantoonbaar 120 ECTS hebben be-haald, en je moet een voorberei-dende opdracht hebben gedaan. Deze opdracht heeft de vorm van een Loopbaandag bij het Talent & Career Center aan de Munneke-holm 2 in Groningen. De dag staat in het teken van antwoord op vra-gen als: Wat kan ik? Wat wil ik? en Hoe bereik ik dat in mijn stage? De eerst-volgende Loopbaandag is op vrijdag 4 september. Inschrijven kan bij het Stagebureau Letteren, k. 212 van het Harmoniegebouw. Meer informatie op de website.

www.rug.nl/let/stagebureau

S TA G E B U R E AU L E T T E R E N

GGD en RUG, GroningenSTAGE: Communicatie rond on-derzoeksproject naar seksuele ontwikkeling van jongeren in Gro-ningen. OPLEIDING: CIW. START: 1 september 2009. TAKEN: PR-plan, werving respondenten voor on-derzoek, media-aandacht, con-tact met scholen. PROFIEL: grote betrokkenheid bij het onderwerp seksuele ontwikkeling van jonge-ren tussen 9 en 18 jaar, creativi-teit en onconventionaliteit in den-ken en doen. INFORMATIE: drs. F. de Groot, GGD, 050-3674080. Sta-gebureau Letteren, kamer 212, tel 3635844.

stages.let@rug.nlwww.rug.nl/let/stagebureau

STAGE: GGD/RuG, Gronin-genOPLEIDING: CIW PERIODE: start per 1 september OPDRACHT: com-municatieplan opzetten voor on-derzoek naar seksuele ontwik-keling bij jongeren MEER INFO: Stagebureau Letteren, k 212; tel. 050-3635844. Zie de website on-der ‘nieuws’

stages.let@rug.nlwww.rug.nl/let/stagebureau

Economie en Be-drijfskunde

A LG E M E E N

Sluiting SyllabuswinkelDe syllabi-winkel is i.v.m. de zo-mervakantie van 13 juli t/m 30 Au-gustus gesloten Van 13 juli t/m 30 augustus zijn syllabi te verkrij-gen bij de Faculteit Economie & Bedrijfskunde, ZG 236 en de stu-diegidsen bij de Informatieba-

lie beganegrond WSN gebouw De winkel is op 31 Aug. en 1 Sept. ge-opend van 12.00-14.00 uur 2 en 3 September van 10.00-16.00 uur 4 September van 10.00-14.00 uur Daarna gebruikelijke openingstij-den van 12.00 tot 14.00 uur

Studenten

Studenten Service Centrum (SSC)

C E N T R A L E S T U D E N T E N B A L I E ( C S B )

Bezoekadres: Uurwerkersgang 10, Postadres: Postbus 72, 9700 AB Groningen Telefoon: 050-3638004 Fax: 050-3634623 Openingstij-den: op werkdagen 10.00 – 16.00 uur. Telefonisch bereikbaar: 10.00 – 16.00 uur.

www.rug.nl/hoezithet

Herinschrijven?Voor het komende studiejaar moet iedereen zich herinschrijven via Studielink. Heb je daar hulp bij nodig, kom dan naar het Inloop-spreekuur Studielink elke morgen van 10.00-12.00 bij de CSb. Daar-naast kun je natuurlijk ook tussen 10.00 en 16.00 bij ons terecht met al je vragen.

Re-enrolment 2009-2010?Do you need help with re-enrol-ment through Studielink? Then vi-sit the consulting hour Studielink at the Student Service Desk eve-ry Thursday from 10 to 12 am, es-pecially for foreign students. For all your (other)questions we are opened from 10am-4pm.

Aangepaste openingstijdenVanaf 10 augustus t/m eind sep-tember is de CSb geopend van 12.00-16.30. Telefonisch zijn we be-reikbaar van 10.00-16.00 uur.

S T U D I E O N D E R S T E U N I N G

Doorstuderen in de zomer?Speciaal voor studenten die (een deel van) de zomer willen door-werken aan hun scriptie of aan hertentamens zijn er de zomer studie- en scriptieversnellings-groepen. In zo’n zomergroep kom je wekelijks bij elkaar, maak je een planning en leg je verantwoording af over de uitvoer van je plannen van de week ervoor. Startdata en tijden: zomerstudieversnellings-groep dinsdag 7 juli van 9.00 tot 10.30 uur, zomerscriptieversnel-lingsgroep dinsdag 7 juli van 11.00 tot 12.30 uur. Meer info of wil je je opgeven? Kom langs bij Studie Ondersteuning, Toren Academie-

gebouw, Broerstraat 5, 2e verdie-ping, tel. 363 5548. Deelname kost 20 euro, ook als je na de zomer in de groep wilt blijven.

www.rug.nl/so

ACLOGa mee op zomerkamp!De Groninger Studenten Aeroclub gaat van 25 juli t/m 9 augustus op zomerkamp. Heb jij ook zin in een actieve vakantie? Ga dan voor 300 euro per week mee en leer zelf vliegen!

s.p.c.peters@gmail.comhttp://www.geensteektever.nl

GSpGSp - Studentenplatform voor LevensbeschouwingEen plaats voor bezinning, religie, debat en gezelligheid. GSp, Krane-weg 33, tel. 3129926

info@gspweb.nl www.gspweb.nl

Zomersluiting GSpVan 3 juli tot 10 augustus is het GSp en het secretariaat gesloten.

Persoonlijk gesprekDe komende weken zijn ook de studentenpastores met vakantie. Alleen in dringende gevallen kun je contact met hen op nemen. Op onze site vind je het bereikbaar-heidsrooster.

Ad-hoc KEI-dienst-koorVoor de KEI-dienst op vrijdag 14 augustus om 17.00 uur in de Mar-tinikerk wordt een adhoc-studen-tenkoor samengesteld. Zin om mee te zingen? Stuur ons dan een email met je telefoonnummer en adres en je krijgt vooraf de muziek thuisgestuurd.

Studentendiensten in de Martinikerk 28/6 11.30 uur laatste dienst van dit seizoen; 14/8 17.00 uur speci-ale KEI-dienst; 6/9 11.30 uur eer-ste morgendienst in het nieuwe seizoen.

KEIWord KEI-crewLijkt het jou leuk om mee te hel-pen aan het organiseren van de KEI-week voor de nieuwe aanko-mende studenten? Help dan mee als KEI-crew! Als KEI-crew zul je gedurende de KEI-week een aan-tal taken uitvoeren die van te vo-ren ingepland zijn. Het is dus niet zo dat je alle uren van de dag moet werken of dat je vijf volle da-gen aan de bak bent. De werktij-den kun je gewoon van te voren

aangeven. Uiteraard is het ontzet-tend mooi als je zo veel mogelijk komt helpen, maar dat is natuur-lijk geheel aan je zelf. Iedere KEI-crewer krijgt ook een KEI-bandje. Zo kun je na je werktijden ook ge-woon genieten van de KEI-week. Tijdens je werktijden krijg je gratis eten en drinken. Als KEI-crew werk je in een geweldig team in een pe-riode die start op een gezellige Crew-dag vlak voor de KEI-week en die eindigt met een spetterend Crew-bedankfeest. Heb je hier in-teresse in? Je kunt je elke dag tus-sen 12.00 - 14.00 uur aanmelden op het KEI-pand aan de Sint Wal-burgstraat 22.

www.keiweek.nlwervingenpromotie@keiweek.nl

DiversenI N T E G R A N D

Vind je stage met Integrand!Ben jij geïnteresseerd in een af-studeerstage, zomerstage of mee-loopstage? Met haar 12 vestigin-gen in alle studentensteden van Nederland is Integrand de groot-ste stage bemiddelingsorganisa-tie van Nederland! Integrand heeft landelijk meer dan 600 stageop-drachten openstaan bij multina-tionals als Unilever, P&G, KPN en L’Oreal. Daarnaast heeft Integrand ook stages aan te bieden in het MKB. Ben jij geïnteresseerd in een stage bij één van deze bedrijven, schrijf je dan nu GRATIS en vrijblij-vend in!

groningen@integrand.nlwww.integrand.nl

G S B

Vakbondsbestuurders ge-zocht!De Groninger Studentenbond zoekt voor 2009-2010 bestuurs-leden die zich actief willen inzet-ten voor de belangenbehartiging van studenten. Als vakbond komt de GSb op voor studenten als het gaat om huisvesting, onderwijs en financiële positie. Wil jij op de bres voor studenten, met de actieve le-den van de GSb en andere studen-ten? Kijk dan op de site en solli-citeer!

soco@groningerstudenten-bond.nlwww.groningerstudentenbond.nl

O V E R I G E

R.K.StudentenmissenZoals elke zondag is er 28 juni een Mis in de St. Jozefkathedraal. Deze begint om 18:00 uur, zodat je ‘s ochtends lekker uit kunt sla-pen. Verder hebben we een Goog-le Calendar, een Hyvespagina, een agenda en een pagina voor gebed-sintenties. Wil je hier meer infor-

matie over? Kijk dan op onze site. info@rkstudentengroningen.nlwww.rkstudentengroningen.nl

Toneelgroep Jeuk zoekt be-stuur!Jeuk is de toneelvereniging van Dizkartes en bestaat bijna 15 jaar. Behalve Dizkartianen mogen ook andere studenten meespe-len en meebesturen. Voor aanko-mend jaar zijn de Jonge Enthousi-aste Uitmuntende Kunstenaars op zoek naar een nieuw bestuur. Met 4 man/vrouw sterk ben je onge-veer 2 tot 4 uurtjes bezig deze to-neelgroep te besturen. Lijkt het je wat? Solliciteer voor 30 juni voor

Penningmeester, Secretaris of Be-stuurslid Productie (regie-assi-stent) via onderstand mailadres!

jeuk@dizkartes.nlhttp://jeuk.dizkartes.nl

Academisch SchrijfcentrumHet Academisch Schrijfcentrum Groningen is er voor alle studen-ten die bij hun schrijfopdracht een duwtje in de rug kunnen gebrui-ken. Weet je niet hoe je moet be-ginnen? Ben je de draad kwijt? Of zie je door de taalfouten je tekst niet meer? Meld je aan voor een individueel gesprek met een schrijfcoach. Schrijf je in op

www.rug.nl/schrijfcentrum.

2Ingezonden mededelingen voor studenten en medewerkers

Mededelingen25 juni t/m 20 augustus 2009

Agenda [ vervolg ]

3 juli Promotie: M. Walko, wiskunde en natuurwetenschap-pen. Titel: Molecular and biomolecular switches. Promotor: prof.dr. B.L. Feringa. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 14.45 uur.

3 juli Promotie: A. Kortholt, wiskunde en natuurweten-schappen. Titel: Chemotaxis: a complex network of intercon-necting pathways and amplification loops. Promotores: prof.dr. P.J.M. van Haastert, prof.dr. A. Wittinghofer. Plaats: Academiege-bouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 16.15 uur.

TENTOONSTELLINGEN

T/m 28 juni 2009. Tentoonstelling “Literature meets scien-ce”. Nederlandse literatuur waarin wetenschap, wetenschappers of studenten een belangrijke rol spelen. Plaats: Universiteitsbibli-otheek (trappenhuis derde verdieping), Broerstraat 4. Tijd: ma/m vrij 08.30 – 22.00 uur. Za en zo 10.00 – 17.00 uur.

T/m 5 juli 2009. Tentoonstelling “De Groningse universitai-re tekeningen van Kees Willemen”. Plaats: Universiteitsbiblio-theek (trappenhuis vierde verdieping), Broerstraat 4. Tijd: maan-dag t/m vrijdag, 08.30 – 22.00 uur. Za en zo 10.00 – 17.00 uur. Meer informatie, zie de website: http://www.rug.nl/Bibliotheek/lustrum

T/m 30 augustus 2009. Tentoonstelling “Opgevist uit Alva’s gracht – 16e eeuwse textielvondsten uit Groningen”. Plaats: Universiteitsmuseum, Oude Kijk in ’t Jatstraat 7a. Tijd: di t/m zo 13.00 - 17.00 uur.

T/m 30 september 2009. Tentoonstelling in het kader van het Lustrum Arts meet Science “Kunst in (de) Harmonie”. Plaats: Harmoniegebouw , Oude Kijk in’t Jatstraat 26. Tijd: ma t/m vrij 08.00 - 18.00 uur. Zie ook de website: http://www.rug.nl/let/kunst en http://www.rug.nl/rechten/kunst

T/m 10 januari 2010. Tentoonstelling “Darwins Wereld – Mens, natuur en evolutie”. Plaats: Universiteitsmuseum, Oude Kijk in ’t Jatstraat 7a. Tijd: di t/m zo 13.00 - 17.00 uur.

NADERE INFORMATIEAfdeling Communicatie: tel. 363 5445/5446

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| i n t e r v i e w | Docente popmuziek Kristin McGee is een Amerikaanse. Maar ze geeft colleges in het Nederlands. Want de Engelse taal zit een goede discussie vaak in de weg.

Door teoDor lazarov

“Ik woon in Nederland, praat daar-om Nederlands tegen me!” Kristin McGee lacht vanachter haar bureau in haar kamer aan de Oude Boterin-gestraat. De docente popmuziek bij kunsten, cultuur en media verhuis-de vijf jaar geleden van Chicago naar Nederland. Ze is de eerste pop-musicologe aan de RUG. “Ik had op meer dan veertig plaatsen over de wereld gesolliciteerd”, vertelt ze. “Hier werd ik aangenomen. Ik was in Scandinavië geweest en Midden-Europa, maar nooit in Nederland.”

Het bevalt McGee goed, hier in het Noorden. “Groningen is zo gezellig. Je ziet veel bekenden op straat lo-pen, of op de fiets. In Chicago moest ik altijd grote afstanden afleggen met de auto, dan kom je weinig mensen tegen.”

Nederlanders vindt ze weliswaar leuk, maar tegelijk heel anders dan Amerikanen. “Iedereen zegt altijd dat Nederlanders heel direct zijn. Dat zijn ze ook, als het bijvoorbeeld om werk gaat. Maar als het over ge-voelens gaat, dan blijven ze stoïcijns en praten er niet veel over.” Studen-ten aan de andere kant klagen vol-gens haar wel meer. “Ze zijn in ieder geval niet bang om te zeggen waar het volgens hen aan ontbreekt, of wat ze niet leuk vinden.”

De eerste jaren gaf McGee haar colleges in het Engels. Maar waar de RUG hamert op internationali-sering en het invoeren van het En-gels, stapte McGee over op het Ne-derlands. “In het begin kon ik niet anders dan in het Engels les geven. En dat was geen probleem, want het niveau van Engels van de studenten is hoog.”

Maar McGee vindt het belangrijk om tijdens de werkcolleges discus-sies op gang te brengen. Dat lukte niet altijd even goed. “Volgens mij omdat studenten toch vaak terug-houdender zijn om in het Engels te praten. Het is niet je moedertaal waarin je makkelijk kan verwoor-den wat je vindt.”

Nu ze is overgestapt doen haar studenten sneller hun mond open en zijn ze meer bereid met elkaar in discussie te gaan. “Ze durven ge-woon meer, denk ik.”

Het leren van het Nederlands was voor McGee niet altijd even

gemakkelijk. Ze moest oefenen in de praktijk, maar mensen spraken haar standaard aan in het Engels. “Op een gegeven moment zei ik: ‘Ik woon nu in Nederland dus, ik wil Nederlands praten. Praat daarom geen Engels tegen me!’.”

‘Studenten zijn vaak terughoudend om in het Engels te praten’

Alleen wanneer McGee veel bui-tenlandse studenten in haar college heeft, maakt ze een uitzondering “Ik heb met het vak muziek-drie veel buitenlandse studenten. Dit

jaar uit Spanje en Scandinavië. Het is grappig om het verschil te zien tussen hen en mijn Nederlandse studenten. Want Engels is ook niet hun moedertaal, maar ze zijn wel vaker geneigd discussies aan te gaan over de stof.”

Toch vreest McGee niet dat stu-denten in de problemen komen, wanneer de Engelse taal een gro-tere rol gaat spelen aan de RUG. “Ik merk wel verschil in niveau.

Spaanse studenten komen uit een omgeving waar alles in het Spaans gedoceerd en geschreven wordt. Scandinavische studenten krijgen, zoals de Nederlandse, aan de uni-versiteit veel meer Engels en hun niveau ligt daarom veel hoger.”

De verschillen tussen het Ameri-kaanse en het Nederlandse systeem

zijn niet heel groot, denkt ze. Maar werkcolleges zoals hier, zijn in Amerika lang niet zo wijdverbreid. “Dat biedt me de kans om veel die-per op de stof in te gaan en meer over de stof te praten. In Amerika is dat allemaal wat formeler met grote colleges. Dan moet de docent eerst uitleggen en is er minder tijd voor vragen en discussies.”

Meer Amerikaans is haar houding ten opzichte van de studenten. Ze organiseert eens per jaar een eten-tje met haar studenten en bezoekt vaak optredens en evenementen waarbij ze betrokken zijn. “Ik vind het belangrijk om de band hecht te houden. Dat is volgens mij in Ame-rika gebruikelijker dan hier, waar de afstand tussen docent en student toch wat groter is.”

Hanzehuiszin in een buitenlandse hap, maar de neus vol van Chinees, Italiaans of Mexicaans? Probeer dan eens een Scandinavisch ontbijt bij het Hanzehuis. of ga voor het Hanzeblik met koffie, thee, marsepein, chocolade, marmelade, honing etc, alles afkomstig van Hanzesteden in europa, inclusief Groningen natuurlijk. voer voor toeris­ten. Het Hanzehuis staat aan de voet van de Der aakerk. voor meer informatie: www.hethanzehuis.nl.

Carsten de Dreuzomaar een handige snipper voor verzamelaars van trivi­ale feitjes: Carsten de Dreu, hoogleraar arbeidspsycholo­gie aan de Universiteit van amsterdam, is de modernste man van Nederland. althans dit jaar. althans, volgens de organisatie Women Inc.

Women Inc. zocht voor de verkiezing van de “mo­dernste man” naar geschikte kandidaten door middel van oproepjes en door het benaderen van bedrijven en instanties. De Dreu werd voorgedragen door een vriend en kreeg de prijs onder meer omdat hij sinds de geboorte van zijn eerste kind nog maar vier dagen per week werkt. volgens de jury, met onder meer alexander rinnooy Kan, voormalig minister loek Hermans en schrijfster en publiciste roos Hermans, neemt De Dreu daarmee een “professioneel risico” en moet hij “op enkele punten in zijn professionele leven inleveren”.

De Dreu is zelf minder te spreken over de motivering. Hij liet weten dat hij al­leen maar productiever is geworden: geen getreuzel meer, geen urenlange lunches en geen biertje meer na het werk. “Door de kinderen ben ik heel efficiënt en taakge­richt gaan werken.”

volgens De Dreu is het niet bijzonder dat een hoogleraar vier dagen in de week werkt en één dag voor zijn kroost zorgt. De Dreu “In mijn directe omgeving gebeurt het veel. Maar ik ben psycho­loog, dus ik weet dat mensen vooral waarnemen wat hun eigen keuzes bevestigt.” [ erNSt arboUW ]

Wie de

piepis...?

Zij doceert in het Nederlands

Onderzoek naar duurzaam gedragIn de oosterpoortwijk shoppen bewoners duurzamer dan elders in de stad. Dat concluderen so­ciologiestudenten van de rUG na onderzoek. De eerstejaars onder­vroegen zeshonderd mensen naar hun kennis, houding en gedrag ten opzichte van duurzaamheid. De oosterpoorters zijn tevreden over het aanbod van duurzame produkten in hun wijk. In Hoog­kerk daarentegen is het aanbod laag. Het was de tweede keer dat sociologiestudenten dit on­derzoek hielden. ze hebben ook een tip voor de gemeente: geef

duide lijker aan waar mensen in hun buurt duurzame producten kunnen kopen, dan komt de rest vanzelf.

Misnoegen over bsa De universitaire medezeggen­schap blijft misnoegd over de wijze waarop het universiteits­bestuur aanstuurt op pilots met bindend studieadvies. Fractie­voorzitter emiel blok van groot­ste studentenpartij SoG zegt dat zijn partij baalt. “Nu staat de deur voor bsa op een kier terwijl na uitvoerig overleg is besloten de rendementen zonder bindend studieadvies aan te pakken.”

Het personeel in de raad heeft

meer begrip voor een strengere aanpak, al wijst fractieleider Douwe Fokkinga er wel op dat bsa weliswaar populairder wordt maar nog nergens werkelijk is ge­toetst.

KEI schaaft, maar schrapt nietDe KeI gaat in de komende KeI­week (10­14 augustus) geen on­derdelen schrappen. Dat zegt voorzitter Nienke rorije naar aanleiding van een bericht in de UK van vorige week. Het bestuur ondervindt moeilijkheden bij het aantrekken van sponsorgeld voor het introductieprogramma, dat

dat van voorgaande jaren moet overtreffen. “evenementen gaan door, maar het is natu ur lijk wel zo dat we kijken waar het effici­enter kan.”

over de omvang van de financi­ele tegenvallers wil rorije nog al­tijd niks zeggen. De KeI wijst op de recessie als verklaring, maar dat beeld wordt niet zonder meer bevestigd bij navraag onder stu­denten­ en faculteitsverenigin­gen. Sommige verenigingsbestu­ren reppen weliswaar van meer moeite met de acquisitie, maar andere (lugus en Panacea bij­voorbeeld) melden een financieel prima jaar met meer inkomsten dan tevoren.

Kristin McGee Foto Elmer Spaargaren

Hanzehuis

20 I N T E R N A T I O N A L P A G E UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009I N T E RI N T E RI N T E RI N T E R