Dutch and German students: separate worlds
Germans are serious students, careerists, apply for resits in order to try and get a nine instead of an eight. The Dutch are party animals, bone idle, and as pleased as Punch with a six. Germans exclude the Dutch from their workgroups because they only do the bare minimum and bring the average group grading down. The Dutch are happy enough with that because working with the Germans costs lots of time and energy.
The stereotypes do of course not do justice to reality. Everyone knows Germans who practically live in the pub and Dutch students who get nines and tens. Nevertheless, both students and staff from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration claim that the images contain an element of truth: the differences are considerable. Does this mean that two nationalities hardly have any contact with each other and therefore learn very little about each other's culture, as was the intention of the internationalisation of the student population?
The faculty board does not see a gap. On the contrary, the two nationalities get on better than a few years ago, says Tom van Veen, international relations official. They used to clash with each other every now and again, but not anymore. "If there is any gap, then it is the divide between the ambitious and the non-ambitious students."
German and Dutch students have quite different views thought. They reckon that there are two separate worlds. "You would have to be blind not to see the gap", one of them says. "Everyone at the faculty can endorse this", says another. More to the point, contact between the nationalities is actually declining, says German fourth-year student Markus Adler. "It annoys me about the new batch of students, that they have hardly any interest in the Dutch language and culture and refuse to integrate. They reap the fruits of a good education in Maastricht and leave again. They are egotistic and focused exclusively on their careers."
The separate social circles in which the Dutch and Germans move are a telltale sign. Germans share their own network on the internet (Studivz.net) and steer clear of student associations, whereas the Dutch stay away from parties that tend to attract a lot of Germans. An example is the hugely popular Craze parties, organised by student association EFM Academy in the Maastricht Music Hall every block period. In the past, a lot of Dutch used to attend them, says chairman Lotte van Oudendijk, but now most of the visitors (1,400) are German. "When the Dutch hear that there will be a lot of Germans, they often pull out. I don't know why, maybe because of the music. Usually house and R&B, while many Dutch students prefer trance. We have recently started to try and attract other nationalities too."
'Zivildienst'
Meanwhile, more Germans than Dutch are enrolling at the economics faculty. The turning point was the 2004/2005 academic year, when the faculty had 380 German first-years against 372 Dutch ones. This year, the figures are 479 and 294, respectively. International Business even welcomed twice as many German students as Dutch ones. "I hear Dutch IB students complaining about this sometimes", says Van Oudendijk. "They wonder if the faculty can do anything about it."
Another thing the Dutch complain about - for the first time this year - is the advance of German as the language used in study groups. "Imagine a study group with nine German and three Dutch first-year students", says lecturer and also intercultural co-ordinator Wim Swaan. "One of the Germans is looking for an English word, cannot come up with it, and chooses to formulate his sentence in his own language. A fellow-countryman reacts and before you know it, the discussion is in German. At a moment like that, the tutor has to intervene. We will emphasise this in the basic tutor training course."
These relatively recent complaints are isolated cases, says Swaan. In general, education does not suffer from these separate worlds. There is certainly no tension or confrontations in the tutorial group, says the lecturer, which was confirmed by almost everyone. "It is no more than a normal socio-psychological phenomenon that people prefer to be with people who are like themselves, who speak the same language. The people from Limburg do the same. There is nothing wrong with that, but you have to avoid that they shut others out or that they stick together. The latter is often the case in work groups, within the tutorial groups. This is why I usually make sure that the teams are mixed."
Manager Van Veen emphasises that tutors are urged to compose the work groups themselves, but not all of them do so. Some tutors feel that it is more important that students feel at ease in such a group. Besides, students tend to stick together less as they progress in their studies. "In the Masters programmes, Germans and Dutch mix and work together much better", says German PhD student Nils Holinski, who teaches third- and fourth-year students. "Masters students feel that one's attitude towards work is more important than nationality."
The German attitude towards work is generally better than that of the Dutch, according to a survey carried out last year by mathematics lecturer Dirk Tempelaar. Germans turned out to have more knowledge, skills and motivation than Dutch students.
They are more motivated, according to staff and students, because they are older and more mature. Many have already completed their 'Zivildienst' (nine months of alternative national service) and have made a deliberate choice to go abroad. For Germans, there is also the fact that they work so hard because employers in their native country select more severely on the basis of grades, says intercultural co-ordinator Swaan. "Dutch employers, at least in my days, mainly looked at your personality and your social skills. Membership of a student association and minimal sailing skills were often a definite plus."
Lonely Korean
There may be a kind of peaceful coexistence in the tutorial groups, but unfortunately, this is no international academic community. Hence the suggestion by economics students in the faculty council last year to call a halt to the influx of German students by introducing a quota. This should ensure that in the future, they would constitute no more than one third of the student population. The argument was based on dissatisfaction with the euregional appearance of a faculty that advertises itself as being international. The present student council members feel that this 'lopsided growth' is also a thorn in their flesh. Suzan van Zutphen, student member of the faculty council: "One might wonder just how international the faculty is? The discussion with the board on this topic has been going on for years, but nothing has happened."
The board is not sitting idle, says Van Veen. "We work together with the university country teams to attract more foreign students, and we are constantly negotiating with exchange partners outside Europe."
However, many students want to study economics in Maastricht because they are interested in other cultures, says Masters student Michiel Aaldering, who is writing a thesis about communication problems between Germans and the Dutch on the shop floor. "We could learn a lot from each other during the study period and benefit from that later on in our international careers."
Things already start to go wrong during the Inkom, says Aaldering. "Young, insecure first-years are allowed to choose the Inkom groups they want to be in, resulting in the creation of separate German and Dutch groups." As far as he is concerned, integration would benefit from a recurring sports event, in which students come together in international teams.
The Masters student Philipp Walz feels the same. Together with twelve other UM students, he works for the new company called Jules and You. The company will soon start to offer services to (international) students, in the field of accommodation, insurance, mobile telephony, visas, et cetera. "We would also like to do something about the integration of nationalities, for example at the Faculty of Economics. We are thinking about a platform on the internet, a kind of calendar of international events, and sponsoring international sports teams. An international student atmosphere is very valuable, but this is hardly the case now at the economics faculty."
Swaan does not lose much sleep about the German and Dutch students. What causes him much more concern, is the odd person from Korea or Bulgaria who fall between two stools and end up feeling isolated. "I hear stories from students who have studied here for years but have made no friends. They just can't get in, not during breaks and not even after the tutorial group meetings no-one will talk to them. The Germans, so to speak, drive off in their Mercedes A class and go straight home, while the Dutch jump onto their bicycles to go to their clubs, while the Korean is left to fend for himself. Sometimes they will stop halfway through their studies, to return to their own country dissatisfied. We need to pay more attention to these students."
Maurice Timmermans
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© Observant, © HOP | laatst gewijzigd: 06/03/08