{"id":108879,"date":"2020-02-06T11:11:15","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T10:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=108879"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:41","slug":"anglicisation-at-university-has-overshot-the-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/02\/06\/anglicisation-at-university-has-overshot-the-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Anglicisation at university has overshot the mark\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cCan I help you, please?\u201d <\/em>asks the girl behind the bar at Erasmus Pavilion on the EUR campus. When I respond by telling her I\u2019d like to be helped in Dutch, this leads to a discussion with the Pavilion\u2019s manager. According to him, \u2018as much as\u2019 70 percent of the staff here speak English exclusively, and he wonders what I would do if none of the counter staff spoke Dutch. I counter by telling him that in the Netherlands, I\u2019d expect to be helped in Dutch rather than English. I\u2019m dumbfounded: the Anglicisation at Erasmus University has completely overshot the mark.<\/p>\n

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As a Dutch student, I have my doubts about the need to adopt English as a lingua franca<\/em> in higher education. And I am not alone: last year, 180 professors, writers and other prominent intellectuals published a manifesto in de Volkskrant<\/em><\/a>, arguing among other things that Dutch remains the key language of communication within most professional groups. So what is the added value of adopting English?<\/p>\n

English-language degree programmes draw a lot of international students \u2013 which further reduces the institution\u2019s budget per student, according to the manifesto, and ultimately affects the academic quality of the provided education. What\u2019s more: after graduation, only a small share of these international students (approximately 20 percent) stay on in the Netherlands for longer than five years<\/a>, according to research performed by Nuffic The Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education. In the majority of cases, the Dutch economy doesn\u2019t actually benefit from their presence, in other words.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018In the majority of cases, the Dutch economy doesn\u2019t actually benefit from international students\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Observing the on-going Anglicisation at my university, it occasionally seems as if the main focus isn\u2019t providing the best education, but accommodating the Executive Board\u2019s PR machine, which is hell-bent on filling our lecture halls with a chorus of English. But what\u2019s the added value of an English-language subject in the first year of the Law bachelor programme that forces Dutch students to debate each other in English? Many students find the dense legal jargon perplexing enough in their mother tongue. And as professionals, they\u2019ll actually be expected to argue, write and analyse in that same language. So what\u2019s the point of arguing in English?<\/p>\n

Why does an introductory programme for prospective students include so many unnecessary English items when everyone attending speaks Dutch? And in the Public Administration programme, why is Statistics taught in English \u2013 a subject that for many Dutch students is confounding enough as it is when explained in their own language?<\/p>\n

Examples like this raise the question why English is repeatedly preferred over Dutch. While the university\u2019s reasons remain obscure, it is easy to assume that teaching subjects in English is far more attractive from a financial perspective. And in this case, the students\u2019 interests clearly play second fiddle.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018What\u2019s the added value of an English-language subject in the first year of the Law bachelor programme that forces Dutch students to debate each other in English?\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

EUR\u2019s international students \u2013 who generally have a very poor command of Dutch \u2013 have given considerable impetus to the advance of English in the university\u2019s halls and corridors. Including at the Erasmus Pavilion. Nevertheless, I would like to be addressed in Dutch there, too \u2013 on the principle that we need to cherish the Dutch language. In this age of progressive individualisation, Dutch is one of the few things that still connect us, and it is an essential part of Dutch culture. It forms part of our identity.<\/p>\n

The steady advance of English in Dutch higher education seems to be an irreversible phenomenon. Still, it shouldn\u2019t be at the expense of Dutch students and of the Dutch language. When it comes to Anglicisation, I believe that the lady and gentlemen of EUR\u2019s Executive Board should be asking the students a different question: \u201cKan ik je helpen?\u201d<\/em>. This way, we can ensure Dutch retains a position of prominence at our university.<\/p>\n\n\t

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