{"id":99793,"date":"2019-06-12T11:05:55","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T09:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=99793"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:23:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:23:22","slug":"internationals-find-it-difficult-to-connect-with-dutch-peers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/06\/12\/internationals-find-it-difficult-to-connect-with-dutch-peers\/","title":{"rendered":"Internationals find it difficult to connect with Dutch peers"},"content":{"rendered":"

International students miss contact with their Dutch peers, according to a survey by three student organisations. They also suffer a great deal of stress.<\/p>\n

\"Students

International students at a party in Plan C.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The Dutch National Students Association (ISO), the Dutch National Union of Students (LSVb) and the Erasmus Student Network Netherlands (ESN) conducted a second survey<\/a> among international students to establish how they fare in the Netherlands. Over three quarters of the 1002 respondents \u2013 it is not known how many of them are students in Higher Professional Education or at university \u2013 say they would like more contact with their Dutch peers. They seem to find it difficult to connect with them.<\/p>\n

Which is worrying, write the student organisations. Because good integration is important if we are to keep our international students in the Netherlands. President of ESN Nederland, Lupe Flores Zu\u00f1iga: \u201cInternationalisation can be a great source of enrichment for Dutch society and the economy, but that\u2019s only possible if students feel welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Language barrier<\/h2>

One of the problems is the language barrier. \u201cAlmost my entire study is with Dutch students, yet I barely speak to them. I find it very hard to get close to them\u201d, says one respondent. Over a third are (very) dissatisfied with the opportunities they are offered to learn Dutch.<\/p>\n

With respect to the education, nearly 70 percent of the respondents are happy with the quality of the teaching staff. However, over a quarter of them find that cultural differences are not taken into account during lectures. Over 22 percent also feel that they aren\u2019t listened to.<\/p>\n

The internationals were again asked in detail about their welfare. The result: nearly 44 percent experiences \u2018a lot\u2019 to \u2018extreme\u2019 stress and over 40 percent suffer psychological problems. ISO president Tom van den Brink: \u201cEasy access to help must be available, also for internationals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student life<\/h2>\n\t
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