uk 37 - 25 june 2009 | year 38

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Can we kick it?

first allHere it is: the very the UK. f English edition o Why? Because we can. niversity U And because the and more is becoming more international. before the K U st la is th d a e R summer holidays. xt year!

And read more ne

Ye s we can!

Foto Reyer Boxem

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

2 THIS WEEK

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Newspapers are being hit hard by the economic crisis, but also by the competition 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 Brinkmancommittee: “The infrastructure of journalism is under pressure. Papers are struggling because their informationgathering is very labour-intensive.

But TV stations often base their reports on articles in the local papers. 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 only 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 stated 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 important for the news coverage and democracy to organize a soft landing so the flow of quality news and information can be guaranteed.”

Wim Vuijk, lecturer in Communication Studies, thinks the money will be spent on a lost cause: “To implement a tax in order to rescue newspapers, like an endangered 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 some idea about how to connect with the internet generation. And I’m sure there will be some more com-

Photo Gerrit Stel

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

Should we help struggling newspapers by a levy on internet connections?

‘This is a time of transition’ 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 newspapers. But then again, the first newspapers 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 subscription 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, newspapers have failed to adapt to the changes that have occurred. It’s fundamentally a product life-cy-

Rosa Diva I woke up because my phone was singing 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 received twenty text messages. Suddenly I realized: it’s my birthday.

It felt good, I was so through with being 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 birthday 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 sender 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.

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

Consumer preferences are changing, the younger generation – but also some members of the older generations – 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 Algemeen Dagblad acquired a range 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, newspaper publishers are commercial enterprises, some of them are even on the stock market.”

Colofon

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 propaedeutic year! Amazing what a little determination, 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 discovered 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 water under the bridge now. It’s summertime 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

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.nl Internet: www.universiteitskrant.nl editorial board: Hanneke Boonstra (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 Lazarov, 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 Willemen Published by: Stichting Universiteitsblad Print run: 20,000 copies Press 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 Zandvoort, tel. 023-5714745, telefax 023-5717680 University of Groningen advertisements, announcements and UKaatjes: Heiny de Ruiter (3636699) subscription: € 30 per year, (internal rate € 20).

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N E W S 3

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Putting an end to a legal battle PhD 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 University of Groningen. AbvaKabo wants full employee contracts to be offered to Groningen scholarship PhD students. The dispute gravitates around the question whether scho-

larship PhD students actually work for the university or act as independent research entrepreneurs on individual projects.

Any court ruling will have significant ramifications, as the number of Dutch and international scholarship PhD students has been rising steadily in recent years. At the same time, political pressure is mounting. Minister of Education Ronald Plasterk spoke in favour of employee status for PhD students on several public occasions and in December 2008 a vast majority in Dutch Parliament voted that PhD students should be considered employees.

Chairman Poppema of the University maintains that the University of Groningen scholarship student policy is well-designed and perfectly legal. But his board expressed discontent when the Groningen association for PhD students Grasp! posted standard protest forms on its website for PhD students 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 students will not be involved in teaching 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 understanding with the Board of the University was of greater importance to us”, says former chairperson Lotte Krabbenberg. By then, two PhD students had used the form with success.

Frans Zwarts and the University legal department downplay the significance of all this. “These decisions come from the same organization that we have solid agreements with”, says Zwarts. [ Jan Blaauw ]

Virologists crack down on H1N1

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 specialists, was unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the blast. The personnel faction in the Faculty Council therefore requested a second opinion. Initially, the Faculty Board rejected this because they felt the review had produced enough information to take appropriate action.

When the plan of action was discussed in the Faculty Council, last week, the personnel faction repeated the request. This time the Board concurred. [ René Fransen ]

Eighteen international students at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark will be refunded over 600,000 Kroner (EUR 80,600) in tuition fees which they paid as part of the European ‘Erasmus Mundi’ Master’s Programme. The students had paid Copenhagen University around EUR 3000 in tuition fees for a programme which is jointly taught at three universities in Denmark, Germany and Wales. Students who started the programme at the other universities did not pay extra tuition fees. The European Commission decided that the tuition fees should not have been charged.

Swine flu outbreak at Bristol Uni At least twelve students at Bristol 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 others tested positive for the virus on Friday and three more students were diagnosed early this week. A spokesman told the press the university will remain open despite the influenza outbreak.

Virologists from the University of Groningen 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 patient’s serious condition is the result of mutations in the virus. To test this, virologists need to isolate the virus and work out its genetic sequence. For safety reasons this work has to be performed in a special ML-III biohazard laboratory. Unfortunately, the UMCG MLIII lab is currently closed for annual maintenance. “We can’t put that off”, virologist Anke Huckriede explains. “It is a huge logistical operation involving technical staff from many different companies.” She expects the lab to reopen next week.

Diagnostics and patient care are not affected. Diagnosis of the ‘New Flu’ is performed at the Laboratory for Surveillance of Infectious Diseases (LIS). “Only when the number of suspected cases rises will a number of other labs become involved in the diagnosis, including the Clinical Virology lab of the UMCG.” The Molecular Virology Group, of which Huckriede is associate professor, is working on new methods to produce flu vaccines, but this has not yet led to practical applications. [ René Fransen ]

Copenhagen Uni refunds fees

Appeal against murder sentence

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 violence in Iran are attached to the steps in front of the City Hall. People are wearing green clothes, just like the Iranian protestors in Teheran or the other big cities in Iran.

“Down with Khamenei, down with Khamenei!”, yells a man with a megaphone in his hand. When silence falls, a man from the crowd starts yelling “Death to the dictator!” The rest of the people follow

his example.

“It really is a big thing when Iranian people start yelling things like that”, says Hossein Moeini, a PhD student from Iran. “Khamenei is almost a holy figure in Iran, so it really 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 freedom.”

Every night Moeini chats over the internet with his friends in Teheran. 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 Kalantar (experimental nuclear physics) 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 University of Teheran, a student protest 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 Notten ]

A unique confidant has passed away 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 establishing their clubhouse there.

He agreed, went to work for Albertus 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 Smilde, to raise money for the club.

Gradually he became the club’s handyman. “He was really a unique guy”, says University of Groningen employee Han Borg, a member of Albertus from 1975 until 1985.

“Nijborg was the building manager and took care of beverages, purchases 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 suppliers were not a great fan of him.

The beer glasses were also slightly 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 comfort them.”

Sienus Nijborg was cremated last Tuesday. [ Harry Perton ]

The 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 sentenced to 14 years in prison for the murder, while the Public 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 excavated At Meerstad, east of Groningen, archaeologists have excavated a campsite of hunter-gatherers from the Middle Stone Age. Thousands of pieces of flint lay scattered at the site. 26 first-year archaeology students worked at the excavation. 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 Run Marieke Falkmann, student of movement sciences at the University of Groningen, has won the Pink Ribbon Ladies Run, which took place last weekend in the city of Groningen. Falkmann, 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 participated.

4 REMARKABLE

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Pigeon soup in China How 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 completely different from a week of drinking in Dublin or Budapest.

So the study association TBV Lugus, of Industrial Engineering and Management, thought up an intercontinental study trip so that their students could gain international 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 eventually he and his fellow students came up with a smart plan – let the students work their way to the Far East. The thirty participants had to do six months research at Dutch companies like

Friesland Foods, Grontmij and Stork to raise money.

Then they came up with another 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 quality. However times are changing in China too. Participants were to do preliminary research in the Netherlands and then check in China how quality was guaranteed.

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

dents finally left for Shanghai and Beijing. There they visited seven companies and debated with their general and quality managers. 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 Mountains, biked through Beijing, took a whole day to walk along part of the Great Wall of China and visited the Summer Palace. De Beus: “One day we visited a genuine Chinese company. Its general manager wanted to impress us with a slap-up lunch. A typical Chinese lunch, that is – chicken feet and duck webs with their claws still attached and pigeon soup with the head floating in it. Some enjoyed it more than others. But it was a great experience!”

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

Last man standing in Groningen Santanera is the probably the most international year club in Groningen.

Eleven out of a total of twelve members 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, Erjen Prins was not contaminated.

While his friends pack their bags to go abroad, he alone plans to remain in Groningen. “Maybe it’s because I’m not so much a follower. I lead. And I lead my friends into De Kroeg”, he smiles.

No – there’s actually a real reason that Prins has never left the university: it’s because he studies 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 beautiful 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 contact with students from all over the world. That’s what I liked the most. Also, I experienced another 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 Argentina, Israel, Brazil, New Zealand, Spain (twice), Australia, India, Asia and America (twice) as destinations. They visit each oth-

er sometimes at their universities abroad. Ewoud: “We went to Valencia and we’ve been to Tel Aviv.

It’s nice to see your friends in a different environment.”

Still firmly planted on the cobblestones 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, because 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 jumping and jumping off a bridge is really as much fun as they say it is.”

Question & answer

‘Nowadays it’s all about America’ 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 International Office already existed, although 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 slowly moved forwards. We set up an alliance with Burkina Faso and later on with Ethiopia. Fortunately, we had a lot of support from the committee of development cooperation within the University. They urged the Board of the University to develop a more international policy.”

Best memories?

“The struggle against all odds, in the beginning. And the success.

Exciting!”

Still with only you and the other guy?

“No, in 1983 Els Boerma arrived and Madeleine Gardeur, who became 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-

In recent months you worked for the Lustrum Bureau, now you’re retiring. Is it hard to say good­ bye?

“Not at all. I’m going to write a book about my grandfather who was a member of the Union of Typographers and I’m a member of a choir. I’ll also stay in touch with the University of Groningen as a volunteer.”

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.”

Lots and |_

So why would

| a n a ly s i s | Europe wants to create a

fifty or so years. A university education is no longer an ‘upper class’ common education market. Internaprivilege, but this also means that students rely on grants to get them tionalisation is supposed to be good for students and universities. But is it worth through their education. They can’t just pack up and leave for another the effort? country. And these days, the lingua franca of academia is broken EngBy René FRansen lish, but this is not as widely used In 1733, on 20 September, a young as Latin was. Moreover, Latin was man from Aberdeen signed up as a ‘second language’ for everyone, a student at the University of Gro- whilst English gives a clear advanningen. He studied Law for three tage to those who speak it as their years and then returned to Scot- mother tongue. Furthermore, each land, where he graduated and even- country has its own rules and regtually became a High Court Judge. ulations for Higher Education. All As Lord Monboddo he organized these things are a hindrance to free ‘learned suppers’ to which he in- movement of students across the vited representatives of the ‘Scot- world. tish Enlightenment’ like David HuEurope is set to create, alongside me. Monboddo was also known as its common market, a common sysan eccentric. He proposed that man tem for Higher Education. Barrievolved from apes, a century be- ers must come down and spending fore Charles Darwin time abroad should published his Des­ be a normal part of cent of Man. Howevuniversity life. The er, Monboddo did Europe-wide intro‘The fact that so on the grounds duction of the Bachthat – as he firmly elor’s-Master’s syssomeone believed – humans tem is one step in were born with a tail that process. But are has studied that was discretely getting a better abroad doesn’t we chopped off directsystem in the procly after birth by the ess? mean he is midwives.

Money is one proba good scholar’ lem. In the NethAround 1500, a young Polish stuerlands, legislation dent spent ten years was passed this year in Italy, the country of Michelange- which allows students to take their lo and Leonardo da Vinci. At that grants abroad. On the other hand, time, Italian artists were experi- Dutch universities are paid per menting with perspective, radical- graduate, not for visiting students ly changing the art of painting. Per- coming for just one term. So, interhaps his exposure to the new and national students have to pay highfascinating art form helped Nico- er tuition fees. Financial barriers laus Copernicus to change his per- are still present. spective on the solar system and The language barrier is also imporcome up with the radical idea of the tant. There’s more to it than finding Earth orbiting the Sun. the right course in English. On average, lectures by non-native speakThese two anecdotes contain three ers are inevitably of poorer quality lessons on internationalization. than lectures given by native speakFirst, it’s nothing new. If anything, ers. And students for whom English students were more mobile in past is a second language will probably centuries than in the 20th and 21st. absorb less from a lecture in EngIt was no problem for Copernicus lish, even if it is given by a native or Monboddo to study elsewhere. speaker.

All universities used Latin as a linGoing abroad also means lots and gua franca. lots of paperwork and planning. In Second, the fact that someone has Europe, the ECTS credit points sysstudied abroad doesn’t mean he is tem should mean that you know a good scholar. Monboddo was pri- how many credits you will get for marily an eccentric, and his studies the work you’re doing. In reality, on the evolution of languages re- the system is not yet perfect. And ceived no more praise than his out- outside Europe, things are even landish ideas about human origins. more complicated. Planning is anThe third lesson, however, is that a other worry for those venturing change of perspective can open up abroad. Academic years may start your mind. Going places, exploring on different dates, and terms might a different culture and tradition, last six months or four. Also, there’s can help a student to mature into a little room for absorbing unexpectscientist. ed delays. You can’t just go back to Of course, the situation in the 21st resit an exam. century is radically different from the world of Copernicus or Mon- So even once all countries have a boddo. The number of students has Bachelor’s-Master’s system, there increased spectacularly over the last are still important barriers. But then

R E M A R K A B L E 5

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

lots of paperwork you want to study abroad?

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 other hand, most students will spend their term abroad at the equivalent of some British redbrick university, 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 different academic tradition.

An important reason to go is that it looks good on your resumé. Employers like students who show initiative, and going abroad is deemed to be proof of this quality. Of course, when a large percentage of students do as policymakers want, and follow part of their education abroad, the effect on the resumé will diminish.

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 Swaziland? Of course there is. It’s fun.

It’s experience. And yes, if you manage to get into a good university, or get selected for a high-quality Master’s programme, it is undoubtedly good for your career. But most of all, you should enjoy the experience.

And by all accounts eccentric Monboddo seems to have had even more fun than the great astronomer.

Illustration Pluis again, these are less daunting than ten, twenty years ago. And the common 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 European universities used to be the fin-

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

Finally, what’s in it for the universities? Why is the University of Groningen setting targets to increase the number of international students? It’s the Red Queen effect. On the European market for higher education, you need to run ever faster 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 competition is for the most talented students. You’d rather have Copernicus on your alumni website than Lord Monboddo. So universities have to do their utmost to get those rare talented students. The University 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 potential prize students from.

So overall, breaking down the barriers to internationalization is well worth the effort. And it seems that the ideas of Lord Monboddo on e­ volution inspired the French naturalist 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.

6 UNIVERSITY

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Where to

Measuring 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

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

“in argentina the nights are usually 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 amina Helmi can see the Blaauw observatory on the Zernike complex. The large Gratama telescope on top of the building emphasizes not only the international, but also the intergalactic 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 native country in 1996, after gaining degrees in mathematics and natural Sciences. Four years later, Helmi obtained 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 literature 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 argentinean. “i presume there’s a causal connection here”, she smiles.

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

laws of mathematics and natural sciences, developed here on earth, allow you to examine things so far away… that’s magic. When i discover something new, it feels as if i’ve unravelled a secret.” recently Helmi received a starting grant from european research council (erc). She aims to use the scholarship to build up a research group that will develop models 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 twentyfive hundred times.” as she has fifty-five publications to her name, this means that on average she is cited fifty 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 knowledge, we have one last question to determine whether Helmi really can be called the ultimate international academic: in which country is Timbuktu situated? a loud laugh. “i haven’t a clue.”

The international yardstick if it wasn’t for the dutch points system, Helmi would have given herself ten points for the test.

“But that’s impossible in Holland, 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 considered proof of successful internationalization.

24 25

| b ac kg 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

The Chinese miss their fish No matter what kind of fish it is, the Dutch deep-fry it. Mang, a Chinese student of human resource management, 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 supermarket: “I don’t eat very spicy food.”

She points at a guy walking by in the hallway of the big international student house on the Winschoterdiep. “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 plastic bowl of Chinese mie into the microwave. Just like Mang, he misses the Chinese fish. “Here they only eat fish from the sea, right? In China 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, traditional Chinese pepper, Chinese noodles, tofu and a special kind of spicy soy bean.

Atta Urrehman, PhD student of drug exploration at the UMCG, is more of a meat eater. He goes to several Muslim shops in the centre of Groningen to get halal meat.

27 28 29

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 believe it,” he smiles. He knows another halal butcher, though, in the Folkingestraat.

A Slovakian buys a whole loaf of bread Jozef, a student of law from Slovakia, 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 Slovakian kind, which tastes better. Many other things differ – yoghurt, sausages, salami. Salami? How Slovakian is that? “The brands are different, so the ingredients and taste are different as well.” The same applies 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 expensive The Swiss are famous for their watches, their cheese and, of course, their chocolate. Real Swiss chocolate is hard to find in Groningen, Mark Knecht, a student of real 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

Grades get lost in

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| b ac kg r o u n d |

The European Credit Transfer 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 obstacles that have to be overcome. “We can’t even get our own faculties to synchronize their academic schedules.”

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By PeTer keiZer

37 39

How international

A halal butcher in the Folkingestraat

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Amina Helmi

Photo Reyer Boxem

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 Office. “Foreign students are used to getting high grades. “And they don’t understand the Dutch grading culture, in which a 6 is all right and an 8 is excellent.”

ECTS was meant to make it easier for students to participate in international 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-

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get that waffle? students find those flavours of home in Groningen

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

Where’s the Norwegian porridge?

Astrid Lydersen, student of biotechnology, has not found her favourite 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 supermarket, “But I can make it from scratch as well. I’ve done that a couple of times.”

Peppermint tea for an Australian Australian Callin Ivanovici, student of psychology, hardly misses anything she eats at home, down under. “I can’t find peppermint flavoured 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 borsjtsj, 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. Paterswoldseweg 90.

Amazing Oriental is an Asian su-

permarket that sells fresh vegetables, as well as many kinds of fish, frozen banana leaves, spices and freshly made snacks like lemper (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 regular 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 steamers. Interestingly, Melati even sells muscle balms, Asian cosmetics and necessities for Afro hair. Gedempte Zuiderdiep 126.

translation national Relations. “Translating national grades is a huge problem.

The Dutch grading system uses 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, although we think it’s one of the highest marks you can get.”

Translating grades is a problem for a lot of countries, according to Robert Wagenaar, Director of Undergraduate 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 Spanish or Polish colleges. The grades of our students are therefore underestimated in other countries and the grades of foreign students are overrated 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 impossible.” Examining the grading cul-

ture could provide an answer. “You can check how often a grade is given. After that universities need only to determine the actual percentage of students that receive each ‘local’ grade. This allows a more straightforward comparison.” A Dutch 8 will become more important internationally. 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 universities, especially countries like Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

‘We’re lucky to have the European system’ More and more countries are participating, but it’s a slow process.

“We can’t even get our faculties to synchronize their schedules. Besides, 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 lecturers agree on the quality of training. But when there’s no direct contact, 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 follow modules abroad. We’re lucky to have the European system.”

8 UNIVERSITY

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Measuring up (2)

2

A period overseas is overrated

3

| s e r i e s | The University of Groningen wants to be international. But how does the staff

4

measure up to an international yardstick? We put number two to the test: Nico van Yperen.

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By hinke hamer

1

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

“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 Organizational Psychology. He is director of the Graduate School of Behavioural and Social Sciences and conducts research in the fields of achievement motivation, leadership and work stress. According to him, he is “one-hundred percent internationally oriented”. He proves this with graphics on his homepage. There it says he currently has 49 ISI publications, he has been cited 946 times and has an average of more than nineteen citations per publication. More important, 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 psychology, an index of eighteen seems to be pretty good, so here Van Yperen earns himself points on the international 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 language 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 languages besides Dutch and English.”

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

delphia, and a few months at the University of British Colombia in Vancouver. Van Yperen: “Usually a period overseas is overrated. Not the experience itself, but the very fact of doing 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 atmosphere 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 internationally oriented.”

But when asked if he can mention at least three international rankings for the University of Groningen, he hesitates. “I think we are number 124 in one very important ranking, but I don’t know which one that is.” He only 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 international ranking of the University Newspaper, where does he see himself? Van Yperen hesitates. “What is the reference group? Is it other scholars or the Dutch population? I guess I do pretty well compared to my peers but I am not an absolute top scholar.”

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

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Students have an

| b ac kg 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 students think it is. A small translation test undertaken by twenty-five students in the University library revealed that many students have a hard time expressing themselves in English (see box).

According to Kevin Haines, coordinator and lecturer at the Language Centre, this isn’t strange. “The structure of the way you put language on paper is different from the way you speak it. The flow of ideas in a person’s head has to somehow change into correctly written English.”

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

Kees de Glopper, director of the Centre for Language, Education and Communication, recognizes these difficulties among PhD and Master’s students. “Colleagues sometimes worry about their students’ level of English. Of course, you cannot lump all students together, 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’

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Are they

Nico van Yperen

Photo Elmer Spaargaren

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 English, probably have greater language 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 international Master’s programme at

the University of Groningen, he or she is first put to the test, literally. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has determined six different 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 insufficient, so we raised the levels”, says Kirsten Wolkotte, coordinator 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 communicate with a certain ease in English. 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, underlines De Glopper. “English lessons in secondary school are not focused

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ready for the challenge? unrealistic view of their language abilities

Illustration René Lapoutre on academic writing, they concentrate on practical skills.”

But at university it’s not about asking directions to the station or ordering a hamburger at McDonald’s.

De Glopper: “People really underestimate 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 rely on when you write in your own language.” Haines adds: “Nevertheless this does not seem to be a specifically 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 English”, says Haines. Dutch people have a relative advantage compared

to people from southern European countries because the Dutch language 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 English as a genuine second language.”

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

Furthermore, students who follow an international programme are capable of improving their English very rapidly. Students who follow a ‘normal’ study path probably just increase their passive knowledge, mostly in terms of vocabulary.

‘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?

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

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

Martin van Hees, professor of Ethics and Political Theory, is a lecturer in the English-language Research Master’s in Philosophy. He not only discusses the work of his students with respect to the content, but also helps them to improve their language 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 ‘furthermore’, ‘however’ and ‘nonetheless’ are more commonly used. Yet it is too simplistic to speak of mistakes, thinks Haines. “It’s not just mistakes that prevents them from functioning on an academic level. It is also vocabulary range and flexibility 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 university 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 influence language use and understanding. Haines: “You send messages to people in certain ways, verbally and non-verbally. A person from another country might understand the message differently, and consequently the message is misinterpreted.”

Apart from the differences in language 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 something people should already know if they listened carefully. This illustrates once more the close relationship 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 English language and writing skills.

De Glopper: “Things could get a bit messy if we don’t pay enough attention to internationalization.”

As well as the University’s efforts in this matter, students can also improve their skills on their own, using numerous websites, for example. Haines: “There are computer programmes where you can type a word and then the computer repeats it for you. You can find a lot of links on the Language Centre’s Blackboard site. It’s a great advantage that there are a lot of free resources online.”

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‘We are still D |_

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 Groningen 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 sympathetically, 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 really try”, one housemate tried to comfort me.

For a student from Groningen, studying in NYC can be very rewarding. “The students are so motivated. They really want to become lawyers”, says Stephanie, a Leiden law graduate who subsequently studied at Ivy League Columbia University in Manhattan. “It’s completely different from the Netherlands, where they pick studying law as a last resort.” The study pace is faster and as grades are often competitive, your classmates are probably not so eager to share their notes with you. That’s a refreshing experience after years of “zesjesmentaliteit”, the idea that a pass grade is enough.

There is a downside to this attitude towards excellence – student pubs certainly don’t stay open until six a.m. In the city that never sleeps, it is not unusual for a grad student to completely abstain from partying. “In the Netherlands, we would consider

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

Because of a lack of public funding, most American universities are constantly short of money. “Research grants elapse after quite a short time, while on our old continent, money is allotted 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 partners’ in the US are in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. That’s a long commute. A student from Groningen considering swapping 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 limited to the official partners of the University of Groningen. Graduating in Groningen before embarking 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, Groningen students who ultimately want to graduate “cum laude” – which means a grade point average of 8 or higher – may want to avoid the United States as an exchange destination because one measly “B” can spoil everything.

Imposing English on the sta

| b ac kg r o u n d | Administrative and support staff usually don’t mind speaking 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 support staff (abbreviated in Dutch as OBP) of the University of Groningen whether they personally struggle 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 English. 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 differences in the levels of enthusiasm. “Certainly I can chat in English”, says Lies Baars, secretary at the Faculty of Economics and Business, “but it’s not my favourite language, personally I dislike it.”

While she takes minutes of English-spoken meetings in Dutch, her colleague Herma van Vleuten, further 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 remarks: “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 everything in English”, says Timersma, however: “Most administrative and support staff are not really ready, especially not the people in the lower wage scales, but I assume that it will be commonplace ten or fifteen years from now.”

A more fundamental stance is taken by Jan Visser, analyst and president of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences: “It is wonderful for the University to internationalize, but we are a Dutch university and foreigners 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 international 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, official 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 voluntarily on the job and having it imposed. And certainly, the compulsory introduction of English into

employee consultative body meetings 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

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Dutch’

Measuring up (3)

aff can result in trouble

Speaking Gronings to the dog

1

| s e r i e s | The University of Groningen wants to be international. But how does the staff

2

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 studied in Paris for eight months, where he conversed in German and English. Nonetheless Goffe Jensma was installed as Professor of Frisian Language and Culture in 2008. He chuckles. “At home we used to read the Frisian bible”, he explains the roots of his Frisian mother tongue.

Although Frisian language and culture is not the first specialism you’d expect to be operating in an international 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 subject itself that offers possibilities.”

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

Jensma visits two or three international congresses a year. He certainly wants to make use of all possible opportunities to increase the international character of Frisian Studies.

“We’re busy developing an English ejournal. We are also examining the possibility of starting a joint Master’s programme with our partner university in Kiel, Germany.”

Nevertheless Jensma puts some critical notes on an all too hasty run along the international road. “What does internationalization mean? The University 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 into those journals as well. But the danger is that you might undermine your own infrastructure.”

“For example, Friesland has three Frisian scholarly journals, which are well read by three thousand subscribers in total”, continues Jensma. “You could choose not to write for those but publish in ones with a better reputation 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 citation scores.

“The Humanities are often approached 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 profundity to society, participate in debates, give lectures and write opinions in newspapers.”

The International Yardstick The fact that Jensma uses his flair for languages even to raise his pets multilingually deserves a lot of respect, as does his attempt to be as international as his typical dutch specialism allows him to be. Still, he could have made a more profound effort to practise not only his German and english in Paris, but his French as well. Final conclusion: Professor Jensma gets eight points out of ten.

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Photo Reyer Boxem 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 withdraw 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. “Certainly the employee’s own language

should be used in consultative bodies,” 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 councils 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.”

37 38 39 40 41 Goffe Jensma

Photo Elmer Spaargaren

42 43 44

12 S C I E N C E Why Harvard?

By Klaas van Berkel Why would anyone want to go to Harvard? The teaching there is not necessarily better than at major universities elsewhere. In my field, the history 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 appreciated by all leading historians 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 Harvard are better just because Harvard is the # 1 university in the world. There is some truth in the often heard criticism of international ranking lists that states that you cannot compare universities as a whole and that the only thing you can compare are individual programmes.

Yet you only have to visit 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 departments, you realize that a good university is not simply a summing up of individual programmes. It is the combination of all these programmes that counts. Again, in my field, it is no use looking only at the History of Science department. Just reach for the course guides of the History department, the Philosophy department 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 intellectual 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 library was donated to the university by Eleanor Elkins Widener, of Philadelphia, as a memorial to her son Harry, 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 Harry had been a keen book collector and had already decided 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 Netherlands, starting on 1 September.

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Foreign experience |_

But is time spent abroad really necessary

Photo Reyer Boxem

Dr Jolanda Smit’s lab

| b ac kg r o u n d | Without international experience it is ‘very, very difficult’ to get tenure at the University of Groningen. That sometimes leads to bizarre situations. And to promising researchers leaving.

By ernst arbouw Science is international. But is it really necessary for a successful scientist to have international experience? According to the Board of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, it is: anyone applying for a staff position must have at least one year work experience at an institute outside the Netherlands. At other faculties, international experience is not essential but it is “very, very difficult” to get a position without it.

The matter is actually quite simple, says Professor Lou de Leij, Dean of Research at the university’s Faculty of Medical Sciences. “Working in a different environment is beneficial to your development as a sci-

entist.” Internationalization in academic 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 problems and dealing with intellectual challenges, he explains.

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

“For us, it is a very firm requirement 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 Mathematics 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 Faculty of Arts subscribes to Weissing’s point of view. Like the other two faculties, the Faculty of Arts emphasizes international experience as a requirement for applicants – even for scholars working in seemingly 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 language or Dutch literature can gain international experience in, let’s say, Ghent, or at a German university.”

Wakker rejects the suggestion that current staff without international experience should be obliged to work abroad for one or two years.

“That may be fundamentally correct, but is completely impractical.”

One question remains: isn’t it possible to experience another environment and professional culture by working at another Dutch university or research institute, like Professor De Leij of the Medical Faculty did? Weissing disagrees.

“No you can’t, because the academic culture in Amsterdam is virtually 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 culture between Groningen and Oldenburg is far, far greater.”

U N I V E R S I T Y 13

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required for a scientist?

Measuring up (4)

A network called ‘the world’

1

| s e r i e s | The University of Groningen wants to be international. But how does the staff

2

measure up to an international yardstick? The UK puts number four to the test: Frans Zwarts.

3

By hinke hamer

Puzzled, disappointed, and gone!

She seems to be a truly international scientist. Trained in Germany as a biologist, she turned down a secure position in Lübeck to spend six months at the University of Groningen. in that time, she managed to get a marie Curie Fellowship – a european grant scheme that was introduced to increase the mobility of scientists within europe. She married a Dutch scientist and got two prestigious Dutch grants, a Veni in 2003 and a ViDi in 2006. her work led microbiologist Sonja albers to collaborate with research labs across the world, and she published papers in cooperation 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 personal grant, but back then you weren’t allowed to take the money abroad.” When Van der Does returned, 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 successfully apply for tenure in Groningen, but when albers applied, she was asked if she would be prepared 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 science funding agency nWO honoured her application for a prestigious ViDi grant. “The so-called lack of experience was not important there.” about a year ago, albers was turned down for a rosalind Franklin Fellowship, again due to a lack of foreign experience, though she was said to be one of the top candidates on purely academic grounds. Shortly afterwards, she was offered an independent Junior research Fellowship by the German max Planck Society and now leads a group at the institute for Terrestrial microbiology in marburg. She took her ViDi grant and her husband – 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 disappointed. “i still don’t understand”, she says. “i agree that international experience is very important. But the rules that the University of Groningen drafted are only about time spent abroad, not about your actual ability.” [ rené FranSen ]

Danisha, Frans Zwarts’ six-yearold 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 international 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 international path, we expect him to achieve the top score. and he is feeling the pressure. he continues: “my granddaughter has an antillian father and her mother was raised by us in english as well as Dutch. my wife is from the United States but we brought up our children 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 finishing his university degree in linguistics 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 multilingual 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 future 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 greatly 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 researchers from the netherlands, eager as he was to promote international exchange between universities. his contacts at UCLa encouraged him to promote student exchanges and today he is busy investing in developing contacts between Groningen and Los angeles. how important it really is to him to make Groningen part of the international world network becomes clear when Zwarts says: “it is part of the university’s existence.” returning to his most recent cause for pride: the language lessons from his granddaughter. When asked to come up with some words in Papiamentou, 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.

The international yardstick all 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 convince us: to be honest, the Papiamentou example was slightly disappointing. But then, for the international opportunities he provides to us as students, he gains the highest praise. mr Zwarts, thank you! Congratulations on your 9.7!

work, both a national and international one. i went to quite a few foreign universities for shorter working visits, ranging from perhaps 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 microbiology, Smit was offered a PhD position. in 2002, she defended her thesis and around six months later she was awarded a prestigious Veni grant. after that, she was offered a tenure-track position. She now works as an assistant professor at the UmCG. isn’t she afraid that the fact that she has never worked outside Groningen will prove a disadvantage? “no, not really. as long as you can prove that you are working internationally, it doesn’t matter, i guess.” [ ernST arBOUW ]

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

A view broad enough “i think foreign experience is actually very important, but it is possible to work in an international context in many different ways”, says Dr Jolanda Smit, assistant Professor at the University medical Center Groningen (UmCG). medical microbiology is by definition already a very international discipline – 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 orientated: research into the tropical disease dengue.

Smit does not have international research experience in the traditional sense: she never worked in a foreign lab for a prolonged period. “no two ways about it: it is important for every scientist to have a fully developed professional net-

4

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Frans Zwarts

Photo Reyer Boxem

42 43 44

14 U N I V E R S I T Y

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Start now!

The

( Because you’ll inevitably will have to use English in your professional career )

| 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

| b ac kg 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.’

Sanne Roefs (21) International Relations and International Organizations, Art History

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.”

Harm Jan van der Spek (20) Business

A bit more difficult

Lies Kombrink (22) Journalism student

Text and PhoTos by ernsT arbouw

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.”

“It is a good way of improving your English, which is useful if you are aiming for a career in international 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 significantly.”

“As I am studying International Relations, it does seem obvious to follow the Englishtaught 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.”

Marga Veeneman (21) International Relations and International Organizations

Useful

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 received their Bachelor’s degree certificates. In and around the Class of ’89 party tent, people in their thirties are playing hide-and-seek with their children. Graduates of the Class of 2004 jog past in a sweat. It’s the annual Amherst College reunion. Everything – the classical, redbrick buildings, the stately tall trees and perfectly maintained paths – shows the tranquillity of matter-of-course wealth. Some buildings display a sign with a year on it. They tell you which cohort is staying 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 matters 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, respect for each other’s opinions. Critical comments are always politely worded.

At Amherst it’s “Your data seems to indicate…” or, for more persistent people: “Let me challenge you once more”.

The feeling that they belong to a special group in society is drummed into every member of the Amherst community right from the start. Tony Marx, the 18th president of Amherst, underlined this in his speech in the Johnson Chapel – ‘what an amazing difference 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 celebrated in style, and not only for emotional reasons.

Never in its entire history has the College’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 postponed. 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 affected. That’s possible, says Marx, because thanks to its thoroughgoing investment 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 campaign’s target of $ 425 million had already been raised. In fact, Amherst is

www.eerstejaarsingroni

U N I V E R S I T Y 15

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

secret of Amherst still rich. Marx doesn’t say it in so many words, because the gentle obligation to make a donation whenever you can continues to be his central message. This year, between a quarter 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 economics 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 Association 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 reunion, in 5 years time, when they’ll be expected to make a major donation. 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-

Amherst Amherst College, founded in 1821, is a College of Liberal Arts. It heads a list of exclusive colleges in New England that includes Williams and Wellesley.

With high academic standards and a long tradition, these colleges train students for a Bachelor’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. Annual tuition fees are over $ 45,000; Amherst awards 52 percent of its students grants of $ 35,000 on average. The College’s endowment fund is over $ 1.6 billion. It shrank this year by about a third, to $ 1.25 billion.

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

ingen.nl

Willemen

ucation’. Not only current staff, but mainly alumni-professors, writers, doctors, lawyers and business people organize lectures and fill the discussion panels. The lecture halls are chock full. Allan Cohen, ’59, Dean and professor of Babson College, explains the secret of Amherst. Thanks to the fantastic success of the endowment funds, private elite colleges could compete with each other at the cutting edge. But the productivity of the type of education that every Amherst alumnus enjoyed so much cannot be scaled-up. Face-to-face education, 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 official 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, Elsevier and AD.

Photo Renske Heddema

Online: 1 July

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Zoals vrede en veiligheid, in Nederland en daarbuiten. Daarvoor staat het ministerie van Defensie. De Nederlandse Defensie Academie (NLDA) leidt mensen

Nederlandse Defensie Academie zoekt hoogleraar militaire logistiek

op tot professionele en gemotiveerde officieren 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 voorzitter 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 heeft een afgeronde academische opleiding en een promotie op logistiek gebied. U heeft ervaring met of aantoonbare interesse voor militaire logistiek en ruime bestuurlijke en leidinggevende ervaring in het wetenschappelijk onderwijs. U heeft langdurige ervaring en internationale erkenning als excellent presterende wetenschapper op het gebied van logistiek; hiervan getuigt een reeks publicaties.

Arbeidsvoorwaarden: het brutomaandsalaris bedraagt maximaal â‚Ź 7.253,- (schaal 16) op basis van een 38-urige werkweek. Het betreft 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).

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Algemeen College van beroep voor de examens cbe-zitting 30 juni 2009 Op dinsdag 30 juni a.s. houdt het College van beroep voor de Exmens zitting van 9.30-10.15 uur m.b.t. de volgende beroepzaak: 9.30 uur: betr. datering bachelorbul (Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen) De zitting is openbaar en vindt plaats in de faculteitskamer Economie, Broerstraat 5, eerste verdieping. c.a.m.kesselaar@rug.nl

Universiteits­ bibliotheek UB dit weekend weer langer open!

De tentamentijd dendert door, en daarom kan er komend weekend weer extra lang gestudeerd worden 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 academische tekeningen van Kees Willemen 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 academisch 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

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> Verzorgd door de UK; eindredactie Heiny de Ruiter, tel. 3636699 > Mededelingen kunnen ingediend worden via www.universiteitskrant.nl > Aanleveren is mogelijk tot uiterlijk maandag 10 uur voor de UK van dezelfde week > De volgende UK verschijnt op 20 augustus 2009 verspreid. Hebt u de brochure niet ontvangen dan kunt u deze via onderstaand 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 cursussen, individuele trajecten en op maat aanvragen.

A.Huizinga-Walsma@rug.nl www.uocg.nl Training for Lecturers and TAs You can enrol in a training via our website up to two weeks before the start: Training for Teaching Assistants (August 24, 9:3012:30, August 25, 27 (9:30-16:30, Sept 24, Oct 27 (13:00-17:00); Basic Teaching Qualification (BKO): the course “Teaching in higher education” starts in January; Course on testing & assessment by arrangement; Professional consultation and Individual support by arrangement. 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.nl www.uocg.nl

Faculteiten Rechtsgeleerdheid A LG E M E E N

Onderwijsstage Strafrecht 3 De sectie Strafrecht zoekt twee studenten voor een onderwijsstage. Bij het vak Strafrecht 3 kan een bonuspunt worden behaald door middel van het maken van casusopdrachten. De sectie zoekt studenten die meehelpen bij het nakijken en beoordelen van de casusoplossingen. Ter voorbereiding woon je de docentenbesprekingen 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 gegeven in het eerste semester. De stage loopt dus in de maanden september t/m december van het komend collegejaar. Voorwaarden: - Strafrechtelijke bachelorvakken hebben gehaald (Strafrecht 1, 2 en 3) - goede studieresultaten voor de strafrechtelijke vakken Heb

Zomervakantie

je belangstelling, stuur dan een brief met CV, naar: Mr. H.D. Wolswijk Vakgroep Strafrecht & Criminologie Postbus 716 9700 AS Groningen Of stuur een e-mail, met CV, naar: h.d.wolswijk@rug.nl Voor meer informatie kun je contact opnemen met Hein Wolswijk (0503638343, ) h.d.wolswijk@rug.nl Recht, religie en samenleving: Juridisch vak en AVV 2009-2010 (Oldenhuis) Het zindert ook dit jaar van actualiteit: klokluiden, haatzaaien, oprichten van een rokerskerk; uniform politieuniform? Een rechter met een hoofdoek? Een keppeltje? Of een oorbel? Handen schudden verplicht? Een keur van gast=topdocenten geeft in 7 weken 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). Hoofdcolleges: Vd Leeuwzaal woensdag van 13-15 uur. 2 september 2009: mr. M.A.H.P van Stiphout,Capita selecta over de historische ontwikkeling en betekenis van een scheiding van Kerk en Staat 9 september 2009 prof.mr. F.T. Oldenhuis), De exclusiviteit van kerkgenootschappen en de begrenzing ervan in de multireligieuze samenleving 16 september 2009 (eerste uur) prof.mr. F.T. Oldenhuis, Hoe ver gaat de individuele vrijheid van geloof en belijden? ‘Schipperen’ tussen exclusiviteit en (in)tolerantie 16 september 2009 (tweede uur), mw. mr. A.H. Santing-Wubs, Alternatieve geschilbeslechting binnen kerkgenootschappen 23 september 2009 prof. mr.drs. A.H.M. Dölle, De (uitwendige) grondwetsgeschiedenis van de godsdienstvrijheid in de Nederlandse gedecentraliseerde eenheidsstaat (thans art. 6 Gw ); een parlementair-constitutioneel-historische 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. Brouwer, 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. Molendijk (tweede uur), Dwarsverbanden tussen recht, religie en samenleving; een samenvatting Inlichtingen: bij f.t.oldenhuis (coördinator): e-mailadres: f.t.oldenhuis@ rug.nl, 050-3635472 of via het vakgroepsecretariaat: 050-3635767 en voorts via. http://www.rug.nl/ Rechten/nieuws/advertentieRrs alsmede via nestor.

JFV Studiewinkel gaat sluiten Van 6 juli tot en met 26 augustus is de JFV Studiewinkel gesloten.

Collegeaantekeningen of uittreksels nodig voor je augustustentamens? Kom dan naar het JFV Hok, Turftorenstraat 17. Alleen contante betaling is mogelijk! jfv@jfvgroningen.nl www.jfvgroningen.nl

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

Medische weten­ schappen

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

B I B L I OT H E E K

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

Nieuwe data CMB-workshops Vanaf september a.s. biedt de CMB de volgende workshops aan: - PubMed. Tips & trucs; - Systematisch literatuur zoeken voor een

review/richtlijn; - Reference Manager voor beginners; - Impactfactoren en citaties. Voor informatie m.b.t. cursusinhoud, -data en aanmelding zie de CMB-website. www.rug.nl/umcg/bibliotheek

Wiskunde en Natuur­ wetenschappen

Agenda In de AGENDA worden alleen universitaire evenementen op­ genomen die voor iedereen toegankelijk zijn. Aankondigin­ gen inleveren uiterlijk vrijdag 12.00 uur voor de week van verschijnen: per fax naar (050) 363 6300 o.v.v. UK-Agenda, per e-mail naar communicatie@rug.nl of per post naar: afdeling Communicatie, UK-Agenda, Postbus 72, 9700 AB Groningen.

A LG E M E E N

Science topics nu in eerste semester Science topics, wnecst05, maakt al jaren deel uit van het assortiment avv-vakken. Ook in 2009/2010 wordt het weer als zodanig aangeboden. Ook maakt het deel uit van de minor modern science. Belangrijk 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 eigenlijk toch wel iets over natuurwetenschappen zou horen te weten, maar weet je niet hoe je dat moet aanpakken? Dan is het vak ‘Science Topics’ iets voor jou. Op het niveau van de wetenschapsbijlage van dagbladen wordt een aantal onderwerpen uit de natuurwetenschappen aan de orde gesteld.

Wat is bijvoorbeeld het belang van het human genome project.

Wat houdt een DNA-onderzoek eigenlijk in? Hoe is de stand van zaken met betrekking tot zonnecellen? 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 worden gedurende een tiental hoorcolleges behandeld. Ook een practicum maakt deel uit van dit AVV. Je zult zelf DNA uit je eigen wangslijmvlies isoleren. Je zult zelf een zonnecel bakken en zien dat je die kunt gebruiken voor de energievoorziening. Opzet van het vak.

Een tiental hoorcolleges van 2 uur en een practicum, dat twee zal duren. Afsluiting met een essay. De colleges worden gegeven door docenten van de faculteit wiskunde en natuurwetenschappen. Coördinator en inlichtingen: Jan Apotheker, T: (363)4365; j.h.apotheker@rug.nl

Letteren A LG E M E E N

Werkcolleges Arthur Japin Arthur Japin, dit najaar de gastschrijver van de RUG, verzorgt zes werkcolleges voor RUG-studenten over het thema ‘De waarheid verzonnen’. Fictie biedt zowel de schrijver als de lezer de gelegenheid een geschiedenis weer tot leven te doen komen. In de werkcolleges gaat Arthur Japin met de studenten op zoek naar de mogelijke bronnen van hun eigen schrijverschap en onderzoekt hij op welke manier die het beste zijn aan te boren. De colleges zijn van maandag 28 september t/m 9 november (m.u.v. 19 oktober), 16.00 - 18.00 uur. Op 6 oktober en 9 november is er een dubbelcollege van 14.0018.00 uur. Aanmelding bij het secretariaat van de vakgroep Nederlands, Harmoniecomplex, 4e verdieping, telefoon 363 5858. Er kunnen maximaal 16 studenten deelnemen aan de werkcolleges: acht letterenstudenten, en acht studenten van buiten de Letterenfaculteit; bij overintekening wordt geloot. De werkcolleges zijn voor niet-letterenstudenten een Algemeen Vormend Vak (AVV). Uiterste aanmelddatum: 12 september.

PROMOTIES EN ORATIES 26 juni Promotie: M.J. Beinema, wiskunde en natuurwetenschappen. 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 natuurwetenschappen. Titel: Dithienylethene optical switches. Multicomponent molecular systems. Promotor: prof.dr. B.L. Feringa. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 14.45 uur.

26 juni Promotie: J.M. Lubelska, wiskunde en natuurwetenschappen. Titel: Genome-wide analysis of the regulation of sugar 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 wetenschappen. 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. Titel: Inter local government collaboration in Indonesian metropolitan 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 wetenschappen. Titel: Perceived health status in Multiple Sclerosis patients. 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, Rechtsgeleerheid. Titel: Back to basics. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 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: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 13.15 uur.

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

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

2 juli Promotie: mw. J. Hofstra, gedrags- en maatschappijwetenschappen. Titel: Attaching cultures. The role of attachment styles in explaining majority members’ acculturation attitudes. Promotores: prof.dr. J.P.G.M. van Oudenhoven, mw.prof.dr.

K. van Oudenhoven-van der Zee. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 14.45 uur.

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

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

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

25 juni t/m 20 augustus 2009

Mededelingen 2

Ingezonden mededelingen voor studenten en medewerkers Vlak daarna krijgen alle deelnemers nadere informatie.

Bachelorstage Letteren Vanaf 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 behaald, en je moet een voorbereidende opdracht hebben gedaan.

Deze opdracht heeft de vorm van een Loopbaandag bij het Talent & Career Center aan de Munnekeholm 2 in Groningen. De dag staat in het teken van antwoord op vragen 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 A U L E T T E R E N

GGD en RUG, Groningen STAGE: Communicatie rond onderzoeksproject naar seksuele ontwikkeling van jongeren in Groningen. OPLEIDING: CIW. START: 1 september 2009. TAKEN: PR-plan, werving respondenten voor onderzoek, media-aandacht, contact met scholen. PROFIEL: grote betrokkenheid bij het onderwerp seksuele ontwikkeling van jongeren tussen 9 en 18 jaar, creativiteit en onconventionaliteit in denken en doen. INFORMATIE: drs. F. de Groot, GGD, 050-3674080. Stagebureau Letteren, kamer 212, tel 3635844. stages.let@rug.nl www.rug.nl/let/stagebureau STAGE: GGD/RuG, Groningen OPLEIDING: CIW PERIODE: start per 1 september OPDRACHT: communicatieplan opzetten voor onderzoek naar seksuele ontwikkeling bij jongeren MEER INFO: Stagebureau Letteren, k 212; tel.

050-3635844. Zie de website onder ‘nieuws’ stages.let@rug.nl www.rug.nl/let/stagebureau

Economie en Bedrijfskunde A LG E M E E N

Sluiting Syllabuswinkel De syllabi-winkel is i.v.m. de zomervakantie van 13 juli t/m 30 Augustus gesloten Van 13 juli t/m 30 augustus zijn syllabi te verkrijgen bij de Faculteit Economie & Bedrijfskunde, ZG 236 en de studiegidsen bij de Informatieba-

lie beganegrond WSN gebouw De winkel is op 31 Aug. en 1 Sept. geopend 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 openingstijden van 12.00 tot 14.00 uur

Studenten Studenten Service Centrum (SSC) CENTRALE STUDENTENBALIE(CSB)

Bezoekadres: Uurwerkersgang 10, Postadres: Postbus 72, 9700 AB Groningen Telefoon: 050-3638004 Fax: 050-3634623 Openingstijden: 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 Inloopspreekuur Studielink elke morgen van 10.00-12.00 bij de CSb. Daarnaast 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-enrolment through Studielink? Then visit the consulting hour Studielink at the Student Service Desk every Thursday from 10 to 12 am, especially for foreign students. For all your (other)questions we are opened from 10am-4pm.

Aangepaste openingstijden Vanaf 10 augustus t/m eind september is de CSb geopend van 12.00-16.30. Telefonisch zijn we bereikbaar van 10.00-16.00 uur.

STUDIE ONDERSTEUNING

Doorstuderen in de zomer?

Speciaal voor studenten die (een deel van) de zomer willen doorwerken aan hun scriptie of aan hertentamens zijn er de zomer studie- en scriptieversnellingsgroepen. 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: zomerstudieversnellingsgroep dinsdag 7 juli van 9.00 tot 10.30 uur, zomerscriptieversnellingsgroep 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 verdieping, tel. 363 5548. Deelname kost 20 euro, ook als je na de zomer in de groep wilt blijven. www.rug.nl/so

ACLO Ga 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.com http://www.geensteektever.nl

GSp GSp - Studentenplatform voor Levensbeschouwing Een plaats voor bezinning, religie, debat en gezelligheid. GSp, Kraneweg 33, tel. 3129926 info@gspweb.nl www.gspweb.nl Zomersluiting GSp Van 3 juli tot 10 augustus is het GSp en het secretariaat gesloten.

Persoonlijk gesprek De 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 bereikbaarheidsrooster.

Ad-hoc KEI-dienst-koor Voor de KEI-dienst op vrijdag 14 augustus om 17.00 uur in de Martinikerk wordt een adhoc-studentenkoor 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 speciale KEI-dienst; 6/9 11.30 uur eerste morgendienst in het nieuwe seizoen.

KEI Word KEI-crew Lijkt het jou leuk om mee te helpen aan het organiseren van de KEI-week voor de nieuwe aankomende studenten? Help dan mee als KEI-crew! Als KEI-crew zul je gedurende de KEI-week een aantal taken uitvoeren die van te voren ingepland zijn. Het is dus niet zo dat je alle uren van de dag moet werken of dat je vijf volle dagen aan de bak bent. De werktijden kun je gewoon van te voren

aangeven. Uiteraard is het ontzettend mooi als je zo veel mogelijk komt helpen, maar dat is natuurlijk geheel aan je zelf. Iedere KEIcrewer krijgt ook een KEI-bandje.

Zo kun je na je werktijden ook gewoon 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 periode die start op een gezellige Crew-dag vlak voor de KEI-week en die eindigt met een spetterend Crew-bedankfeest. Heb je hier interesse in? Je kunt je elke dag tussen 12.00 - 14.00 uur aanmelden op het KEI-pand aan de Sint Walburgstraat 22. www.keiweek.nl wervingenpromotie@keiweek.nl

Diversen INTEGRAND

Vind je stage met Integrand!

Ben jij geïnteresseerd in een afstudeerstage, zomerstage of meeloopstage? Met haar 12 vestigingen in alle studentensteden van Nederland is Integrand de grootste stage bemiddelingsorganisatie van Nederland! Integrand heeft landelijk meer dan 600 stageopdrachten openstaan bij multinationals 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 vrijblijvend in! groningen@integrand.nl www.integrand.nl GSB

Vakbondsbestuurders gezocht!

De Groninger Studentenbond zoekt voor 2009-2010 bestuursleden die zich actief willen inzetten 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 leden van de GSb en andere studenten? Kijk dan op de site en solliciteer! soco@groningerstudentenbond.nl www.groningerstudentenbond.nl OVERIGE

R.K.Studentenmissen Zoals 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 slapen. Verder hebben we een Google Calendar, een Hyvespagina, een agenda en een pagina voor gebedsintenties. Wil je hier meer infor-

Advertentie

Agenda

[ vervolg ]

3 juli Promotie: M. Walko, wiskunde en natuurwetenschappen. 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 natuurwetenschappen. Titel: Chemotaxis: a complex network of interconnecting pathways and amplification loops. Promotores: prof.dr.

P.J.M. van Haastert, prof.dr. A. Wittinghofer. Plaats: Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5. Tijd: 16.15 uur.

TENTOONSTELLINGEN T/m 28 juni 2009. Tentoonstelling “Literature meets science”. Nederlandse literatuur waarin wetenschap, wetenschappers of studenten een belangrijke rol spelen. Plaats: Universiteitsbibliotheek (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 universitaire tekeningen van Kees Willemen”. Plaats: Universiteitsbibliotheek (trappenhuis vierde verdieping), Broerstraat 4. Tijd: maandag 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 INFORMATIE Afdeling Communicatie: tel. 363 5445/5446

matie over? Kijk dan op onze site. info@rkstudentengroningen.nl www.rkstudentengroningen.nl Toneelgroep Jeuk zoekt bestuur!

Jeuk is de toneelvereniging van Dizkartes en bestaat bijna 15 jaar.

Behalve Dizkartianen mogen ook andere studenten meespelen en meebesturen. Voor aankomend jaar zijn de Jonge Enthousiaste Uitmuntende Kunstenaars op zoek naar een nieuw bestuur. Met 4 man/vrouw sterk ben je ongeveer 2 tot 4 uurtjes bezig deze toneelgroep te besturen. Lijkt het je wat? Solliciteer voor 30 juni voor

Penningmeester, Secretaris of Bestuurslid Productie (regie-assistent) via onderstand mailadres! jeuk@dizkartes.nl http://jeuk.dizkartes.nl Academisch Schrijfcentrum Het Academisch Schrijfcentrum Groningen is er voor alle studenten die bij hun schrijfopdracht een duwtje in de rug kunnen gebruiken. Weet je niet hoe je moet beginnen? 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.

Nieuwe vacatures

Nieuwe vacatures

Energiemanager

Professor of Applied Physics in Organic Semiconductors

1,0 fte | Facilitair Bedrijf

1,0 fte | Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Medewerker (HBO) Ruimtelijke Informatiekunde

Hoogleraar Farmacotherapie en Klinische Farmacie

1,0 fte | Faculteit Ruimtelijke Wetenschappen

Full Professor of Consumer Behavior

0,8 fte | Faculteit Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen

1,0 fte | Faculty of Economics and Business

Postdoc Nanoscience as Tool for Improving Bioavailability and Blood Brain Barrier Penetration of CNS Drugs

Algemeen Directeur/Bibliothecaris 1,0 fte | Bibliotheek van de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Docent Internationale Betrekkingen

0,8 fte | Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

0,8 fte | Faculteit der Letteren

Nadere informatie over deze vacatures vindt u op: www.rug.nl

Docent Kunsteducatie

De RUG biedt speciaal aan meeverhuizende werkende partners van nieuwe medewerkers goede loopbaanfaciliteiten.

0,4 fte | Faculteit der Letteren

De RUG streeft naar een evenwichtig opgebouwd personeelsbestand. Op een aantal terreinen zijn vrouwen nog ondervertegenwoordigd. Daarom worden zij vooral uitgenodigd te solliciteren.

This Autumn, Career Development & Training offers the following courses: For young academics with temporary jobs: What

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20 I N T E R N A T I O N A L P A G E

UK 37 - 25 JUNE 2009

Zij doceert in het Nederlands McGee is een Amerikaanse. Maar ze geeft colleges in het Nederlands. Want de Engelse taal zit een goede discussie vaak in de weg.

In de oosterpoortwijk shoppen bewoners duurzamer dan elders in de stad. Dat concluderen so­ ciologiestudenten van de rUG na onderzoek. De eerstejaars onder­ vroegen 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 Hoog­ kerk daarentegen is het aanbod laag. Het was de tweede keer dat sociologiestudenten dit on­ derzoek hielden. ze hebben ook een tip voor de gemeente: geef

piep

Carsten de Dreu

Door teoDor lazarov

Onderzoek naar duurzaam gedrag

de

is...?

| i n t e r v i e w | Docente popmuziek Kristin

“Ik woon in Nederland, praat daarom Nederlands tegen me!” Kristin McGee lacht vanachter haar bureau in haar kamer aan de Oude Boteringestraat. De docente popmuziek bij kunsten, cultuur en media verhuisde vijf jaar geleden van Chicago naar Nederland. Ze is de eerste popmusicologe 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 MiddenEuropa, maar nooit in Nederland.”

Het bevalt McGee goed, hier in het Noorden. “Groningen is zo gezellig.

Je ziet veel bekenden op straat lopen, 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 gevoelens gaat, dan blijven ze stoïcijns en praten er niet veel over.” Studenten aan de andere kant klagen volgens 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 internationalisering en het invoeren van het Engels, stapte McGee over op het Nederlands. “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 discussies op gang te brengen. Dat lukte niet altijd even goed. “Volgens mij omdat studenten toch vaak terughoudender zijn om in het Engels te praten. Het is niet je moedertaal waarin je makkelijk kan verwoorden 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 gewoon meer, denk ik.”

Het leren van het Nederlands was voor McGee niet altijd even

Wie

Foto Elmer Spaargaren

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

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

Misnoegen over bsa

De universitaire medezeggen­ schap blijft misnoegd over de wijze waarop het universiteits­ bestuur aanstuurt op pilots met bindend studieadvies. Fractie­ voorzitter emiel blok van groot­ ste 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

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 studenten in de problemen komen, wanneer de Engelse taal een grotere 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 universiteit veel meer Engels en hun niveau ligt daarom veel hoger.”

De verschillen tussen het Amerikaanse en het Nederlandse systeem

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

KEI schaaft, maar schrapt niet De KeI gaat in de komende KeI­ week (10­14 augustus) geen on­ derdelen 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

zijn niet heel groot, denkt ze. Maar werkcolleges zoals hier, zijn in Amerika lang niet zo wijdverbreid.

“Dat biedt me de kans om veel dieper 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 etentje 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 Amerika gebruikelijker dan hier, waar de afstand tussen docent en student toch wat groter is.”

dat van voorgaande jaren moet overtreffen. “evenementen gaan door, maar het is natuurlijk wel zo dat we kijken waar het effici­ enter kan.” over de omvang van de financi­ ele tegenvallers wil rorije nog al­ tijd niks zeggen. De KeI wijst op de recessie als verklaring, maar dat beeld wordt niet zonder meer bevestigd bij navraag onder stu­ denten­ en faculteitsverenigin­ gen. Sommige verenigingsbestu­ ren reppen weliswaar van meer moeite met de acquisitie, maar andere (lugus en Panacea bij­ voorbeeld) melden een financieel prima jaar met meer inkomsten dan tevoren.

zomaar een handige snipper voor verzamelaars van trivi­ ale feitjes: Carsten de Dreu, hoogleraar arbeidspsycholo­ gie 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 “mo­ dernste 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 al­ leen 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 taakge­ richt 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 psycho­ loog, dus ik weet dat mensen vooral waarnemen wat hun eigen keuzes bevestigt.” [ erNSt arboUW ]

Hanzehuis zin 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 toeris­ ten. Het Hanzehuis staat aan de voet van de Der aakerk. voor meer informatie: www.hethanzehuis.nl.