Céline Zahno | Measuring the world: to be one of too many students
My research methods teacher draws the confidence intervals narrowly, so the point estimate becomes a winged dot on the board. “From this sample, we can infer with 95 percent confidence that the value of the whole population lies between 3.56 and 3.96.” I enter the room late and sit down on the only remaining free seat. It is the first class of the semester and I look around – no familiar faces.
When I decided to come to Amsterdam to study Political Science, I took into account all things that would potentially negatively impact my life here. I started looking for housing early. I carefully decided on my major. I began to learn Dutch. I did not, however, think of the many students doing the same.
During lunch break I chew on my kaasbroodje at the canal and count the students walking by. 35 within a minute – that’s 2100 students in the hour I have been sitting here. Most of them speak English with an accent, like I do. I try to infer what that means for me. I am confident: It is nothing positive.
We were left feedbackless during last year’s grading strike, when burnt-out junior lectures of the social science department refused to grade students to demand better working conditions. When we got the essay back we had submitted two months earlier, I opened the file eagerly. There were three comments in the margin of my document. My friend had four. We understood. By then we knew everything about the influx of international students and the unmanageable workload for teachers.
If I would have known earlier, when I was still taking things into account, I might have gone somewhere different. Where all students fit into a single lecture hall and discussion groups are smaller and livelier. This year, the UvA told incoming students to reconsider their studies if they do not find housing on time. The management is also debating a numerus fixus for English programs.
For many international students, staying in their country of origin means staying behind. The accessibility of a quality institution like the University of Amsterdam can be a stepping stone in their lives. Closing that avenue off leaves them with a world of little alternatives. It only takes a quick look at post-Brexit university fees: Where to go, except the Netherlands, when wanting to attend a good university with English taught programs? As my research method teacher would maybe say: “Measuring the world and measuring the UvA produces incompatible results”.
Céline Zahno is a student Political Science at the UvA and comes from Switzerland. This is her first column for Folia.
