Student - May 15, 2008
Wageningen will go bilingual
English will not become the only language of communication at Wageningen UR. After discussions with the Joint Student Staff Council (GV), the Executive Board has decided to adjust its ambitions. Wageningen will become bilingual.
Chairman of the Executive Board, Aalt Dijkhuizen, had already made it known that he wanted a ‘pragmatic’ approach to the implementation. ‘Of course you don’t have to speak English in a meeting where only Dutch speakers are present. We have also planned a number of evaluation moments. If we notice that a measure is not working as we intended, obviously we won’t continue with it.’
The GV made it known in a letter three weeks ago that it does not agree with the Board’s proposal, but accepts the proposal for the first phase of the plan: growth towards bilingualism. The Executive Board responded that it has shelved the more radical plans for the time being. ‘We have removed the goal of English as the only language out of our plan. After examining whether this is feasible, we concluded that the organisation is not yet ripe for more than bilingualism.’