Are you thinking about pursuing a degree here in the Netherlands? There are many things to think about while you decide which university to enrol in. From small class sizes to the ease of studying abroad, here are several reasons why you might want to consider studying at Webster Leiden instead of a more traditional Dutch university. 1 Smaller classes Many of the lecture halls you’ll find at Dutch universities can accommodate dozens of students, often more than a hundred at any one time. Attending a lecture can seem more like going to a TED Talk than a class. At Webster Leiden, the classes are much smaller, with an average of ten to fifteen students enrolled in any given course. ‘I’ve taught in both scenarios’, said Dr. Yang Fan, who teaches in the university’s Business & Management department. ‘A smaller class makes for a more interesting learning environment’. 2 More individual attention from professors Webster Leiden’s classrooms and curriculum allow for more engagement between students and educators. The university’s faculty enjoy not contending with hundreds of students during a single semester, whereas students appreciate not competing with dozens of their peers for a professor’s time. ‘The attention that a professor can give each single student is so much greater’, Dr. Fan said. ‘It’s very nice for both sides’. 3 Superior classroom discussions These smaller classes can also better facilitate discourse among students and professors. ‘They allow for better and multi-directional discussions’, Dr. Fan said. ‘You don’t end up with one-way lectures. Professors can ensure that they chat with everybody. They can also make sure that everyone in their class gets to share their opinions and is able to communicate not just with them but with each other, too’. 4 More versatile classes Attending classes at a traditional university can become incredibly routine and even tedious, especially in the liberal arts. Students attend lectures, write papers, and take exams, ad nauseam. At Webster Leiden, the smaller class sizes allow professors to become more versatile and creative with their syllabi. Students can participate in hands-on projects that will help them develop real-world skills that will prove valuable as they embark on future careers. ‘With only ten to fifteen students, things are much more flexible’, Dr. Fan said. ‘We can do seminars, workshops, case studies, study trips, or other projects. You can’t do these things in a lecture hall with a hundred students’. 5 Greater diversity At Webster Leiden, you could find yourself studying alongside someone from America, the Netherlands, or any number of other countries around the world. Students come from all across Europe and beyond, and so do the professors themselves. ‘We have over 50 nationalities represented among our students and faculty’, Dr. Fan said. ‘So students can get a broader perspective during their classes. They can get different opinions, and hear different thoughts and perspectives, which is very important in a university environment’. 6 More flexibility The currricula at Dutch universities can be quite stringent for undergrads, which can make switching majors difficult if a student has second thoughts. American universities tend to be more flexible when it comes to majors, especially during a student’s first year of study. ‘At Dutch universities, you pretty much need to pin down what you’re going to do from day one’, Dr. Fan said. ‘With a three or four-year framework at an American one you have more time to figure out what you want to study, and experiment with different majors and career options’. 7 All classes are taught in English This one should be a given. While many Dutch universities have begun offering classes in English, not everything in their course catalogue is available to those who don’t speak Dutch. International students have also reported issue with the language skills of many educators at these schools. A 2015 poll revealed that 60% of students had suffered through lectures that were downright incomprehensible. This isn’t a problem at Webster Leiden, where everything is taught in English by experts. 8 Even Dutch students study at Webster Leiden Believe it or not, many Dutch students have opted to enrol at Webster Leiden as opposed to Dutch universities. The reasons are many and it’s not just because of the diverse student body and curriculums. ‘They say they want individual attention from their professors’, Dr. Fan said. ‘They’re looking for more encouragement and guidance from faculty. They appreciate the additional help and don’t like to spend so much of their learning time just reading books in their room’. 9 Webster Leiden makes it easy to study abroad If you’re looking to spend a semester or longer in another European locale, Webster makes that fairly easy. The university has several ‘satellite campuses’ located around the continent in addition to its main one in Webster Groves, Missouri over in the United States. Students can study in vibrant cities including Vienna, Geneva, and Athens along with other destinations located around the world. 10 It’s more of a community At a traditional Dutch university, students often join fraternity or sorority-style ‘student houses’, where studying is often anything but encouraged, or live in apartments off campus. Webster Leiden offers student housing located mere footsteps from its classrooms. ‘Student life and classroom life are often separated at Dutch universities’, Dr. Fan said. ‘We offer on-site accommodation, which means that students can live together and have a social network with their peers. It’s more of a community experience. It also means they don’t have to worry about landlords and finding a place to live’. Would you like to learn more about Webster Leiden and the educational programmes it offers? You can do so by visiting its website. More >
Follow young Rembrandt in Leiden
Centuries before The Night Watch would go on to become one of the most iconic tourist attractions in Amsterdam, Rembrandt was just another struggling artist living down in Leiden. Here is Brandon Hartley’s rundown on his time in the city and various local attractions you can visit if you’d like to learn more about his early days. A stroll through the centre of Leiden can lead you past the historic Beestenmarkt, several picturesque canals, and more than a few friendly ducks that will happily relieve you of any unwanted bread you’ve brought along. If you point yourself in the right direction, you may also find yourself in a small square dominated by a solitary, enigmatic figure. It’s a boy standing in front of a bronze portrait of Rembrandt, perhaps contemplating his own ambitions and potential future as an artist. A few steps from the statue is the spot where his childhood home once stood. These are just two of the landmarks and other attractions devoted to the Golden Age... More >
Eindhoven has a lot to offer home owners
If you are looking to put down roots in Eindhoven, buying a house could be the perfect investment. The city is proving so popular with internationals that the experts behind the Expat Housing Seminars are holding an event in the city on May 29. Just last month, the Eindhoven region was revealed to have the sharpest increase in economic growth in the country, thanks to its numerous high tech industries, many of which have sprung up around Eindhoven University of Technology. The city is surrounded by rolling countryside, its football team PSV Eindhoven has just taken the league title for the 10th time this century, it has its own airport and you snap up a big new family home in a nice area for under €500,000. Hardly surprising then, that more and more international workers are opting to stay on and settle down in this Noord Brabant city of 230,000. Settling down Olivia van den Broek-Neri, the project coordinator for communications and events at the Holland Expat Center... More >
A packet of baby killers please
Cigarettes kill. But so do lots of things. What is a shareholder to do? asks economist Mathijs Bouman. I only had a couple of items in my shopping basket which entitled me to pay at the service desk. As my shopping was being scanned I gazed at the display of cigarettes against the wall. There was none of the brightly coloured packaging as in the days when I too thought smoking was cool. In its place had come grisly pictures of trench mouth, puss-oozing abscesses and murky pupils. I even spotted the occasional dead baby. If this stuff is so dangerous why is this shop selling it? I thought. Bankers who sell dodgy financial products are hounded unto the third generation by supervisors shouting ‘consumer interest’ but a supermarket can sell a packet of baby killers with impunity. Why? I admit I’m not the first person to ask the question. In 2016 the Dutch doctors’ organisation KNMG lobbied for a ban on the sale of cigarettes in supermarkets, as well as petrol stations, bookshops... More >
Podcast: The Ophefgeddon Edition
The podcast returns after a two-week break with a round-up of the minor outrages that have been swirling round social media, from the French family who cheated death at a safari park to Hema's protracted protractors and Thierry Baudet's unsettling ode to a baguette. Elsewhere, find out why Mark Rutte had some unlikely guests on his flight back from the Caribbean, how Amsterdam is planning to turn back the tourist tide and why universities are concerned about the growth of English-language classes. And in sport, we catch up with Tom Dumoulin's bid for a second Giro title and attempt to untangle the Byzantine permutations of the end-of-season Eredivisie play-offs. Top story Rutte visits Sint-Maarten to discuss hurricane funding, comes back with iguanas News Blunder meant police ignored tip-off about man who stabbed three in The Hague Universities call for cap on English-language tuition First 'new' Rembrandt discovered for 44 years Amsterdam takes steps to... More >
The Dutch are being converted to rugby
The season is winding down, but Dutch rugby is making great strides, winning both players and fans. So forget the hockey sticks and the ice-skates, it’s time to grab your boots and turn your focus towards the Dutch rugby pitches, says Rachel Kilbee. This weekend sees the last rugby matches played in the national championships just before the local players should be taking their foot off the gas for a short summer break. But in reality, the Dutch players don’t have too much time to rest with new rugby challenges lining up in the Netherlands. On the professional field it has been confirmed that Brazil will visit Amsterdam on 16th June in an exciting game against the Dutch, a result which if positive, will raise the Rugby NL team to 26th in the IRB ranking. ‘It’s been a long season for us, but since hearing the news last week, we’re making a game plan and we want to win. It will mean more funding and more sponsorship for us,’ says team captain, Dirk Danen. With... More >
Eindhoven to host expat fair and festival
Want to learn Dutch? Find a house? Experience Dutch culture, find a job, make connections, or solve immigration and tax issues? Or do you just want to have a fun day out? It’s all possible at the 'I am not a Tourist' Expat Fair & Festival which takes place on Sunday June 10 in Eindhoven. Check out an impression of the day here and get your free ticket now online! If you’re not yet familiar with it, Expatica’s 'I am not a Tourist' Expat Fair is the biggest expat-oriented event in the Netherlands. And this year, for the third time, it’s coming to Eindhoven! 'I am not a tourist' Expat Fair Eindhoven, organised with the Holland Expat Center South, is a prime opportunity for the international community in the south of the Netherlands to get the low-down on life in the ‘low countries’. On June 10 the historical VDMA area in Eindhoven’s city centre will see 50 specialist exhibitors and more than 1,500 internationals come together to exchange information, find opportunities,... More >
‘An expat feels like an outsider and I don’t feel like one. I feel like I’m home’
American national Jessica Taylor Piotrowski is an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam. Happily settled here for six years with her husband John, she’s had little sleep in recent days. As spokeswoman for the United Expats of the Netherlands movement, she is busy campaigning against plans stop the 30% ruling tax break for current beneficiaries and hopes their petition will hit 25,000 by the time they present it to MPs later this month. How did you end up in the Netherlands? I moved here for work, of course. There was a position that opened at the University of Amsterdam focusing on children and the media; I did my PhD studies in communication science, with a focus on children and media. And the funny part was that, when that position came out, I must’ve had 10 different people send it to me. And I kept saying: ‘I’m not going to move to Europe, I live in Philadelphia!’ Eventually I applied and next thing you know we accepted a position here. It was definitely fate. I... More >
How to buy a house in The Hague
As the cost of rental housing continues to rise, buying your own home has become a very real alternative for expats – and no-where more so than in The Hague. The Hague is a welcoming city with a wide variety of places to live, from the rolling dunes in Kijkduin to the canals and gracious mansions of the city centre. You can live in an 18th century town house or a modern home in one of the many suburbs, a high-rise flat near the main railway station or close to the sea in Scheveningen. The first thing you need to do is decide where you would like to live, says Bernadette Willems, of estate agency BW Housing. ‘If your children go to an international school, you will want to be near them,’ she points out. ‘Otherwise, the Statenkwartier, Belgisch Park, Benoordenhout, Archipel and Duinoord are currently among the most popular areas. Price, of course is key and The Hague has homes for every budget. For example, a smart, four bedroom home on a new development near Kijkduin... More >
Your worldwide assets and the 30% ruling
It's a hot topic in the news at the moment, so what are the advantages of having the 30% ruling and what are the consequences for you when your 30% ruling period is over? As well as cutting your tax bill, the ruling does have another very important tax advantage, which often gets forgotten. If you are able to benefit from the 30%-ruling, it can have a large impact on your assets as well as your salary. This is because you can opt to be considered for partial non-domestic taxation, which means that you don’t need to state your assets in your Dutch tax return - with the exception of Dutch investment property. To qualify for partial non-domestic taxation, you need to make sure your tax return is completed properly and if you mention you have a Dutch bank account, you do not qualify. In that case, you will be treated as a full resident tax payer and you will need to state all your worldwide assets instead. ‘All the more reason why it is crucial to get proper advice,’ says... More >
Holleeder trial is hottest ticket in town
This week hearings resume in the trial of Willem Holleeder, accused of ordering six gangland killings. His sister Astrid is a key witness for the prosecution. The hottest ticket in Amsterdam right now is not for the Rijksmuseum or some Dutch dj, but a battened-down brick courthouse on an industrial estate on the city's western fringe. On a damp, cold morning in mid-March dozens of silhouettes were discernible in the gloom, dancing on their feet to keep warm, in a queue that stretched back towards a bed centre, a car parts dealer and a drive-through KFC. They had set out in the early hours from Brabant or Rotterdam, camped out on the doorstep, taken days off work, skipped school and college to catch a glimpse of the Netherlands' most infamous gangster through a bulletproof-glass screen. Willem Holleeder, 59, is the central figure in the finale of a real-life family saga of revenge and betrayal. He has rarely been out of the news since his gang kidnapped Alfred Heineken, the... More >
