Onafhankelijk magazine van Tilburg University

20. International
text Sonia Kolasinska
Univers
22 maart 2012
Fishing for
Chinese
students
On day one of the New Year, the university
opened its own office in the
city of Beijing. The Tilburg University
Support Office China was set up to
cooperate more intensely with Chinese
universities, and reel in more Chinese
scholars in the process. Why is this
specific oriental pond so attractive to
fish in?
China is one of the fastest-growing economies in the
world, so it’s not surprising that it is increasingly
attractive for European and American universities
hunting for international students. But China is not
the only pond that can be fished. Among the top most
promising countries are Brazil, India, Indonesia and Mexico. Why
did Tilburg University choose to intellectually conquer China
instead of other booming countries? Philip Eijlander, Rector
Magnificus, comments: “We already have a well-developed
relationship with China. Every two years we go there to meet
with representatives of Chinese institutions, but such visits are
not enough. There are many more topics to be discussed, so
opening a local office will hopefully save us a lot of effort.”
Meanwhile, there are plenty of other fish in the seas on the other
side of the globe. Tilburg University also closely cooperates with
South America, especially with Brazil, but there are no plans of
opening such an office there. Eijlander: “It’s still too early, and
too expensive, to open offices in other countries. If this project
proves successful after two or three years, we will evaluate if it’s
worth continuing or expanding.”
Necessary
Tilburg University is not unique in opening support offices
overseas. Nuffic, an organization for international cooperation,
has already opened so-called Netherlands Education Support
Offices (NESOS) in many countries, including China. Will a new
office unnecessarily overlap with the work of NESOS China?
Eijlander thinks not: “NESOS China has an important role, but it
is lobbying for all universities in the Netherlands. We want our
office to work for Tilburg University exclusively and select the
best students for our university.” Zhengyu Li, a PhD student at
TiU, agrees that an additional promotion of Tilburg University is
a good idea: “My university in Shandong is a partner with Tilburg
University and that is how I found out about it. But apart from
students from few schools partnering with TiU, not many Chinese
heard about Tilburg. Such a local office could be useful as a
channel for advertising.”
The support office (TiUSO) will not only benefit the Chinese
students wishing to go abroad. In the future, it might also create
more interesting opportunities for Dutch students. The means to
do that would be to strengthen the relationships with alumni in
China. “Because many of our alumni work in influential positions
in Chinese companies, universities and the government, they
can, for example, help in establishing scholarships for our students
from Chinese companies”, the Rector hopes.
First come, first served
The competition is fierce. Many universities have already set
fishing nets for top students in booming parts of the globe.
Seeing the potential in fast growing economies, countries like
US, UK, France and Germany are in a rat race, opening offices
abroad. Since increasing pressure is put on the reputation of
the universities and their researches, Tilburg University joined
the competition by luring excellent students from China. PhD
students seem to be particularly tempting for the university,
not only because of their research skills, but also for financial
reasons. Jacques van Vliet, an Academic Liaison Officer at Ti-
USO China, explains: “Chinese government fully subsidizes PhD
students going abroad. The Netherlands is the fourth receiver of
students financed by China, but Tilburg University lags behind.”
Chinese students more important?
It is interesting that Tilburg University focuses on Chinese
students so much. The opening of a whole new office in China
sends a message that Chinese students are more important than
students of different nationalities. Eijlander explains: “We are