Language standard for new teaching staff remains C1-

The Works Council (OR) does not support the proposal of using C1+ as the standard.

The Executive Board submitted a plan (article in Dutch) in April of this year to bring all teaching staff up to the same level of English, that is, level C1+. The OR rejected (article in Dutch) the plan on the grounds that the bar would be higher than needed and would have a negative impact on the workload.

Given the increasing amount of English language teaching and the growing stream of international students, the Executive Board had hoped to raise the language requirement of new teaching staff to C1+. The OR did not agree to this either. Newly appointed teaching staff, including many PhDs, are busy enough and it would not be desirable to increase the pressure even more, they argued.

However, the Executive Board did get the full support of the Student Council. According to Student Council member Katharina Ertman, language should never be a barrier to sharing knowledge. She also wanted to know if there was a clear plan to show if there are any effects of the current language level on students.

The Chair of the Student Council, Anne-Kee Doing, agreed. She would like English proficiency to be a part of TU Delft course evaluations “I think it would be useful to see if there are any complaints about teaching staff with a C1- level of English.”

Rob Mudde, who initiated the proposal, appreciated the support of the Student Council and talked about a ‘missed opportunity’. He believes that it is detrimental if teachers are unable to express themselves. “How can you help students with writing skills if your own are not proficient?” He hopes to get the point back on the agenda within two years. “But,” he says, “we will first have to evaluate the language skills of the teaching staff.”