Sure, the Dutch have a reputation for being weird — but if being weird is what you call having collaborative university classes coupled with a fun work life balance then I certainly don’t want to be normal.
Where I really noticed a difference from UBC was the attitudes of Dutch students. For one, there was an overwhelming sense that they actually wanted to be there. It seems to me this must be equal part personal motivation and campus environment.
More and more at UBC I find there is a disheartening lack of interest. Perhaps this is because of the massive, impersonal lecture hall style courses we all experience in lower years. Or maybe it is because so many students come to university to study engineering or science or business just to appease their parents.
But, unlike UBC, Delft is refreshing because students are genuinely excited to be there. They are actively involved in everything going on at campus — from involvement in their sports and culture centre to engineering design teams. Students can even take an entire year off to work full time on a design team, organize a student festival or pursue something of the like. And they actually do because they appreciate the value in these experiences without concerning themselves over the delay in their graduation. One Dutch friend of mine was managing a start-up company while still only in third year.
By providing an environment where students have the freedom to actually do what they want and pursue their goals, TU Delft and their student body are thriving. There is an overwhelming sense that students and professors are on even playing field. One course I took consisted of weekly meetings where 12 students sat in a boardroom with our supervisor to discuss the progress of our project and collaborate — a foreign concept coming from UBC’s 200+ student lecture halls.
There is something undefinable about TU Delft that makes it so special. Maybe it is the world-renown faculty. Or perhaps it is the fact that it is a smaller — total enrollment is 19,000 — technically focused university. Or maybe it is the student mentality of working hard but knowing the value of getting involved in all the other great opportunities that lie outside of the classroom. Whatever the magic recipe is, Delft certainly has it down to an art (or rather, a science).
The long and short of it is, living and studying in Delft has made me more excited and motivated as a student and future engineer.
Suzanne King is a B.Com. graduate (UVic) and third year student, studying civil engineering.
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