Last week I had the honour to present the 2009 Excellence Scholarships. These scholarships are reserved for our very best Bachelor’s students, who study in the nominal period and gain their Bachelor’s diploma within 3 years – with a minimum average mark of 8.
The guest speaker at this presentation ceremony was Mila Versteeg LL.M. As a student of the Tilburg faculty of law she herself received an Excellence Scholarship in 2006. She studied at Harvard Law School and is currently taking her PhD at Oxford University. In her speech to the students and their families, Mila talked about her experiences at Harvard and Oxford and she gave the students tips about studying abroad and acquiring grants or scholarships.
I found it striking that of the 15 scholarships, 14 went to Dutch students – which was in clear contrast to last year. So it looks as if Dutch students too are showing interest in the exciting range of study opportunities abroad.
For the time being, the scholarship can be used for a Research Master’s in Tilburg or for a Master’s abroad. During my speech I announced that in the next presentation round of the Excellence Scholarships we will also be reserving a few scholarships for students who select an international internship in a developing country. This could, for instance, entail participation in AIESEC’s “Young Entrepreneurship Programme in Africa”, the international platform for talented young people who wish to discover and develop their leadership potential.
After all, our university has always attached great importance to socially oriented excellence as well!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Dear Rector,
ReplyDeleteYesterday I received a letter entitled 'Spread Your Wings; Study Abroad - Go On Exchange!' (See the Attachment for the complete text), which was signed by you. I would like to comment on some of the statements you make and find your blog more appropriate to do so than a regular e-mail.
My comment is on the research you refer to, which is done by the Research Centre for Education and the Work Place at the University of Maastricht (http://www.roa.unimaas.nl/ right?, a precise reference is missing). This ought to verify and support the university's experience that studying abroad is generally good for students. Summarizing, compared to students who did not study abroad, students that did:
- graduated with a higher average grade
- found a starter job more often
- earn a higher salary
You make-believe that these effects are caused by their experience abroad. But, a positive correlation does not necessarily mean causation. If you use a simple regression model where the dependent variable is for instance 'Average grade at graduation' and the independent variable is a dummy for 'Studying abroad', then you can only interpret the coefficient of this dummy as a causal effect if the error term in your model is uncorrelated with the independent variable. My guess would be that this assumption is violated in this case. To see this, ask yourself the question: "Are exchange students similar to 'homesick' students?" where a 'homesick student' represents the students that do not go on exchange. I do not think they are. To go on exchange you must be highly motivated, ambitious and show good grades. You could say that exchange students are more able than 'homesick' students. If this is indeed the case, then you must somehow control for ability in your regression model. When you do not control for ability, it would be impossible to say that 'Average grade at graduation' has increased due to 'Studying abroad'. If an exchange student is indeed more motivated and highly ambitious, this will lead to a higher average grade at graduation as well. In order to find less biased results, a variable such as 'Average grade before exchange' should be included in the model, as it controls for the effect of ability on 'Average grade at graduation'.
I am glad for the opportunity this blog provides to share my thoughts and hopefully you enjoyed reading this comment.
With kind regards,
Maarten de Lange
Student Master Economics
Because I used too many characters, I post the letter separately.
ReplyDeleteATTACHMENT
"Dear Student,
At Tilburg University, we have a responsibility to educate you, not just in your chosen academic field, but in a much broader context.
As the recent worldwide economic crisis has shown, we live in a world where globalisation plays an important role not just in our working lives but in all aspects of our lives. By encouraging all our students, both international and Dutch students, to participate in a period of exchange at one of our many international partner universities, we firmly believe that you will be better prepared for the work place; your personal and academic skills will be enhanced by the experience of studying abroad, your opportunities will be increased and you will develop further on a personal level.
From our own experience, we know that students who have taken the decision to study abroad are very positive about this period and also have better opportunities in the labour market. The experience of our students is supported by the recent results of the annual survey amongst graduates, carried out by the Research Centre for Education and the Work Place at the University of Maastricht. Results showed that:
University graduates with study abroad experience graduated with a higher average mark than students without such an experience.
The percentage of graduates with a starter job is more than 10% higher amongst graduates who studied abroad than those who did not.
The average income for graduates who studied abroad is higher than for graduates who did not study abroad, a trend which continues throughout the whole of their working lives.
To get a realistic impression of students´ experiences whilst studying abroad, please click here.
Being aware of the benefits of such an experience, I would like to encourage you to take part in the Study Abroad Campaign starting on 1 October here on campus. This will give you an insight into the opportunities available and what exchange programme will be right for you. For details of the programme, please click here.
If you have any questions regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact the Exchange Coordinator at your Faculty.
I would like to wish you good luck in choosing a suitable exchange programme and wish you a happy study abroad experience.
Kind regards.
Professor Philip Eijlander
Rector of Tilburg University"
"I agree with Maarten that positive correlation doesn't necessarily mean cuasation.
ReplyDeleteBut I hope Maarten that you are positive about studying abroad"
Dear Rector,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your reply. I'm glad that you agree that correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation. The motivation for my previous comment arises from my belief that this difference is often pretty vague in media reports, for instance http://img260.imageshack.us/i/krantenbericht.png/. This article is about the effectiveness of community services compared to imprisonment. It states that offenders who were convicted to do time in jail, commit more subsequent offences than offenders who did community services. A conclusion that should not be drawn from this article alone, is that community services are more effective in the prevention of future crime than jail sentences. This is because offenders who are send to jail probably commited a more severe crime and this should be controlled for. However, my belief is that many people who did not study this subject, will draw such a (wrong) conclusion. My parents for instance, responded just like this: community services are better than imprisonment. In my opinion, this issue should receive more attention in the media and if necessary it should be explicitly mentioned in the article in question. This should obviously hold for going abroad encouragements as well.
Regarding your question, I don't have plans to go abroad for any other purpose than summer holiday. I fear the subsequent delay of studying abroad and moreover, I need only 2 more courses and 1 thesis to graduate. Finally, I owe you an apology for this late reply.
Regards,
Maarten de Lange
While the louis vuitton bags were authentic, not all of the documentation was provided at the point of sale, louis handbags is allegedly against California law. The prosecution is claiming that this would limit the chance of resale on the Damier Azur because it obscures the Damier Canvas origins, and is thus filing a suit against the company.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.bigadda.com/pan5088198/
ReplyDeletehttp://123pandora.blog.com/
http://123pandora.blogart.ro/
http://123pandora.blogdrive.com/
http://123pandora.blogge.rs/
http://123pandora.blogspot.com/
http://123pandora.blogge.no/
http://123pandora.blogland.pl/
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/123pandora
http://123pandora.blogs4us.com/