INTERVIEW WITH IR. MATTHIAS TIPS, HEAD OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS AT THE FACULTY OF BIOSCIENCE ENGINEERING

Ir. Matthias Tips passed on his function as Erasmus coordinator to become head of external relations at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering: “There is at this moment a lot of ‘international’ activity at the Faculty” says Ir. Tips. The voice caught him for a coffee and a talk!

The Voice - You work at the service of external relations at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering. What are your main tasks?
Tips: I try to coordinate everything that has to do with internationalisation. This is new in the function of head of external relations since last year. Previous years we changed a lot in the Erasmus programme. We created Erasmus course packages for example, which means that we select an equivalent course package, together with our partners and offer the outgoing students a complete course package. We continuously think about reforming, optimising and controlling the internationalisation of our programmes and therefore we made the function of coordinator for internationalisation permanent. You can visualise it as a coordinator who overviews all educational international initiatives.

The Voice - Why was there such a need to reform the Erasmus programme?
Tips: The main reason is that the labour market gave us a sign that international experience is most valuable, even necessary. But currently the reputation of Erasmus is sometimes an ‘Erasmus Orgasmus’, that may be part of the experience (laughs). But if we can ensure quality to students in all of the educational programmes, then we get a full-fledged attractive Erasmus programme. Unfortunately in the past, for some students it was hard to find equivalent qualitative courses. With these course packages we increased the quality of the programmes because professors accurately do the selection with our help. A double advantage is realized; with the Erasmus course packages professors will be more involved. Meanwhile students can rely on the quality.

The Voice - What about the other faculties, do they know about your Erasmus course packages?
Tips: The Faculty of Law is very interested. Since this year there is also the “liaison initiative”. It is a brand new initiative. Every two months the whole group of coordinators for internationalisation from all faculties and people from the international office come together. We exchange knowledge about all topics of internationalisation, we learn from each other best practices and we receive a lot of useful information from the international office. The first presentation, held by me, was about the internationalisation at our faculty. The level of interest was extremely high noticeable by the number of questions from other faculties we received.

The Voice - Is it new to discuss about international affairs with all faculties?
Tips: A meeting discussing Erasmus topics existed already. Erasmus coordinators and the international office still come together specifically to discuss the practicalities of the Erasmus programme. It is important to know that besides Erasmus there are so many other possibilities and opportunities in an international context. At the “liaison meeting” We talk about these subjects as well

The Voice - Vice-rector Bart De Moor said: “we miss an umbrella, besides all bottom up initiatives”. Do you experience the same?
Tips: Prof. De Moor is right. But there are already some changes. In the past there was no coordinated international office. Instead there were three separate services: the admission office, mobility unit and the international policy unit. These three units are now grouped in one International Office

The Voice - And this year the Liaisonhas been built up…
Tips: Indeed. I believe that the Liaison can face the umbrella problem; exchange of information between faculties is needed, not only on practical level. On a European level our faculty is involved in another umbrella, the Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA). Every year an IROICA (international relations officers of ICA) meeting takes place. Even the European Commission is present. It is a nice example of an umbrella organisation.
“At each faculty going abroad should be a natural and evident rather then a special effort”

The Voice - The Faculty of Bioscience Engineering is one of the faculties with the best international reputation. How is that realised, does it have to do with the type of study?
Tips: We had a lot of experience thanks to our historical focus on developing countries. Since many many years we already cooperate in developing projects. We are lucky that in the past and today, professors went abroad bringing some experiences to K.U.Leuven. Now other professors like Prof. Merckx, Prof. Deckers, Prof. Tollens, Prof Swennen go abroad to get some experiences from there to our faculty and vice versa.

The Voice - In the student newspaper Veto some weeks ago, there was a rather negative article about the Erasmus coordinator of another faculty. You read it?
Tips: Yes, I did. I do know the Erasmus coordinator personally. He wants to do his job in a very proper way. Nevertheless it is true that some faculties face a lack of international staff. We are lucky that the dean of our faculty puts money available and employs enough people to organise everything. At each faculty going abroad should be a natural and evident rather then a special effort. I hope that with a vice-rector exclusive for internationalisation things will change in that direction. The article in the VETO was very critical. I hope they didn’t scare students to go abroad now. Perhaps they should write an article about good initiatives, like the Liaison meeting.

The Voice - Nevertheless they manage to get a discussion started at international office.
Tips: Yes, but we should stimulate people to go on Erasmus instead of scaring them away from it.

The Voice - Talking about scaring people: vice-rector Bart De Moor mentioned in a previous article about a non-binding entrance exam for incoming students. What about that?
Tips: K.U.Leuven offers a wide range of courses at a good level. Universities like Harvard and Oxford do selections amongst students and specialise in some rather narrow fields. Consequently they reach top quality. The question is: what kind of university we want to be? I think our university needs a healthy balance between being an open university and maintaining quality. To realise the latter, a non-binding exam can be interesting. Students still have the choice to come, but it is possible to detect whether a student has a poor background. It’s similar to the language problem; if foreign students cannot follow the courses, they feel bad, and they slow down the lessons. Of course the expandability of our university should be kept.

The Voice - What would you do to reach the 2020-aims if you had just one voice?
Tips: Make Erasmus more accessible. Accessibility is my keyword. And once students have tasted it, boarders become unimportant.

The Voice - Did you taste it?
Tips: No, I didn’t. I wanted to go to Salamanca, but I didn’t manage to organise it. Because of this bad experience I now want people to go abroad very badly. Actually, I work out of frustration! (laughs) It’s never too late! |