I first heard of the University of Twente through a research paper – it was completely random, for a science project. It was not anything like what I had been intending to research, since it was about thermal noise-cancelling, and I was looking for something about noise-cancelling headphones. I saw the number of citations it had, decided that it might be worth a look, and promptly closed the document after concluding that it was not what I’d been looking for.
The paper in question was written by Dr. Bram Nauta, a professor of electrical engineering working and researching at the University of Twente. I realised later, after some more digging, that his research was widely used in mobile phones across the world, and that I’d never even heard of it! I’d never really considered it, but I realised it then: to some people, university professors are celebrities in their respective fields.
My time to choose a university hadn’t come yet, but the University of Twente had made its way onto my radar. I knew I wanted to do something STEM-related, but I didn’t know what exactly. Eventually, my choices boiled down to two countries: Germany, since I could speak German, and the Netherlands since a lot of its education was done in English.
High-quality education
The Netherlands stood out to me because of its quality of education: all research universities offer equal quality education. That’s why it didn’t matter if you went to Delft or Eindhoven or Twente. You could go to Delft and receive the same quality of education as you would in Twente. Another thing that appealed to me was the 4TU system, a collaboration between the four technical universities of the Netherlands: Delft, Eindhoven, Twente, and Wageningen. This collaboration ensures that the quality of education remains equal across the country. Associations from these universities also have the chance to collaborate – and you can often follow courses across these four universities if you are enrolled at one of them, which was a nice bonus.
I ended up choosing the University of Twente. Its forest-like campus appealed to me (as well as being the only one-campus university in the Netherlands), and its large international population showcased its popularity. It was also interesting to go online and read how the project-based learning system helps to improve knowledge in subjects.
Dutch culture in general treats students and professors as equals, and coming from an Asian country myself – I am from Indonesia – this was unheard of. Another, more personal thing that influenced my decision was the large population of Indonesian people living and studying in the Netherlands. The University of Twente was no exception: the student association was very active, and they all had good things to say about the university.
International Foundation Year
Of course, getting accepted was a different story. I quickly found out that I wasn’t directly admissible to any of the universities, as my high school diploma was that of a non-European system. For many international students, this will often be the case, though I was lucky to find out that of the four technical universities, the University of Twente offered an extra year of matriculation – a so-called International Foundation Year which offered the opportunity to get to know the country, get used to living there, and prepare a plan for university.
The matriculation allowed me to familiarise myself with the campus, as I had classes there and lived there for the better part of a year. Being in a new country, surrounded by new friends and learning new things… for a while, it felt as though we were all struggling together, trying to make our way through the year. This extra year was more of a preparation for the university, to see if I was indeed fit for engineering, but it also gave me access to some incredible people who I followed into the university after the year was done.
The right choice
Now that I’ve had some time as an actual university student, I feel like I couldn’t have made a better choice. After passing the foundation year and progressing to the university, I’ve met some more incredible people who are also, in a sense, struggling together with me. Struggling with them, studying with them, and succeeding with them has helped me realise that I did choose correctly.
I chose the Netherlands because the education was good – that’s the big, simple reason. But I also chose the University of Twente because I thought it would be the best choice for me: a beautiful campus, world-class education, and a booming international population were hard to say no to. The University of Twente has been my home for the past year and a half, and I hope it continues to be so for the following years.
