My Stenden Journey of a Thousand Miles - by Wadzanayi Chitambo (part 3)

Just one month after her arrival in The Netherlands to study there for one year, our blogger Wadzi had the unique opportunity to meet and greet with the Dutch Minister of Education to talk about a subject that's top of mind at Stenden as well; internationalisation of education. As being the forerunner in the field of internationalisation in The Netherlands, Stenden had the honour to host this important event at the Leeuwarden campus.

Rendezvous with the Minister

Meeting the Minister

On Monday the 6th of October the Dutch Minister of Education, Science and Culture - Jet Bussemaker – visited the Stenden campus in Leeuwarden as a first stop on her tour around the country to gather input for her strategic agenda of the coming 4 years (HO tour). The theme I was questioned about was ‘Internationalisation and Regionalisation’ amongst the students fulfilling their tertiary education. A handful of students were invited to join these discussions as what better way to know more about the students than to ask them for their thoughts and ideas in regards to the Dutch education system. Rainer Prasetiya (Stenden Bali student), Daniel Zents (Stenden South Africa student) and I ,Wadzanayi Samantha Chitambo (Stenden Bali student) were invited to join this special event and pitch our ideas as well as give testimonials about our experiences in regards to Internationalisation.

Stenden's competent rebels attentive to the panel discussions

This event was a great honour and opportunity to be a part of, as I highly doubt I have ever seen such a person of high authority like a Minister face to face yet alone be given a stand to pitch ideas to as well as converse and have lunch with. Furthermore, the day was opened up by the Chairman of the Stenden Board of Directors ‘Mr. Leendert Klaassen’, and thereafter a speech from Minister Bussemaker talking about her aim to aid and enhance the education given to the students in the Netherlands who she referred to as ‘competent rebels’ - rebels, who are able to respond to future problems of the world by thinking critically and being creative.

It's my turn!

Although it was nerve racking to address the hundreds of people that were seated in the Auditorium it was indeed a great privilege to share my experiences with all of them. I opened up my testimonial by saying, “Humans were made to travel and not to remain stagnant as if that was the case we would have roots instead of feet”, which is also the same quote I used in my very first blog. This quote seems to have deemed meaningful to some of the audience. The audience consisted of a few students from other Universities, the Stenden Board of Directors, General Managers form all Stenden campus sites, Academic Deans and teachers from other Dutch educational institutions. Additionally, I shared to the audience that I had chosen to study in an international environment and so far away from home as I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and become a more independent young lady as well as learn about different cultures thus resulting in become more and more cultural intelligent.

Rainer went on to say that he wanted to be a window to two different cultures so that as a foreigner he can learn a thing or two from the locals and vice versa. This way he would also be able to share his experiences at home and urge others to go out into the world and follow their dreams.

The Indonesian Ambassador visiting the campus

This is indeed one of the unique attributes Stenden University possesses as students have the opportunity to learn in a multicultural environment as well as the chance to study abroad in the 5 campus sites around the globe. Another aspect is the ability to be able to meet with people of high authority which is always a good once in a life time opportunity. My fellow Indonesian students studying in Leeuwarden for example had the opportunity to meet the Indonesian Ambassador who visited our campus some time ago.

Extra extra...read all about it!

Many interesting discussions were made on this day with topics such as Student inbound and outbound mobility, Internationalization and Regionalisation and 21st century skills. These discussions led to the conclusion from the Minister that, “the opportunity to self-explore and to experiment motivates students to take courage and to step out of their comfort zone which is a very important part of higher education and one of the 21st century skills students need to possess.” 


Furthermore, it was a great honour for Stenden and those involved on the day to have been the first to host the Minister and assist with giving relevant information that could be useful for her strategic agenda for the education system in the upcoming years. This event also made headlines the next day on page 4 of the national Newspaper which was a great achievement for me to make headlines as well as be quoted in the text, which really was a once in a lifetime opportunity and all thanks to Stenden for making this possible!