Every year, the UT hands out fifty scholarships, ranging from 3.000 to 22.000 euros, alleviating financial difficulties of the applicants through various scholarship brackets. Students with the larger amounts receive instalments every 2 to 3 months. Although advised to pay the tuition before they arrive, some recipients opt to pay their tuition through the scholarship in instalments.
‘Debt-free international education’
For Sebastian Levar Spivey, the full UT scholarship of 22.000 euros made it possible to come to the UT from the United States of America. ‘While not destitute, I could not pay the annual tuition fee of 14.000 euros on my own. I still have a remote part-time job, which does not add up to much due to the conversion rate. Although the scholarship provides me with some minimum security, the amount is not sufficient to doing things beyond groceries and utilities.’
The scholarship also helps Asad ur Rehman Shahzad financially, who has a 50 percent tuition waiver and a 16.000 euro scholarship. ‘My parents back home in Pakistan would not be able to pay my tuition, not even the half amount. The scholarship helps me pay my way through university – the rent, insurance, necessities and all. Despite the slight stress felt as financial deadlines come closer after the 2 months, budgeting as such is doable and rather beneficial because if I had the total 16.000 euros at the beginning of the academic year, I would not have managed my finances well.’
Shu Wen Hsiao is one of the UT Scholars from Taiwan. ‘The 14.000 euros solidified my decision to come to The Netherlands, as it would provide me with debt-free international education that is valued highly in my country, where people take loans for the same.’
'They expect us to be above average, not understanding that there must be more to the picture than studying and securing a 7'
Raweerut Ussawathunyarot, left Thailand with a 6,000 euros UT scholarship cushioned by another grant of 5.000 euros called the Holland Scholarship. Having already paid the tuition, she adds that ‘Since the VISA is only granted to those that have 12.000 euros as living expenses, the combined amount was the only reason I got to come to the Netherlands’, highlighting a different aspect of the scholarships importance.
Pressure and performance metrics
The scholarship is awarded on a yearly basis and does have some performance requirements. For two-year programmes, the recipient has to secure a minimum cumulative of 7 for the first three quartiles for the continuation of the scholarship. Additionally, for international students, the MoMi law requires them to complete 50 percent of their credits to retain their residence permit. This affects different students in varied ways.
For Shu, enrolled in the one-year graduate programme for Educational Sciences and Technology, those performance metrics are not in place. ‘Since my programme is only for one year, I have had a very care-free experience as there are no conditions attached. I received the scholarship - that was it! I was surprised that there are no checks in place, and then I spoke to other scholarship students with two-year programmes to realise how manageable my situation is.’
What about those with two-year programmes? Ussawathunyarot studies the Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society and emphasises that she feels ‘grateful yet stressed’. ‘I struggle with other things besides studying. I am still adjusting to a new country. My language barrier, mental health, and personal issues also weigh down on me. As a scholarship student, people keep telling me I must be so smart! They expect us to be above average, not understanding that there must be more to the picture than studying and securing a 7. Since these are individual and personal issues, I do understand that checks are important and encourage discipline.’
'The stakes of our performance, if not learning, are higher'
Spivey, also a Philosophy graduate student, adds, ‘The minimum GPA criteria leads me to experience pressure in a way that our EU and Dutch colleagues do not necessarily. The stakes of our performance, if not learning, are higher. That itself may detract from our ability to be fully present and learn.’
Shahzad is enrolled in a Nanotechnology graduate degree. ‘It looks manageable on paper, especially since I have heard that Dutch students aim for a 6 at most. However, I feel like courses are not standardised. It may be a university-wide issue where some courses are incredibly difficult and other courses are easier to scrape by with a 7; some work is not checked too thoroughly, or some work is checked harshly. As it can bear down on scholarship students more, I can foresee scholarship students taking easier courses.’
Support beyond the financial
When asked what could be done better, Shahzad wishes that there was support for students beyond the financial. ‘I come from a relatively privileged background that allowed me to have international experiences. However, talking to friends, I think events that help scholarship students integrate into campus culture would be appreciated. For instance, my faculty, the Faculty of Science and Technology (TNW), keeps organising events with a special outreach to scholarship students. Facilitation through the scholarship office about certain things required to settle in would have been nice. While they already do a lot, in the spirit of more can be done, such events would benefit us. A potential professional and social network would really help internationals settle in better.’
'Look for local employment early on'
Landing in a new country, little did Ussawathunyarot expect to confront the self-limiting beliefs that fuelled her impostor syndrome that she had been avoiding so far. ‘The shift made old traumas resurface and I had to work on myself or else I would not be able to finish this course. This healing journey has resulted in a resit, which makes me stressed about losing my scholarship and my VISA. The support here is better, compared to Thailand. Even talking to the study advisor made me realise I was good enough to be admitted and awarded a scholarship. Plus, the professors have also been helpful and supportive about everything.’
‘Look for local employment early on’
What advice do these scholars have for potential recipients? ‘Look for local employment early on’, advices Spivey. Shahzad encourages communicating with others. ‘I spoke to another scholarship student who informed me that there are ways to apply for more. I looked for online discourse on the UT Scholarship where I was told that asking for a tuition waiver or more scholarships is important for making one’s needs known.’
Spivey reflects warmly on the Scholarship Ceremony hosted for all scholarship recipients in the beginning of the academic year. ‘I felt appreciative of the ritualistic aspect of active community building. It also brought a breath of relief to look at the scholarship as not just a performance metric, but as something more exciting in terms of having a community surround you.’
