How do international students adapt to Hanze education?

How does one adapt to Hanze education? This presents a real challenge for many students who are used to different educational methods.

‘I expected a system where teachers provided extensive guidance. I expected to see a straightforward guide of what to do, especially because it was only the first year’, Dasha from Ukraine recalls. Dasha is a student of Fine Arts at Academy Minerva. She experienced the Minerva way of teaching, which is very different from what she was used to.
‘From the first lesson on, I understood that it’s all about freedom and that students are the main force. They are expected to guide themselves and plunge into the process.’

Hanze students come from all parts of Europe, and many others come from other parts of the world. Each of these students have their own expectations and aspirations, which are mainly based on the educational approaches that they were exposed to in their home countries.

At Hanze, most of the classes focus on the process rather than the result

Dasha had to adapt to this completely new way of learning. Angie, who doesn’t want to be referred to by her real name, had a similar experience. The Design student from Kenya clearly recalls that the most striking difference was… the lack of strict guidelines.
‘At home, it was all straight to the point. This is what you have to do to answer the question, or: answer that like this! In Kenya, they spell it out for you: this is how you get your marks. At Hanze, most of the classes focus on the process rather than the result’, Angie says. ‘It’s very vague and open-minded.’

Mart Wegman, a senior lecturer in Communication Theory and an experienced academic counsellor at the School of Communication, Media & IT, asserts that freedom and student focus are some of the most outstanding characteristics of the university’s educational approach.

Dutch teacher: I don’t know the answer to this question either

‘In the world of education, there’s this trend where teachers are increasingly becoming less authoritarian. Teachers no longer say: we will tell you how the world works, you should do what I tell you to do and then you will get a 10.’
Instead, according to Wegman, the new way of teaching involves other questions like: ‘I don’t know the answer to this question either, what could we do together to help you figure this out?’

Such a drastic change from rigid rules to soft ones, and from teacher focus to student focus, is difficult for new students to adjust to.
‘At first, I even rebelled a bit’, Dasha smiles. ‘I just couldn’t understand why we weren’t guided by instructions. Why do our teachers give us so much freedom?’

We provide students the safety to make mistakes and the chance to learn from them

It’s also not uncommon for students to come to their academic counsellors for advice. Drawing on ten years of experience, Mart says that the counselling process entails: ‘Having them get rid of this idea that they have to do what the teacher tells them to do. We provide students the safety to make mistakes and the opportunity to learn from these mistakes.’
Additionally, he mentions that this process ‘is sometimes quite a struggle.’ However, Mart notes that most students do tend to adjust on their own by the end of the first block, which is similar to the interviewees’ experiences.

Eventually, they understood that the main piece of advice that a university can offer to its students is to use their brains

‘I had some conversations with older students’, says Dasha. ‘They told me that they were also very confused about the educational approach at first. Some of them had no idea what to do. But then, they got their space to create, just like we have now. Eventually, they understood that the main piece of advice that a university can offer to its students is to think deeply and use their brains.’

With this in mind, and after some time had passed, she understood this approach.
‘I realized that I have freedom. As a student, I am free to guide myself and show to myself what I am capable of doing. I came to this realization through my actions— by trying what I have never tried before.’

Design student Angie says that the adjustment was quite simple.
‘I just attend classes and approach tasks the best way I know how to. I just keep an open mind.’ She achieved this through various techniques:
‘Observation. Look at things for what they are. Not for what you think they are, because usually, these are two completely different things.’

Don’t be so hard on yourself and don’t compare yourself to others

Talking with other students may be helpful too.
‘It’s comforting to know that you’re not the only one struggling to adjust.’
She advises students from abroad to build a sense of direction for their studies.
‘Please, try it the best way you know how to,’ she says, ending with a lesson that students (regretfully) sometimes tend to forget: ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself and don’t compare yourself to others.’

Mart’s advice for new students is quite similar to Angie’s.
‘Please, do make mistakes. Allow yourself to make mistakes and allow yourself to experiment. Don’t follow the rules. Don’t do as the teacher tells you to do. Give yourself some space. You’ve never done this before, so no one expects things to be perfect. The only thing we want from you is to try and do a good job. But what that good job might be… that’s something we need to figure out together.’