In line with the vision of EUR and ESSB, the (Re)Searching Diversity Podcast provides real stories of who can be a successful researcher and educator in higher education. Diversity and representation are key to ensuring cutting-edge research, excellent teaching and substantial societal impact. Three of these stories also highlight the potential consequences of planned government budget cuts in Dutch higher education, which threaten to erode academic talent across the sector.
The proposed government budget cuts in Dutch higher education are expected to have far-reaching, long-term effects on research, teaching and innovation. There are plans to make significant cuts to the inflow of international students. International intake trends are difficult to predict, especially given the expected introduction of the new internationalization act, whose aim is to reduce English-language programs is also likely to deter foreign students. The consequences of this are not yet foreseeable, but perhaps the decline will be greater than expected, and that will lead to even greater cuts.
Below, we present three compelling stories from successful international social scientists, who share their unique academic journals in the ReSearching Diversity Podcast. Without access to international opportunities, these scholars might never have had the chance to pursue their academic dreams, let alone contribute to the richness of (Dutch) universities. Importantly, these scholars represent the importance of having a student population that represents a variety of lived experiences: being an international student, first-generation higher education student, multidisciplinary student, and student belonging to a societal minority group.
International and first-generation higher education student experiences
Sauro Civitillo is an assistant-professor at Utrecht University and explains in episode 6 of season 2 of the (Re)searching Diversity Podcast how being an international student in Nijmegen and an international Ph.D. student and postdoctoral researcher in Germany paved the way for becoming a successful and knowledgeable researcher on discrimination in education across Europe.
Next to his international experience, Sauro shares his experiences as a first-generation student, meaning that he was the first one in his family to attend university and to follow an academic career. Having multiple jobs while studying – just to pay the rent and study fee – allowed him to gather valuable life and work experiences outside of academia but also prepared him to be an experienced and versatile employee at the university. Before his rather sudden choice to become a researcher at age 31, he had already attained three master’s degrees (something that would be unthinkable in times of a “langstudeerboete”), showing his persistence in higher education and dedication to science.
Multidisciplinary student experiences
Whereas interdisciplinarity has become non-negotiable in academic grant applications over the past years, the long study penalty (langstudeerboete) and potential cut of specialized, interdisciplinary (and often small-scale) programs/courses directly inhibits students from diving into more than one academic discipline during their studies. In episode 1 of season 3 of the (Re)searching Diversity Podcast, Laura Taylor (assistant professor at the University College Dublin, Ireland) reflects on how pursuing a broad range of courses and study programs shaped her as a researcher; from being part of human rights and peace building work with NGO’s in Guatemala and Nepal, studying and teaching at the university, and eventually pursuing a Ph.D. program in both peace studies and psychology. Lisa emphasizes how her multidisciplinarity and life experiences have been crucial to address such complex issues as children’s agency when they respond to conflict, violence, and war.
Societal minority student experiences
Budget cuts not only affect the students, but they also deeply affect the university staff in their teaching. Less money means less hours for preparation, larger groups to teach, less time per individual student. This directly affects teachers’ ability and resources to identify and support excellent students, especially those who are in the minority (cultural/racial/ethnic minorities, first-generation students, students with special needs). In episode 1 of season 1 of the (Re)searching Diversity Podcast, Linda Juang (professor at the University of Potsdam, Germany) discusses how during her studies an inspiring professor of Color identified her strengths and enthusiasm, which ultimately led to her discovering her own passion for research related to diversity in education.
What is the ReSearching Diversity Podcast?
The aim of the podcast is to increase visibility of inspiring social scientists and of cutting-edge research on ethnic, cultural, and migration-related diversity. While hiring procedures and student acquisition are not yet successful in reaching the aspired diversity on campus, the ReSearching Diversity Podcast teams actively tackles the following questions: Who needs more visible in research? Who needs more representation in higher education teaching? And how can we use podcasting to increase visibility and representation in our own teaching across universities in the Netherlands and Germany?
Find more information via the podcast website. Follow the podcast via LinkedIn and Instagram.
Listen to all episodes:
Spotify
Apple podcast
YouTube (with subtitles)
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Contact: Britt van Sloun, teamlead editorial and communication, vansloun@essb.eur.nl
