My late academic great-grandfather, Prof. Dr. Fred Steutel, wrote a column in Cursor for many years titled Effe zeuren (“Just complaining for a moment”). On page 4 of Cursor—then still a printed newspaper—dated September 10, 2009, he discussed the “branding” of TU/e. That year saw increased efforts to attract international students. On the same page, a young Maarten Steinbuch explained why that was so important. Fred had a different view.

Fred was not afraid to take a sharp stance in his pieces. They were printed and then read by the TU/e community. The reach was limited and the responses were personal. A column in Cursor still rarely leads to an invitation from RTL—a LinkedIn post about self-checkout machines has a better chance—but my most recent column, about the Numerus fixus circus, generated quite a bit of discussion, both publicly and privately, and even led to parliamentary questions from Mr. Boomsma (JA21).

Mr. Boomsma frames his questions in such a way that it seems as though a distinction should be made between Dutch and international students. That is explicitly not what I have in mind, and I addressed him about this. I agree with Edith Snelders: let us be welcoming to international talent. I would add: “without excluding our local talent, regardless of nationality.”

The best response on LinkedIn came from Dean Maarten Merkx. He encouraged students to apply to his programs—those without an intake restriction. I can tell you that this has had an effect. I know of at least one student who had never heard of the program Medical Sciences and Technology and has now decided to enroll.

The program directors of the intake-restricted programs were mainly upset about the phrasing used: “Unfortunately. All rejected.” After all, there is formally no rejection; applicants are placed on a waiting list.

Study places are offered in order, and if an applicant does not accept within two weeks, the place is offered to the next person on the list. In the meantime, students enter their final exams with uncertainty and stress: what is the alternative if they ultimately do not receive an offer?

TU/e administrators were particularly concerned about reputational damage, but that contains a paradox. If you are convinced that you are doing nothing wrong, then you cannot suffer reputational damage when your actions become public.

The common thread in all the responses, however, is the feeling that something is not quite right with our admissions system. I would therefore like to propose a solution to reduce the likelihood that prospective students from the region miss out: organize the admission tests on campus rather than online. As Fred already wrote in 2009: “We are easily accessible by train. […] You can travel without transfers to Maastricht, Tilburg, Delft, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Amsterdam.” Eindhoven is even easily accessible by plane (though not in the spring of 2027).

Boudewijn van Dongen is a full professor of Process Analytics at TU/e. The views expressed in this column are his own.

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.