aokoye wrote:I do think that degrees in English from some schools/programs are likely good but I'm a bit biased. I know people who have taught in English at schools in the Netherlands and am in contact with a few faculty members at different programs in the Netherlands (who teach in English). Then again, I think the vast majority of masters programs in the Netherlands (as well as a few other countries in Europe) are in English, thus if the want to keep up with other universities internationally they have to be good. That, though, is a very specific scenario and I wouldn't necessarily generalize it to the whole of Europe or the rest of the world.
I believe Europe is divided in many aspects into two parts. The countries that are in general good at English, and those that are not. I have no trouble believing a Dutch or Swedish professor will lecture just as well in English as in his native language, or that the patients and the hospital staff will communicate with an international student in English more or less as well as in the local language (and that is the specific part of the medical degrees, it is not just about the highest educated individuals in the society). But based on my personal experience and that of various people I have talked about this with, I simply do not believe the same is true about Italy, Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and surely others.
Also the rules the medical faculties follow are a bit different. They are often counting on their countries simply needing them, so they don't necessarily need to compete that much internationally (even though all of them like to think of themselves very highly, I guess the doctors' ego is the same everywhere). Plus a medical degree is not a classical master that comes after Bc. in most european countries. It takes people straight from the highschools, so the universities have to count mostly with the highschool level of English. And that can vary a lot even within one country. But again, it is likely to be different in the Netherlands and in countries like Italy. Truth be told, I was rather surprised to meet Spanish medicine students (therefore people who had to get good overall grades at highschool) with non existent English. So, it is impossible to imagine the whole Europe as a few dozen Swedens or Netherlandses (hmm, weird to try and make a plural of this
).And another thing is the economy. A faculty with enough money can afford to be demanding even when it comes to the degrees in English (I guess that could be the case of the Netherlands, I suppose they pay their universities well). The poor ones simply have to keep their paying customers, so that they can function properly.
And I am not sure the universities should even make English such a priority. It is time the educated people were held to a higher standard again and knew at least two foreign language. And the foreign students for Bc and Master should simply learn the local language or go home.
