As of 1 January 2020, TU/e will switch to English as the lingua franca (working language) across the board. This applies to management, education, research and services.

The new language policy at Eindhoven University of Technology means that English will become the  lingua franca, and Dutch the informal language.

TU/e is doing this for the following reasons:

• Internationalization of education is a requirement in the Brainport region to be attractive in the international labor market.
• Increasingly, the common language in sciences and engineering is English, therefore English is very well suited for the TU/e programs.
• TU/e is open to a diversity of employees and students. TU/e is a community in which students and academics work together in multicultural, multidisciplinary groups, and where employees feel at home and want to keep working here. So one needs to be able to understand each other at the least.
• To enable international staff in the Netherlands to function, and to prepare all students, both national and international, for employment in the Netherlands, it is desirable that they (continue to) develop their Dutch language proficiency.
• The desired result is that the communication of management, employee participation and services becomes more accessible.

Specifically, this means the following:

1. Spoken language: English if necessary, Dutch if possible.

2. Written communication: in English, possibly Dutch translation.

The starting point is that the language policy is introduced in a development-oriented and differentiated manner. So focused on growing to the desired level, which is not the same for all target/job groups. It is not expected that everyone will speak and write perfect English on 1 January 2020.

The required English language skills are determined per job category. On the basis of the language proficiency requirements per job category and in consultation with services and departments/groups, a 'tailor-made' project will be drawn up for the development of WP and OBP.

An implementation plan for the introduction will be made in the coming period.

The language policy note can be found in the downloads along with a document with some FAQs.