Seven percent of lecturers fail or refuse to take English test

About 7% of lecturers who teach in English at Flemish universities or colleges failed or refused to take the compulsory language test to prove sufficient knowledge of the language. The test was introduced by Flanders’ previous education minister Pascal Smet.

Across Flanders and including The Free University of Brussels (VUB), 2,163 lecturers were required to take the test by 1 February. Of these, 153 failed the test or refused to take it. “Many lecturers found the test absurd,” explained Kris Versluys, education director at Ghent University, to public broadcaster VRT. “It would have been better to exempt the lecturers who have been teaching in English for several years and always received positive evaluations.”

The rector of the University of Leuven, Rik Torfs, deemed the test unnecessary. “Universities will not let give lecturers permission to teach in English if they can’t express themselves well in the language,” he said.

Torfs hoped that politicians would trust universities and pointed to the situation in the US. “Scientists from Korea or Latin America have no problems lecturing at American universities, even if their accent is not flawless,” he said.

Current education minister Hilde Crevits said that she will look into the situation to ensure that universities and colleges aren’t hindered by the language test in their efforts to profile themselves internationally and attract foreign talent. She also indicated that she understands that the test created extra administrative burden.

Crevits stressed that she will set up a dialogue with all involved actors. “We will listen to all alternatives and examples from abroad,” she said. “We are keeping all our options open.”