Agreements for meetings

There are several ways in which the participation body can support board/council members who do not speak Dutch or do not speak it well.

In addition to the translation tool and a language buddy, agreements can be made with the chair or secretary to help non-Dutch-speaking members before, after and during meetings:

Preparatory meeting

The board/council member can have a one-on-one meeting with the chair and/or secretary to prepare for the meeting. Experience of international board/council members has shown that a brief discussion before a council/consultation meeting can help ensure better understanding of documents. Members then also have the opportunity to ask questions in an informal way.

Agreements on the agenda and meeting documents

The chair/secretary may agree with international members on how extensively the agenda and meeting documents should be read in advance. It is therefore important that documents are sent to participants in good time, giving them time to prepare.

Translation breaks

The chair can introduce short translation breaks during the meeting so that non-Dutch-speaking members can be given additional updates from their language buddies; they also have extra time to process and think, and the chair can check that everyone is still able to follow the meeting.

Multilingualism on the agenda

The chair preferably asks all members during the first meeting what they need in order to function and meet effectively. This can relate to language as well as other possible needs. It is helpful to put this issue on the agenda regularly in order to keep track of how multilingual meetings are progressing within the participation body.

English summaries

The University Council always asks for an English summary of the document on the cover sheet related to the topic. Other participation bodies could decide to do the same.