Paul Bolt Interview

Going back to my Groningen roots
In January this year, Paul Bolt became Head of International Strategy and Relations at the University of Groningen. He is originally from Melbourne, Australia, and has a Groninger father and an English mother. He was born in Papua New Guinea and lived there until he was 13. He has also lived in Germany and Japan. His previous job took him abroad a lot: South America, Asia, the Middle East... He is a shining example of internationalization, and by coming to Groningen he is going back to his roots.

Intercultural competences
According to Bolt, time spent abroad does not automatically mean that you have intercultural competences. He does have a good intercultural radar, though, and his current team has members from the Netherlands, China and the UK. ‘Each country has its own culture and requires a different approach. I am conscious of this in team meetings and give my colleagues the space they need.’

Internationalization plan and strategy
Bolt has been tasked with developing an internationalization plan for the University as a whole. The aim is to combine the topics of sustainability, healthy ageing and energy into a single strategy for the entire University. He emphasizes that he will make use of existing contacts, so will first draw up an inventory before deciding what needs to be done. To him, strategy is about finding answers to the following questions: ‘What do we do? What have we done? What do we want to do? What has worked and why? Once you have a clear idea of this, you can build upon it. So the question is not just which university but also which country and why. Indonesia, for instance, is strategically important, and we already have many contacts there, so how can we expand on these?'

Learning Dutch in Groningen
Bolt needs to be able to speak fluent Dutch to do his job properly. A German friend told him that Queen Maxima learned Dutch with the nuns in Vught, but Bolt opted for an individual intensive Dutch course at the University of Groningen Language Centre. ‘I wanted to stay in Groningen, to get to know the University and its services.’ This proved to be a good idea, because during the course he learned a lot about the organizational structure of the University, was given lists of meeting vocabulary and developed a sense of how the University operates. The course was also a partial introduction to his new workplace. He was surprised how much Dutch he already understood from day one of the course – his knowledge of German undoubtedly helped him there. The best thing about the course for him was that it was intensive. He also found it really useful that it was tailored to his pace. ‘I really enjoyed working on my Dutch and would definitely recommend the course.’

Spreek Nederlands met mij!
Bolt says that he is already making use of his Dutch. His job entails attending a lot of meetings, some of which are in Dutch. ‘I can follow and understand these to a certain extent. I can do small talk and already know a lot of meeting vocabulary. But I also spend a lot of time listening as I’m still a bit nervous about speaking. I need to feel more at ease for that.’ Bolt explains that he always spoke Dutch during the lessons, but now sometimes finds it difficult to speak Dutch because people automatically reply in English. He sometimes wears a ‘Spreek Nederlands met mij!’ badge from the Language Centre. ‘Then the first sentence is in Dutch, but the second in English. The badge works as a kind of reminder.’