We examine the ways in which a hidden crisis can be exposed from a communication point of view. In which way can organisations create general awareness of a crisis and try to understand the dynamic nature of interactions? With the help of discourse analysis, we have examined the interactional achievements of two crisis entrepreneurs in the domain of education in the Netherlands: a rector of a secondary school and the founders of BON, a social movement aimed at improving the quality of education. In this way, we will illustrate the discursive practices that play an active role when certain players signal a crisis.
In this case study, we want to gain insights into how residents of three municipalities communicate about the new murder scenario of the cold case of Marianne Vaatstra and the possibility of a large-scale DNA familial searching. We investigate how stakeholders shape their arguments in conversation with each other and with the police. We investigate the repertoires that participants use to achieve certain effects in their interactions with others in three focus groups. The results show that the analyzed repertoires are strong normative orientated. We see two aspects emerge that affect the support for large-scale DNA familial searching. These are: 1. Cautious formulations: respondents showed restraint in making personal judgments and often formulated these on behalf of others. Participants would not fully express themselves, but adjusted to what seemed the socially desirable course. 2. Collective identity: respondents focused on the similarities between themselves and the needs, interests, and goals of other participants. Participants also tried in a discursive way to convince each other to participate in the large-scale familial searching. These two major discursive activities offered the communication discipline guidance for interventions into the subsequent communication strategy.
MULTIFILE
The Research Group International Cooperation investigates the acquisition of international competencies by internships or study abroad, the international competencies of lecturers, the needs and demands for international competencies of alumni and employers and which factors are important to attract international students to stay and work in the Netherlands. Sending students abroad is, by itself, not enough to develop international competencies, just as bringing students of different nationalities together in an international classroom is, by itself, not enough. The Research Group International Cooperation has therefore developed a training module to prepare students for the purposeful acquisition of international competencies (PREFLEX, Preparation for your Foreign Learning Experience). The Hague University of Applied Sciences wishes to be and to present itself as an international institute of higher education. That requires both a whole package of interventions to strengthen its international character and a clear message to Dutch and foreign partners and to prospective international and Dutch students. In order to bring policy, implementation, profiling and research together, The Hague University of Applied Sciences organized on 15 March 2013 an international conference for team leaders and directors, for internationalization and internship coordinators, for researchers and foreign partners and for international Dutch and foreign students. The aim was to sharpen the vision and the profile of The Hague University of Applied Sciences and to equip the participants with the ideas and the tools to engage all lecturers and students in international cooperation. After the introduction by Susana Menéndez and the keynote lecture by Lisa Childress, the workshops gave the participants an opportunity to go deeper into various aspects of internationalization and to engage actively in discussions with the workshop chairs, who introduced the topics. I hope that these proceedings will give all participants an insight in all workshops and also that non-participants can taste the fruits of this most inspiring and informative gathering.
