This award is rarely awarded to a Dutch person; only a handful of colleagues have preceded her in recent years. Maaike Koffeman felt perplexed and honoured when M. François Alabrune, Ambassador of France, announced that she would receive the award. Several colleagues nominated her because of her extensive career and continuous dedication to putting the French language back on the map in the Netherlands.
Support
For many years, Koffeman's mission has been to bridge the gap between science, secondary education and society. She sees the appointment as a boost for university French programmes, especially those in Nijmegen, as these are in decline due to fewer young people choosing to study French. Koffeman believes this has to do with an image problem, which she is fighting to rectify. "Why should it be less relevant, prestigious or challenging to specialise in language and culture if that is where your talents and interests lie? This is the fundamental driving force behind my career and my motivation to continue passionately dedicating myself to French and language education in general," Koffeman said.
Initiatives
Her motivation is well-reflected in the series of initiatives Koffeman has been involved in in recent years. In 2013, she founded the Kenniscentrum Frankrijk-Nederland (KFN) (Knowledge Centre France-Netherlands) with colleague Alicia Montoya, which became a faculty initiative that grew into a national network. This extended far beyond the university world: secondary school teachers, interpreters and translators, journalists and policymakers also signed up. Since 2021, the KFN has merged into the Platform Frans (French Platform), which Koffeman chairs.
As initiator of the annual French Language Day, Koffeman managed to encourage secondary school teachers to positively promote the French language. Under the banner of the National Platform for Languages, she developed a national campaign for university language studies, and as a member of the Meesterschapsteam Moderne Vreemde Talen (Modern Foreign Languages Mastery Team), she actively contributes to subject innovation in secondary education. Meanwhile, she and the Visiegroep Buurtalen (Neighbourhood Languages Vision Group) actively lobby OCW and the general public to defend the importance of French and German, including by publishing a manifesto. In recent years, Koffeman has also been present in the media to emphasise the importance of sufficient language education, emphasising both French and German. Due to all of her efforts, she has become a figurehead for language education.
The official ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 1 October 2024. In honour of this, the Faculty of Arts is organising the symposium Taal als Kapitaal on the same day. Read more.