Etnische en religieuze diversiteit van eerstejaarsstudenten geneeskunde aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

Objective. To obtain information on the ethnic, religious and socio-cultural diversity of first-year medical students at the University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Design. Anonymous questionnaire. Method. In December 2001, first-year medical students were given a questionnaire during a compulsory practical class. In the processing of the result, use was made of Statistics Netherlands' classification of allochthonous persons. Data were also collected on the student's mother tongue, self-reported command of Dutch and other languages, religious denomination and the education of their parents. Results. The response rate was 90% (277/308); 175 women and 102 men. Seventy-four percent of respondents were rated as 'autochthonous' (both parents born in the Netherlands), 8% as 'western allochthonous' (at least one parent born in another western country) and 18% as 'non-western allochthonous' (at least one parent born in a non-western country). 'Allochthonous' students originated from 30 different countries, most frequently Surinam (n = 15), and spoke 26 different languages. Of the 'western allochthonous' students 70% considered themselves to be 'ethnic Dutch', of the 'non-western allochthonous' 65% considered themselves to be both Dutch and 'allochthonous'. Fifteen students did not speak Dutch with their parents and rated their command of Dutch to be significantly lower (score 8.9; scale 0-10) than that of the others. Forty-eight percent of the respondents did not consider themselves to be a member of any religious denomination, 18% were Protestant, 15% Roman Catholic and 7% Muslim. For 60% of the respondents, at least one parent had finished higher education. Parents of ethnic Turkish and Moroccan students had a significantly lower education than parents in all other groups.