gepubliceerd op 2009-07-01 00:00:00.0
So, you got your place on a Master’s programme at Wageningen University and now you are waiting to start out on your journey to the Netherlands. How will it be when you get there? Will someone meet you? Where will you live? Will it be difficult to make friends? The arrivals team and organisers of the Annual Introduction Days (AID) at Wageningen are dedicated to making all of this as smooth as possible. From a personal contact within your study programme, to a small army of staff and students helping you get through the necessary paperwork, and even drivers to take you and your increasingly heavy luggage to your new accommodation. And then, there are the parties...
Master’s student of Environmental Sciences, Carolina Di Paolo, works for Infopoint, the Student Service Centre’s (SSC - formerly known as CSA) team which welcomes new international master’s students during August. Last year Infopoint was run by five students, Carolina (from Brazil and Italy), joined team-mates from China, Nicaragua and India. “In Wageningen you have so many different nationalities and when people arrive here sometimes they have travelled for 24 hours, they are really tired, and so it’s better if you can speak in your own language.”
The Infopoint team starts work before students even begin arriving, finding volunteer contacts among masters students from each department, matching and connecting them with the prospective students via email. Some countries such as Ethiopia, China, and Indonesia have their own student’s association and arrange buddy-systems themselves. New students are asked to send an ‘arrival letter’, Carolina explains, “Then, the SSC knows, for example, day by day, how many students are coming, what time they are arriving, and which airport, so then we can calculate how long it will take for them to arrive.’ This is crucial for planning when more than 60 students can arrive in a wave and everyone must be accounted for.
All new students are received in the atrium of the ‘Forum’ building on the campus north of the town. Here Infopoint guides everyone through admission procedures, the residence service, getting passport photos, and even X-Rays in the mobile unit for students from certain countries. Students arrive from all over the world, so everyone also gets a folder packed with useful information. Some students have courses starting very soon after arrival and they are helped to use the university websites, and to get contact telephone numbers for tutors. Carolina also saw a lot of the students meeting up with their contact person, “I think it was really useful because, many times, we saw them making lunch appointments with the contacts and they became friends.”
When the registration procedure is complete, or when new students arrive at the Forum after Infopoint has closed for the evening, a team of drivers step in. Erik Stevens, studying Organic Agriculture, is an old hand, he has driven fellow students ‘home’ to their new rooms at arrival time for the past four years. “This way they won’t have to search the whole town to find the correct building. And since we drive in a huge van, the luggage they have been carrying for sometimes over 24h can just be put in the back, which saves a lot of hard work.” This is a popular service for the International students only, during August, and in January when a small number of Master programmes begin.
The drive to the building is also a mini-guided tour as the drivers point out supermarkets, sport centres, and other student buildings. Erik explains, “When we come to the building we always go in with the student, to show where the corridor is and which room is theirs.” The driver will try to find a corridor-mate to give a tour and will make sure the student knows where they are on a map!
Most students time their arrival so that they can take part in the Annual Introduction Days (AID). This is an entire week of activities and parties where you get to know Wageningen, the university, and your fellow Dutch and international students. About 95% of new students participate in the AID, where you are assigned to a group of 10 students with an AID ‘mum and dad’. This way you always have people to go along with you to the many events.
Sometimes students get a lot of group support at arrival through their Departments or Scholarship organisations. New students on the European Master Programme have tutors who meet them and organise their own introduction week. Ignacio Garcia studies Animal Breeding and Genetics with this programme and his introduction week was full of “traditional dinners, games, and a day-trip to the north, to see all the windmills.” He was taken to the Forum along with his study group, “We went to the SSC and they were really helpful, they even took us to the bank.” From 2009 onwards European Masters students will get double the fun since their introductory week will be scheduled before the AID and they can join in both weeks of activities.
Ika Sumantri came from Indonesia to study the Master in Animal Sciences, his particular scholarship programme gave Pre-Academic Training at Maastricht University and helped complete most of the official paperwork and organisational tasks for him before he arrived. They arranged for Ika and five of his course-mates to arrive in Wageningen in style, by taxi. “It was very special. Something that was very nice for me was that when we came into the Forum, there was someone who worked for the university who helped us to get our room, and to fill in our forms when we did the registration.” Ika was also grateful for the driver service because he had a lot of luggage. As for the AID, did he go to any parties? ... “Every night! You could choose, every organisation organised a party. The ‘father and ‘mother’ of our AID group assisted us. We went to Unitas and KLT twice, and to The Bath Party. There was a very big pool in the room, and there was a shower with bars of soap, so no-one could avoid getting wet! It was very nice, very interesting! Maybe they will do it in the next AID and you can try it!”
Even by having fun you are getting acclimatised to the Dutch way of things. According to Carolina, ‘if you can arrive before the introduction week it’s really good.” Socially you meet people that become friends throughout your studies and beyond and, academically, foreign students get used to the ‘Dutch’, educational system, which Carolina says “…is more open, more dynamic than in many countries that are more traditional in an academic way.” So take Carolina’s advice and get into the ‘rhythm’ of Wageningen during AID – for the sake of your studies. And as Erik says, “Eventually you'll see that Wageningen is one of the best places to study, not just because of the university, but also because of the city!”
