The three tents, which could each house thirty students, were erected outside the student sports complex at the Zernike campus in the last week of August. They offered beds and a place to store things for international students who hadn’t found a room yet.
Initially, the cost of staying in the tents was 12.50 a night, but the RUG and the Hanze University made the tents free after they received criticism for charging the students.
The last several dozen students left the tents on Saturday. The exact number of students isn’t known, a spokesperson said, because not all students would check in or out regularly.
Old school building
One of the former tent residents has found a room at the Van Swietenlaan. Several others have moved to the hotel boat at the Eemskanaal in the south of the city. The rest of them – by far the largest number – are currently staying at an old school building at the Metaallaan 255 in the neighbourhood of Vinkhuizen.
The school building has room for eighty people. There are currently twenty living there. The students are sleeping ten to a room. The building has central heating, a cafeteria outfitted with refrigerators and microwaves, and a separate study room.
Temporary
The building at the Metaallaan was already serving as temporary housing for students who will move into the apartments at the Suikerlaan come October.
The decision to house students still looking for a room was one of the results of the ‘intense and constructive’ discussion the RUG had last Thursday evening with the students of ROOD, DAG, and DWARS, who occupied the main stairs of the Academy building with approximately a hundred people that night. They were trying to raise awareness of the great need for student housing and the unbridled growth the university is experiencing.
The building at the Metaallaan will be available until at least 1 November.