According to the new approach, the international student organisation ESN will play a bigger role during the KEI week in order to make the introduction period more attractive for internationals.
Starting in 2018, the university is also planning to organise an additional week of activities for internationals. This activity week would take place after the KEI week. The week thereafter, the ESN introduction week would still be held. That would mean creating a continuous three-week long introduction period of foreign students, in the hopes of getting them to come to Groningen earlier in the month of August.
By encouraging more internationals to take part in the introduction period, the RUG aims to cultivate internationalisation of the student community and provide for more integration among foreign students. Those goals are stated in a memo from the Board of Directors to the University Council.
Living space
Because their rooms through SSH are typically only available at the end of August, many foreign students do not come to the city before that time. That means that they miss out on taking part in the Dutch introduction week activities.
The university will create a committee to investigate how to make it more likely for foreign students to come to Groningen three weeks before classes begin. The municipality and SSH will join the committee, among others.
Student associations
The new activity week for foreign students will take place during the same week as the introduction week and initiation period for the student associations. With that in mind, the RUG has already spoken with student associations Albertus and Vindicat about potentially shortening their introduction period, but neither of the associations is willing to do that.
According to Albertus and Vindicat, the introduction period is already jam packed with a variety of activities, and cutting it down would just make it an even more intense period. And the associations feel that would not be beneficial for them. Both associations indicated their preference for a longer introduction period which would result in a slightly less intense introduction period.
A longer introduction period also makes membership seem more emotionally valuable, says Vindicat. Furthermore, the association says that it is not open to shortening the introduction period because its members are not interested in internationalisation in the coming years.
Moving not an option
ESN says that the overlap between the introduction period for foreign students and the introduction activities of the student associations is not a problem because they both have different target audiences.
Moving the KEI week is also not an option because that would mean that the general introduction week would then coincide with the Bommen Berend carnival and the Noorderzon festival. That would be not only difficult to organise, but it would also pose a problem for police presence in the city centre.
Culture
The university is setting up the committee to help to fill in the extra introduction week for internationals. ESN will take the lead and will work together with the RUG, the KEI week organisers, Albertus, Vindicat, the municipality of Groningen and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, among others.
The municipality is eager for internationals to be brought into contact with Groningen culture, for example by coordinating with Noorderzon or Bommen Berend. The members of Vindicat are also considering adding an extra week. They are debating the introduction of a buddy system, an introduction to Dutch culture and a sports competition.
The KEI week will begin on 13 August in 2018. The new introduction week for internationals should begin around 18 August, which would be at the same time as the initiations and introduction activities of the student associations. ESN’s introduction week will begin on 31 August and run through 5 September. The academic year will begin on 3 September.