Advice to international students was ‘unacceptably late’

Of the 2,700 international students expected to arrive at TU Delft this year, the university helped 1250 of them to find accommodation through its pool of rooms, which were allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Seven hundred and fifty international students said they wanted to look for their own room. The remaining 700 international students were forced to look for something themselves because there were not enough rooms available.

Two weeks before the start of the academic year, TU Delft estimated that a few hundred international students were still looking for somewhere to live. For that reason, the university advised them not to come to Delft if they did not have a room yet. The Student Council received a lot of complaints about this late communication, as became apparent during a meeting with the Executive Board on Wednesday.

Students have invested a lot of money in travel and visas, or have a study grant and see TU Delft as the only option for their studies, according to the Student Council. “Other universities took emergency measures, such as providing hotel rooms”, said student councillor Katharina Ertman, who is an international student herself. “We do not have the advantage of being able to find a room before we arrive here. Getting a message like this from the university is an additional stress. I don’t want this to happen again. It’s unacceptable.”

Rob Mudde, member of the TU Delft Executive Board, was hesitant about the use of emergency measures. “There is not much you can do, and what if you don’t find anything? I’d rather be clear in advance, so students can reconsider whether to come or not.” But Ertman called that clarity – two weeks before the start of lectures – ‘madness’. Mudde said he would strive to do better.

The number of students who have decided not to study in Delft as a result is unknown. “Only half of the students admitted each year actually arrive in Delft because they were unable to finalise their scholarships, visas or loans,” explained Director of Education & Student Affairs Timo Kos. “This year, not being able to find a room might also be added to that list of reasons. We haven’t received any complaints about it, just a lot of questions.”

‘We don’t want to have all students here at any cost’

TU Delft did used to take emergency measures, but according to Kos this cost a lot of money and “did not result in suitable accommodation.” “We don’t want to have all students here at any cost: we now have 875 students on the Computer Science Engineering degree programme,” says Kos. “In addition, students who are very late in deciding and finding a place to live often experience problems during their studies.”

All students who did come were helped by a group of volunteers from the international student society, Diss, at Schiphol with their luggage and were welcomed at the train station in Delft. Student councillor Katharina Ertman was there and said that students were happy with this ‘shuttle service’. She asked if TU Delft could make a financial contribution to this.

The university used to offer this service itself ‘at a time when there were few international students’, explained Kos when asked. “But it became one of the biggest expenses on the international programme, while only about 30% of international students actually used it. We also believe that students should be able to find their way to Delft on their own. They are adults.”

Once here, international students were positive about the mixed OWee, according to the Student Council. They felt they were being treated less as a separate group. Mentors of groups comprising 50% international students noticed that the Dutch and international students didn’t mix very well. “That will always be the case”, said Mudde. According to him, this is something that students need to work on themselves.