For the OWee board international students are very important

Chair Niels Oppelaar, fifth year student at the The Hague University of Applied Sciences, and Annabel Fransen, Head of Communications and Design, who will start her third year of Life Science & Technology, do not need to think long about their favourite part of the programme. For Niels it is the open air cinema on Tuesday evening and for Annabel it is the Schiediner on Sunday. During the Schiediner, the very first OWee activity, barbecues are placed along the Schie waterway and the mentors barbecue for their groups. “It’s a fun and informal way for groups to meet each other,” says Annabel. This is the only day that the participants can eat meat, the rest of the time everything is vegetarian.” Annabel and Niels talk about their intention to organise the most sustainable introduction week in the Netherlands and to attract as many higher professional education students and international students as they can.

What is it like to be able to once again organise a completely physical OWee after two years of Covid restrictions?
“It’s really great,” says Annabel, “not only for us, but for the participants too. The OWee is the best way to get to know Delft and student life, and I think it’s easier during a physical OWee than a digital one. The most important thing is to make friends, and that happens more easily. I was at the OWee in 2019, and met a group of friends that I still see.”

When did you start as OWee Board members?
“We officially started at the end of October, beginning of November,” says Niels. “That was when the handover from the previous Board was done, the role division done, and the policy drafted. We have worked full-time since February.”

Annabel adds “I saw a video this week that was filmed when we just started. We looked so young. That made me realise how far we had come, even though the OWee is only starting now. At the beginning you have no idea at all what to expect and who your co-Board members are. We now complement each other really well and we know exactly what needs to be done.”

It is lovely to see how involved the former Board members are’ 

After two years of Covid, could you draw on the experiences of the more recent ex-members?
“Oh yes!” says Niels, “Just like the two previous Boards, we prepared different scenarios as we were not sure what the infection rate would do. We had one scenario in which we divided all the participants into smaller groups so that there would be fewer people at one location at the same time and the one-and-a-half metre distance rule could be kept. It was so useful to be able to draw on the experience and knowledge of our predecessors for these scenarios.”

For Annabel, “It is in any case lovely to see how involved the former Board members are. You start the OWee Board with a blank slate and they help enormously in filling it in. They drop by our office regularly, and if we can’t figure something out, we can always phone them. We did this when we divided up the OWee groups. Otherwise we would have sat there for an hour staring blankly at an Excel sheet while they had already made a division. Sometimes we phone just to brainstorm. Then they help us think through questions like which parts of the programme are most suitable for a digital day and how can we keep viewers’ attention during a digital day.”

Every OWee Board adds something new to the programme. What was yours?
Annabel answers. “Quite a lot. Where should I start? We want to be the most sustainable introduction week in the Netherlands so we joined the ‘Duurzame Introductie Tijd’ (sustainable introduction time). This is a competition between the introduction week boards of student cities in the Netherlands. We do not give OWee participants T-shirts anymore, which saves 3,500 printed shirts. We are also working with reusable cups instead of plastic ones and participants will get a glass water bottle instead of a reusable plastic one. We also found digital alternatives for many of the printed things. I could go on.”

Niels adds that “We also went to the open days at higher professional education institutions in Delft to explain what the OWee is. The OWee is for anyone who plans to study in Delft. We are also paying more attention to international students. Attracting both higher professional education students and internationals is an important element in our policy.”

‘Compared to 2019, we had 50% more registrations from internationals’

It does not always look as though international and Dutch students socialise much so I would like to hear more about this.
“We held a digital international pre-OWee with information about Delft, student associations, and, of course, the ‘real’ OWee,” says Annabel. “That was in May so that international students would still have plenty of time to think about coming to Delft earlier for the reception week. It worked as immediately after the pre-OWee, the international registrations shot up. Compared to 2019, we even had 50% more registrations from internationals. We went from 309 to 449 registrations.”

Talking about your policy, are you also looking at disorderly behaviour by students? There has recently been a lot to deal with (in Dutch), especially in the Wippolder neighbourhood.
Annabel explains that “As the Head of Communications and Design, I attended the residents meeting in the Wippolder with Niels. It was heavy going hearing how desperate some residents are about the disturbances caused by students. We will have one of the neighbourhood residents talk about the impact of the disturbances on her at the digital OWee. We hope that we can make future students aware of what it is like for the people already living somewhere when so many students suddenly come to Delft. We are also trying to deal with disturbance reports more effectively. We have sent letters to residents clearly explaining how and where they can report disorderly behaviour. We also have close contact with enforcers and student associations.”

Niels adds that “As usual, there will be a security consultation every morning during the OWee with the police, TU Delft units such as Safety & Security, the municipality, the fire brigade, and enforcement. We will then analyse the reports and look at where the disorderly behaviour occurs and what we can do about it. The student associations will attend the consultation meetings for the first time. They are, after all, important links in addressing disorderly behaviour. We have also invited neighbourhood residents to the OWee’s StuD Opening Party. It would be good if this helps bring students and neighbourhood residents into contact with each other. About 114 residents have bought tickets so far.”

Do you have any tips for first year’s students?
Niels recommends the OWee. “It is the perfect opportunity to experience everything that Delft has to offer. People often ask me what is so important about the OWee. I always answer that you make friends for life there. I went to the OWee five years ago and am still friends with my mentor group.”

Annabel’s tip is to “Just go, see, taste, and experience everything. There are so many student associations in Delft that there will always be something that perfectly matches your interests. When I was a first year, the OWee was an unforgettable week. I hope that this will be the case for this year’s first years too.”