Container housing on the Haarweg. Photo Joris Schaap Dozens of exchange students without a room were provided with accommodation in the nick of time at the start of the new academic year. This is the second consecutive year an emergency solution was needed. By mid-August, it became clear that approximately seventy out of the total of one hundred and eighty European exchange students still had no rooms.
Meanwhile, most of these students have been provided with a room in Haarweg 333 or with a roommate in Dijkgraaf. Some, however, may have cancelled their planned exchange. Eric de Munck, WUR’s Exchange Team coordinator, says it is high time that Wageningen steps up its game in facilitating exchange students.
‘Traditionally, European exchange students who come to Wageningen are expected to find their own accommodations’, De Munck says. ‘The assumption was that the issue would sort itself out as approximately one thousand WUR students travel abroad for an exchange or internship, against some 400 exchange students coming to Wageningen. And it worked most of the time, until last year when some one hundred exchange students still had no room at the start of the academic year.’
You could say that it’s not that big of a deal, but it creates enormous stress among incoming exchange students
Eric de Munck, WUR’s Exchange Team coordinator
So, a message was sent out urging employees to take in exchange students, and an emergency solution was devised in collaboration with Idealis: room sharing. In the end, the majority of the exchange students were provided with housing. And this year, solutions were also found. ‘But this year we were lucky to be able to use the container housing on the Haarweg’, De Munck states. ‘Those units may be rented for a maximum of one year because the contract is about to expire. And we were able to offer the fifteen Dijkgraaf rooms for those willing to share a room. That leaves some ten students, a few of whom were able to find accommodations themselves. However, I suspect that two or three students have given up and returned home. Unfortunately, we don’t have accurate information on this number.’
There are currently four students still on the waiting list for a room. De Munck: ‘You could say that it’s not that big of a deal, but it creates enormous stress among incoming exchange students. If you are unable to find a room remotely, you are more vulnerable to scams. It is time for a different approach, but that won’t be easy with the current student housing market.’
