The university has never had so many students. ‘A very special moment,’ says rector Martin Kropff, who remembers the days when there were less than 5000 students at Wageningen. That was ten years ago. The milestone was celebrated on Tuesday evening 10 February when everyone was gathered for the Winter AID, the introduction programme for students who joined half way through the academic year. The rector announced the news and congratulated the 10,000th student, Katerina Boufea from Greece. The Bio-informatics student was presented with a bicycle as a gift from Wageningen University. This milestone had looked likely for some time.
• A bicycle for the 10,000th arrival.
• Substantial growth in past decade.
There were already 9500 students registered with the university at the start of the academic year. Then, in the course of the year, exchange students and students doing minors came to Wageningen, as well as several hundred regular students. A lot of new students arrived in February, the start of the second semester. And they included the 10,000th student. The university no longer aims to grow further, says Kropff. ‘We don’t want to grow too quickly. The key thing is to maintain our high standards. That is what Wageningen UR has a reputation for internationally.
Photo: Sven Menschel