Visitors of the Open Day can travel by bus to the city centre free of charge to visit the SSR-W student club fair. Photo Anna den Hartog Prospective students visiting the Bachelor Open Day on 15 March will be given free bus tickets to travel to and from Ede-Wageningen train station, and between the campus and the city centre. The student club market will be held at SSR-W in the city centre.
Thus states Kimberly Pastoors, who coordinates the promotion activities. ‘Students with jackets will be posted at the train station in Ede-Wageningen and the bus stop at Forum. They will hand out bus tickets. We hope this will convince prospective students that Wageningen is easily accessible.’ An investigation reveals that prospective students often expect Wageningen to have poor accessibility as it lacks its own train station, Pastoors says. ‘But the bus trip from Ede-Wageningen train station to the campus takes approximately as long as the trip from the central station in Utrecht to the Utrecht Science Park. And we aim to use the programme in the city centre to show students that Wageningen is a great place with plenty to offer.’
The visitors can also use their tickets to travel to the city centre, Pastoors continues. ‘There, they can see the city and experience Wageningen student life. Students will meet them at the bus station and guide them through the centre, past Hotel de Wereld to SSR-W, where they will see the association. Afterwards, there is a student association fair and beverages and snacks. If the weather is good, hopefully in the garden. Afterwards, visitors can explore the city and have a drink and some food. The bus back to the campus or Ede-Wageningen is also included.’
Pizza
A student association market was first held as an experiment at Ceres during the open day in November. The university deployed shuttle buses to take visitors to and from the centre. ‘Some visitors had trouble finding their way and ended up waiting at the regular bus station. Moreover, shuttles use the same route as the regular buses, which also go back and forth, so it’s not very sustainable. Now, we will use the tickets.’
The student associations are happy with the added attention for student life, says Christel Konings, chair of the Wageningen Chamber of Associations (WKvV). ‘Prospective students are provided with a more complete view of student life and the city. I believe the tickets and regular buses are better than the shuttle buses that were deployed last time. We are trying to get local entrepreneurs on board, for example, for a good deal on pizzas in the city centre for the open day visitors.’
