‘The Key to a Great Dutch Experience’, was the theme of yesterday’s event. More than 70 coordinators of Buddy Programs all over the Netherlands gathered at the movie theatre at Eindhoven University of Technology. How can we recruit Dutch students? How should buddies be matched and how can Buddy Programs best be financed? These and more topics were discussed during the Buddy Coordinator Day.
During the first half of the day different initiatives were presented. What are their best practices and what are their challenges? Many interesting approaches were seen. From Leiden United, who have an extensive social program for both international and Dutch students, to Eindhoven University of Technology where buddies receive several cultural trainings, and the Erasmus Student Network, a student organization with a focus on international students. During the second half of the day participants spread through out the building. There they split up in small groups to brainstorm and share experiences.
It was an inspiring day where we learned a lot from eachother. Who had thought before of a buddy-blog, a walk-in dinner or buddy families? Also a lot of ideas were questioned: do we reach the right students when we reward them with money for becoming a buddy? Promoting the ‘international experience’ seemed like a better idea. And even follow-up plans were made: later this year a national buddy day with a specific team will be planned. Hopefully that will be a day we all meet again!
We want to thank everyone for coming to the Buddy Coordinator Day and making it the succes that it was. We also want to thank ESN, Nuffic, Eindhoven University of Technology and Maastricht University for helping to organize the event.
If you want to see all the presentations that were held yesterday, you can simply download them in the links below.
Deel dit bericht