On 25 September 2023, Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences (HSRW) began the lecture period for the 2023/24 winter semester. For the first-year students’ welcome and Freshers’ Week, HSRW welcomed 873 first-year students to its campuses in Kleve and Kamp-Lintfort.
“I am delighted to see so many new faces here on campus,” said Prof. Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen as he began his welcome address at the Kamp-Lintfort campus, before continuing: “Here you will find a vibrant, diverse and open community within an innovative and supportive atmosphere,” said the university president. At the same time, Prof. Dr Tatiana Zimenkova welcomed the new students in Kleve and offered them the following words of advice: “It is not only you who are eager and excited to get to know your new fellow students, lecturers and the whole university. We, too, as a university, are looking forward to getting to know you as new students who have come together here from all over the world. We are interested in your experiences and the life lessons you have learnt. We are keen to hear your perspectives and the fresh ideas you will bring to our campuses, our teaching and our research,” said the Vice-President for International Affairs and Diversity.
Prof. Dr Christoph Landscheidt, Mayor of Kamp-Lintfort, wished the students a great start to a successful degree programme. He described the HSRW as a university that is still young but already well-established, and emphasised the advantages of a small university: “At the university, everyone knows one another; you don’t get lost in the crowd here, and the same applies to the town.”
The Mayor of Kleve, Wolfgang Gebing, also warmly welcomed the new students in his video message. He noted that by choosing a degree programme at the HSRW, they had taken the first step towards their future; this course of study lays the foundation for their professional careers. He emphasised that Kleve is a charming, open-minded town – and, not least thanks to its students, a young one.
Alongside other organisations such as the Central Student Advisory Service, University Music and Sport, representatives of the General Student Committee (AStA) also introduced themselves. The newly elected chair, Sharon Spievak, an International Relations student at the Faculty of Society and Economics, encouraged the students to get involved and reminded them of their opportunity to have a say in student bodies: “Join a student organisation and take part in decision-making processes. “We’ll support you in making your voice heard,” said Spievak.
As well as welcoming first-year students, Freshers’ Week also brought the campuses to life: the Music Nights in Kleve and Kamp-Lintfort, the Freshers’ Market, the campus and town tours, the events in the faculties, as well as the AStA and sports events, were all filled with smiling young faces. At ‘HSRW’s Got Talent’, the diverse artistic talents of the university community came to the fore. And at the Homecoming Cup, which traditionally brings Freshers’ Week to a close, 13 teams competed against one another.
Student numbers
As at 22 September 2023, 873 first-year students were enrolled: 545 in Kleve and 328 in Kamp-Lintfort. At roughly the same time last year, the total stood at 948, of whom 378 were at the Kamp-Lintfort campus. The slight decline is primarily due to the fact that two degree programmes (Infotronic Systems Engineering, B.Sc., and Mobility and Logistics, B.Sc., both at the Kamp-Lintfort campus), which were open to all applicants last year, are now subject to a numerus clausus (NC).
Based on experience from recent years, the university forecasts further enrolments. The current forecast of around 1,300 first-year students is roughly on a par with the previous year’s figure for the winter semester 2022/23 and thus also roughly in line with pre-pandemic levels. Experience shows that exact figures cannot be provided until November/December.
Housing situation for students in the districts of Kleve and Wesel
The housing market in the districts of Kleve and Wesel remains tight – partly due to a shortage of accommodation in Dutch university towns near the border, such as Nijmegen, which means that students are also having to turn to the Kleve district housing market.
The HSRW Welcome Centre receives around five to ten enquiries a day – and sometimes even more – from students looking for accommodation. The Welcome Centre endeavours to match students with landlords’ offers, a process that is usually completed within two to four weeks.
And although not all first-year students have found accommodation yet, Nele Decker from the Welcome Centre is delighted with every single successful placement: “I was recently contacted by a landlady who is now letting to two international students for the first time, and she was full of anticipation about their arrival and the chance to interact with them. I think it’s really great that she’s approaching this with such a positive attitude and has been able to embrace the diversity that Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences brings to the towns of Kleve and Kamp-Lintfort,” said Decker.
Offers of flats and rooms can still be submitted to the Welcome Centre: welcome-centre@hochschule-rhein-waal.de
