On Monday, the 6^th of September the Introduction Day for first year Urban Studies students was organized by Coordinators of Studies Roos ter Elst and Annelies de Koning and Programme Coordinator Jetse Siebenga. In contrast to last year’s Introduction Day, the whole day took place on campus! An impression.

First to arrive at Wijnhaven were our new Urban Studies student mentors: second year students who guide first year students through their first year at university. Alice van Veen, Indre Morkute, Ester Papapietro, Daniel Perea Milla Fernandez and Nienke de Bruin pursue this important role this academic year. From 9.30h onwards the mentors welcomed their mentees when they set their first steps into the university building.

Our new Chair Dr. Miko Flohr had the honour to kick off the day and to give the first live Urban Studies speech in almost a year time. Subsequently, Jetse Siebenga spoke about the first graduates of the programme and gave some examples of their thesis subjects and projects in the third year course Setting up a Project. Academic Writing & Presenting lecturer Bryan O’Donovan introduced the first years into the tutorial system of Urban Studies.

After a short break, Roos ter Elst and Annelies de Koning continued with an information session about their own role, but also about the role of other university services, such as the Board of Examiners. This was followed by Dr. Alistair Kefford’s mini-lecture about the changing landscape of The Hague, illustrated with lots of historical images. After that the students split up into their mentor groups and received information from their mentors on how to use systems such as uSis and Brightspace.

After a (vegetarian) lunch break, next on the programme was a city tour. Although the tour was organized by tour organization Architecture Tours, explicit attention was paid to the themes of Urban Studies. Each of the four groups of first year students teamed up with a tour guide and each started off on a different tour. Some groups explored new things in the touristic area, while other groups discovered less visited parts of The Hague.

At 3.30 the official part of the Introduction Day finished. Most first years however didn’t go home yet, as the mentors took all of them to the Malieveld, where they further enjoyed the nice weather and the occasion to get to know each other.

We very much enjoyed welcoming you, our first-year students, in our Programme and wish you all the best during the start of your academic career!