International students complain about campus and catering

International students are not satisfied with catering facilities, campus buildings and campus environment of the EUR. However, Erasmus University does stand out with its multicultural environment, good language support and excellent internet access.

On Wednesday the 21st of September, the presentation of the International Student Barometer (ISB) was held, which gives international students’ opinion on 65 different universities worldwide. Twice a year, the ISB is conducted to see which universities are the most successful in satisfying the needs of international students. The ISB is a ranking created by i-graduate, an independent organisation helping universities and other educators across the globe to improve their learning and living environment for their students.

Bad food in buildings-under-construction
Starting off with the bad news, Erasmus campus quality was ranked the lowest of all. However, this is subject to change, as the low result is mostly due to all the renovations going on at this moment. Marlous Janssen of the Student Affairs department thinks their complaints about the learning environment are justified, as ‘International students pay thousands of Euros to study at EUR, but receive no compensation whatsoever for the poor conditions of the campus at this moment.’

Additionally, the catering services on campus are also rated the lowest of all participating universities. Nannette Ripmeester of i-graduate illustrates: ‘Germans expect to be able to choose between several meals for the price of €3 – 4, and Chinese students think the typical Dutch lunch consisting of just bread is food for ducks, not people.’ However, the international students aren’t the only ones to complain, as Dutch students are not happy about the catering services either. Since the switch to Albron about a year ago, the overall satisfaction about the food available on campus has dropped. The manager of Albron was also invited to the ISB feedback session, so the presentation of this low level of satisfaction might create some improvement in the future.

Another issue the students bring up is the Stadswonen living facility on campus. The most complaints are about the low quality provided for the high price of the accommodation provided by Stadswonen. Not only the high price, but also the lack of friendliness of its staff is a point of critique the internationals give about the Stadswonen service.

A multicultural environment
On the bright side, the Erasmus Sport facilities are ranked 25th on the list of 65 universities, and the opinion of students on the sports facilities has risen over the past few years. International students seem quite satisfied with the sports building and its variety of fitness equipment and courses to follow. The most positive point of EUR is its multicultural environment, which is appealing to international students. According to the ISB, internationals find it quite easy to contact and become friends with other foreign students on the EUR campus, as many different nationalities are represented within different study programmes.

An important issue for many internationals is the support and help they get from their faculty and student office. Erasmus does this very well, as its Finance Office and International Office are ranked quite high, on the 15th and 2nd place of all participating universities internationally. Another benefit of the Erasmus University is its internet access, as the internet on the EUR campus is ranked 4th of all universities and 2nd of all Dutch universities. IS

28 September 2011