One outdoor day for each Eurekaweek participant

Eurekaweek is being extended from three to four days. Each participant will take part in three virtual days and one physical day. EM received confirmation of this from a Municipality of Rotterdam spokesperson. Late Friday afternoon, the Eurekaweek organisers expect to present a new version of the programme. It may be possible to reschedule missed activities.

The original, coronavirus-edited programme included three physical days, on which students would alternate between various activities. On the Thursday, there were only online activities. In the new plan, a different group of a thousand participants will go into town each day. The other three thousand will take part in online events.

On Friday morning, a meeting took place between the university, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, the student associations and officials from the Municipality of Rotterdam. According to a spokesperson for Aboutaleb, the students were extremely disappointed by the cabinet’s decision on Thursday to ban the consumption of alcohol, the evening programme during Eurekaweek and all physical activities at the student associations, including the introductory session.

'Very disappointing'

“Particularly after the kick-off of the campaign on Tuesday, the mayor could empathise with the students. They had worked extremely hard to plan a good programme, so we understand their disappointment,” said the spokesperson.

As compensation for the missed introduction, Aboutaleb has offered the students the opportunity to reschedule the missed activities later. “The Municipality of Rotterdam will help make that possible. We will keep in contact with all the parties involved.”