Eurekaweek 2020

Eurekaweek 2020 started on 17 August and was – corona – a special, adapted edition. Every evening, the committee organised a talk show and during the week, the student groups were entitled to one physical day of meeting. The rest of the week was online. Among other things, on a Minecraft campus and in Teams.

The preparations for the Eurekaweek

Because of Covid-19, it was unclear for a long time what the Eurekaweek would look like. Mayor Aboutaleb even threatened to cancel the introduction week altogether when it turned out that the number of infections among students increased during the summer months.During a press conference on 6 August, Prime Minister Mark Rutte finally laid down the ground rules for the introduction weeks at universities – corona edition: no alcohol and no activities at night. It also appeared for a while that student association SSR-Rotterdam was not allowed to participate in the Eurekaweek because of corona contamination.

Rector intervenes at SSR-R and Rutte nationwide

Quiz and profiles on student associations

In the week preceding Eurekaweek, Erasmus Magazine published profiles of the five largest student societies in Rotterdam. Well-known and lesser-known members of the societies gave an account of their club life: “I would have dressed up especially nicely, but then they would pull on my tie and knock my beer over. Don’t invite me then.”

During Eurekaweek

A Eurekaweek also means an introduction to the Rotterdam language. The words ‘Strontlazarus’ and ‘bakkie pleur’ were used. The GGD Rotterdam-Rijnmond also opened a test street on the campus, during the ‘blended’ introduction week. “Bitterballen? Are they called that because they are bitter?”

After the Eurekaweek

Time to look back. How did the guides and the Eurekaweek committee like this unique edition of Eurekaweek?