Shorter Eurekaweek attracts four hundred fewer students than last year

This year 3,700 students took part in the Eurekaweek. That is four hundred fewer than last year and almost a thousand fewer than the 4,600 the organisers had hoped for. More sponsorship money was raised than budgeted, though.

In addition to the regular participants there were fifty students from universities of applied sciences this year who were allowed to take part in a limited part of the programme. Other attendees could also buy a ticket for certain parties; 417 of those were sold.

'Good feeling'

This year’s introductory week was two days shorter for the first time. With this the organisers hoped to appeal to more students and reduce costs. Although not all tickets were sold, management looks back with ‘a good feeling,’ student life liaison Dito Boersma said by email. “The atmosphere was relaxed and there were no significant incidents. The main parts of the programme were all covered. The new museum tour is a good example of that: it attracted a lot of interest and was well received.”

Another issue was recruiting enough volunteers. In the end management chose not to provide guides for the groups with master’s students. “It proved impossible to recruit enough volunteers to guide the master’s groups as well. We therefore chose a practical solution, whereby the master’s students could still take part fully in the programme.”

Bottom line

There was positive news about the sponsorship money. The target for this had been 100,000 euros and the final amount was 37,000 euros higher. What the final balance will be is not yet clear. “It is no secret that a lower turnout than expected affects the figures”, says Boersma. “At the same time, the adjustments to the setup did ensure that Eurekaweek could remain accessible and affordable for participants. That was an important starting point for us.”