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Multiculti mix at Rijnveste

From 2 April, international students can test a new formula for student accommodation in Idealis's new residence Rijnveste. This is a pilot study with which the student housing provider wants to gauge how international and Dutch students like living together.

At the moment Idealis’s student residents are only available to Dutch students, with the exception of the high-rise Bornsesteeg residence, which is exclusively for international students. With effect from 2016, Idealis will be changing the system so that anyone who has registered, from a Dutch first-year to an international PhD student, can apply for any room. The pilot in Rijnveste is part of the preparations for this. Interested students were invited to apply in groups of no more than six people for one of the 13 pilot units (66 rooms in total). ‘Almost 60 students have already signed up,’ says Jan Harkema, accommodation manager at Idealis. ‘Forty six of them are foreign students. Some groups are entirely made up of foreigners, but there are also a few mixed groups, so we are very curious to see how it works out.’ They are mainly students from other European countries, Harkema adds. A lot of interest Rijnveste will be ready on 2 April. There has been no shortage of interest in the 272 rooms with shared facilities: 350 students registered for these. The new tenants at the complex on the Rijnsteeg will include students already living in an Idealis residence. Harkema: ‘That frees up space for accommodating new students. I think by our target date of 1 May, all students registered with Idealis and actively looking for a room will have one.’ Besides the 272 rooms with shared facilities, Rijnveste also offers 64 self-contained rooms and 9 apartments for PhD students. Applications for these rooms will be accepted from two weeks from now. Harkema expects these rooms to fill up quickly too.

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