The buddy picks up the exchange student from the station or the airport, gives the newcomer a tour of the department and visits the STU student desk. The buddy also accompanies the foreign student to the room where he or she will live and shows the facilities in the city, such as the supermarket and the town hall. “The exchange student can ask the buddy any questions they may have”, explains Huug Bischoff from CHEOPS. “The idea is for them to go and do some entertaining things together, like going to departmental parties. Of course, this depends on whether there is a real click.”

The idea of the buddy system was launched during the debate on internationalization, which CHEOPS organized last November. “It appeared from this debate that the integration of foreign students was falling short. We had heard of a buddy system at another university, so we thought: why not begin one ourselves as well”, says Bischoff. Finding buddies turned out to be simple. A first informative meeting was attended by enough volunteers straight away. The students of Architecture, Building and Planning are not getting paid for their efforts: they are only reimbursed traveling expenses by the department.

The system is intended for exchange students. Bischoff estimates that there are approximately thirty exchange students per semester coming to the Eindhoven department of Architecture, Building and Planning./.