Peng Zhang is a PhD candidate from China. He started his PhD track in September 2009 at Electrical Engineering, after having completed a post-Master study. Peng is a volunteer at ACSSE: Association of Chinese Students and Scholars in Eindhoven. He is active in the executive committee of the national, umbrella organization as well as in the Eindhoven branch of the association.

In Eindhoven alone the association’s grassroots number some eight hundred members. The association is very enterprising, organizing an activity every month. “These activities are not intended for Chinese students only, on the contrary! They are also accessible to other international and national students.”

Peng devotes about ten hours a week to his work for the association. When he arrived in Eindhoven himself, he was quite pleased with the help he got from ACSSE. “You arrive in a new country that you don’t know at all. It’s such a relief if you are received well. For instance, the members often meet the new students at the airport or the station, so you are not left to your own devices straight away. It makes me feel very good to help out new students.”

In Eindhoven the association has a ‘board’ numbering seven students. “These students are very active. In addition, we have thirty volunteers who -depending on the time they can afford- help out, for example in organizing an activity. Apart from activities we alsoregularly organize lectures. About taxation, for instance, or how you can set up your own company in the Netherlands.”

Together with other volunteers Peng has recently developed a ‘handbook’. It gives new students all the information they need when arriving in the Netherlands. The handbook is in Chinese and in English. “This book describes the outlines of how things work here. It discusses the supermarket, the international office and where they can find the Chinese shop, of course!” (HB)