A Student Perspective on University College Utrecht

Let’s hear from Andrea, an American student at University College Utrecht in the Netherlands:

A typical day starts with cooking breakfast in my unit’s shared kitchen. I live with eight other people, but most students only live with 4-6. This is organized differently than in the US, where this apartment-style living is not as popular. 

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After getting ready, class is only a two-minute walk away. Living on a campus means that all my peers and my classes are contained in one area, making my day-to-day schedule easy and more manageable, however this is not very common in Europe. Before class, a friend and I catch up and go to Jazzman’s, the on-campus café.

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Classes are typically two hours long, with a 15 minute break in the middle of the session. The class size is also relatively small, with the maximum being 28 students, but my law class has only about 10 other students, which is typical for many courses. The professor encourages group discussions and critical thinking. This is similar to other small liberal arts colleges in the US, however the different backgrounds of each student make discussions more lively and interesting. Each student at UCU has some type of international background, having lived in more than one country, or willing to travel and expand their worldly perspective.

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After class is over, I walk across the quad to Voltaire, the Humanities building which also has a large study room on the second floor. There, I prepare for my next class. As a first year, I am encouraged to take advantage of the unique curriculum UCU offers and to take a variety of classes, from the Social Sciences, Sciences, and Humanities. My next and final class of the day is in the Humanities. The course is called “The Literary Canon of Human Rights”, and it encompasses a multitude of novels and how they use literary techniques to portray major world events. With my work finished, I head downstairs to the classroom and join my peers in another group discussion. This method of teaching is popular at UCU, however there are other classes that are mainly lecture-oriented, particularly in the Sciences. 

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As my final class of the day finishes, I join some friends and grab a table on the terrace of the nearby cafe NOEN, which is very popular among UCU students, and later take a walk through Wilhelmina park, which is just down the street from campus. Afterwards we all head back to Voltaire to finish up some work, and later have drinks on the quad to celebrate the end of the week. Unlike in the US, we don’t have a dining hall. However, we all join together to cook easy recipes and the process is enjoyable with friends to help you.

– Andrea