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About us Faculty of Spatial Sciences Education Information for new students at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences

Information for new bachelor students

Mercator
Mercator

The time has come: you are starting your bachelor at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences! To help you get started, you can find practical information here. This information is meant for students who are admissible (according to the Admissions office if you have an international diploma or the admission board if you have a Dutch diploma) to one of the bachelor programmes of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences.

Introduction

You have applied for Human Geography and Planning or Spatial Planning and Design. The University of Groningen organizes a welcoming ceremony for all international students.

For bachelor students with an international previous education, the faculty organizes an introduction meeting on Friday 30 August. See more information for bachelor students with an international previous education (will be announced soon).

The general faculty introduction will be held on Monday 2 September. For more information about that day please see the programme (will be announced soon).

Matching

The bachelor programme Spatial Planning and Design has a mandatory matching procedure. The bachelor programme Human Geography and Planning has a voluntary matching procedure when you apply before 1 May. After 1 May you have to do a matching assignment. Read more about matching

Study advice

If you have questions or difficulties concerning your arrival in Groningen or starting the degree programme, please contact the study advisors Saskia Enuma, Nienke Harteveld and Reinier Schoep. If they cannot help you, they will always refer you to a person or a department that can. The study advisors are there to help with any issues you may encounter during your study. During the introduction, the study advisors will explain more about study advice and what you may expect from us. Your Learning Community Mentor can help you with some of your practical and administrative questions, but if the answer is unknown or unclear, please come to the study advisors! You can contact them via study.advice.fss@rug.nl.

Learning Communities

In your first year, you are placed in a Learning Community (LC). An LC aims to realize a good performance, create cohesion within the programme, stimulate a sense of community among students and get students in touch with the working field. Several LC meetings are scheduled to take place during the year (especially during the first semester) to achieve these goals. The LC consists of about 10 to 15 first-year students, supervised by two mentors (senior students). You will get to meet your LC and your mentors on the introduction day. Read more about the Learning Communities

Registering for courses

You have to enroll for your courses every semester in the Progress Portal. For semester 1a you will be registered automatically by the faculty. Starting semester 1b you will have enroll yourself on time. You are automatically enrolled for your exams all year. You can view the registration periods for courses on the Student Portal. See the tutorial below for a guide how to enroll for your courses.

Book sale

If you become a member of our study association Ibn Batutta you can check which books you will need and order them with a discount. If you do not want to join Ibn Battuta, please check out Ocacys to find the books you need per course.

Laptop

To be able to run the software you will need during your courses, we have listed a number of specifications for laptops. You need to bring your own device.

Finding accomodation

Finding a place to live can be difficult in Groningen. Please see this webpage for information and tips on how to find accomodation.

Tutorials ICT systems

Via the practical links below you go to the different systems and webpages for all your study information. If you are new this can be quite confusing. Please check the Student Portal introduction video and the instructional video's about the steps that you have to take to follow courses and stay up to date before and during your study.

Study information

Services of the Faculty and the University

Last modified:14 June 2024 4.55 p.m.
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