Foreign students: Groningen rules

According to international students, the University of Groningen is the best university in the Netherlands. This can be concluded from the latest International Student Barometer, a worldwide survey of international student satisfaction where the University of Groningen (again) emerges as the university in the Netherlands they are most likely to recommend.

Twice a year, the International Student Barometer published by I-Graduate measures general satisfaction levels among students who are studying abroad. In the summer of 2012, students from around the world who were registered at a university or university of applied sciences outside their home country received an extensive questionnaire to measure their satisfaction with teaching quality, accommodation, support and facilities, and how they were welcomed by their host institution. Within the Netherlands, eight institutions – five universities and three universities of applied sciences – participated in the survey.

First place

The University of Groningen scored well to very well in many of the categories, landing it in first place overall among the Dutch institutions included in the study (incidentally, this is not the same as the ‘average score’). The University of Groningen scored the highest points of all Dutch institutions on items such as learning spaces, physical and online library, virtual learning, finance office, clubs/societies, student advisory, course organization and sport facilities.

Warmly recommended

University of Groningen students answered the question whether they would recommend their current university to friends back home with an enthusiastic ‘yes’. The ‘recommendation score’ of 83% is significantly higher than that of other universities in the Netherlands (and in 16^th place worldwide) and puts Groningen in a comfortable first place in the category ‘most recommended university’ for the third time in two years.       

Incentive for quality improvement

The University of Groningen has participated in the International Student Barometer since 2007. Several components that were evaluated as points for improvement in previous years have since been dealt with and are now valued more highly, for example assistance when opening a bank account, internet access and social activities. One important current point for improvement is accommodation – an issue that the University of Groningen will put a lot of effort into in the coming years, in collaboration with a number of other institutions in Groningen.

More information

- Franka van den Hende, f.m.van.den.hende@rug.nl, 050 - 363 54 77

- Jessica Winters, j.t.k.winters@rug.nl