Student Unions 

Leeuwarden has eight independent student unions. There are also two general students' organisations which all Stenden students may join as members. The Foreign Relations Committee for Exchange Students (FREC) was set up to give foreign students the opportunity to participate in Dutch student life. This committee is a co-operation between the three student associations of Stenden. They will help you to become acquainted with our town and its student life.

There will be excursions and parties for guest students and Dutch students. In addition, the borrow-a-bike-scheme helps you to move around town like a real 'Leeuwarder'. Another foreign student association is the Erasmus Student Network (ESN International). Through ESN, you will meet (foreign) students from programmes at other professional universities in the Netherlands.

Foreign Relations Committee

Besides school, the social life of a student is very important. The Foreign Relations Committee (FReC) provides a social programme especially for international students with weekend trips, parties, sport events, dinners, etc.
 
The Foreign Relations Committee was set up to give the international students the opportunity to participate in Dutch student life.
 
Via the FReC, international students can become a member of all three student associations. This means that you can also join in all the activities organised and visit their pubs.
 
The FReC goals are:

  • improving contact between all the foreign students;
  • improving contact with Dutch students;
  • helping foreign students get to know student life in Leeuwarden.

They also organise a pub crawl. This way you will get to know all the best pubs during the first week in Leeuwarden introducing foreign students to Dutch culture and the country. In addition, the FReC provides outings, so students can see the Netherlands.

The FReC sends out regular mails to keep you updated about its activities.
 
For more information on The Foreign Relations Committee please visit:
http://www.frecleeuwarden.nl/
 
Student quote:
Nicolas Mimoun, France, student Leisure Management 2003-2004:
 
"The FREC organisation was a wonderful experience for me: they were very nice for us and organised lots of activities so that we enjoyed this country."

Culture Club Hestia, Student Lounge

It was Mahatma Gandhi who once said 'No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive'. It is this aspect of culture that we draw inspiration from at the Culture Club, an association for international students at Stenden university.

As a forum for organizing intercultural events and activities our mission is to represent our own cultures in a foreign land while sharing knowledge and gaining insight and understanding, in order to acquire mutual respect and appreciation for different cultures.

Not only do we try to organize events to create awareness and acceptance among the different international cultures present in Stenden but also to expose the international students to the Dutch way of life.
                 
We would like to hear from you about ideas for events or activities that we can organize in the future, so please contact us via e-mail. We are also looking for new members so those interested may also send us an e-mail!

The International lounge for students called Hestia was set up as a `Home away from Home' for the international students of the school. The Culture Club uses this location as a venue for arranging events as well as a headquarters for member meetings.

We look forward to seeing you at our future events!

info-cultureclub@hotmail.com 

For any questions about Stenden university please contact the information center: +31 58 244 14 41.