Practical information for new students

Here are some practical tips and useful information for students who have accepted an invitation to study at AUC and will be arriving in September 2010 to start their studies.

Introduction activities

Introductory activities will be organised from 23 August  to 27 August, and all the new students are expected to participate.  More details on the activities on and around 23 August will be communicated by e-mail and/or published on this website in due course.

International students are strongly advised to arrive at least a week prior to introduction week in order to allow enough time to attend to practical matters such as getting a residence permit and opening a bank account.

Academic year

AUC's academic year runs parallel with that of the VU University Amsterdam and the University of Amsterdam.

The academic year, and classes, start on 30 August 2010.

The autumn semester is 20 weeks long, divided into 16 weeks (30 August 2010 to 17 December 2010) before the winter break, and 4 weeks in January (3 January 2011 to 28 January 2011). The winter break is therefore 18 December 2010 to 2 January 2011.

The spring semester is also 20 weeks long, and runs from 31 January 2011 to 24 June 2011. (There are no classes 30 April to 8 May.)

For more information on the academic calendar, please see the link below:

Allocation of rooms in the student residences

DUWO, the student housing association that runs the student residences, allocates the rooms to students. For more information, see link below. Please note that while DUWO will do its very best to respect your preferences when allocating your room, they cannot guarantee it.

Moving into the student residences

You will be able to collect your key from DUWO between 08.30 and 17.00 on working days (Monday to Friday). For more information see link below.

Laptops

The IC facilities at AUC, such as a wireless network throughout the academic building, have been set up to enable students to use their own laptops for their studies. There are, therefore, no computer rooms with PCs for student use in the AUC academic building. So AUC students are expected to bring their own laptops.

For more information, and recommended specifications for laptops, see link below.

Chipknip

To avoid having large amounts of cash on AUC premises, AUC uses Chipknip for payments for, for example, food and drink in the café in the AUC Common Room, and for paying for printing and photocopying. AUC students are therefore expected to have a Chipknip card.

If you have a Dutch bank account you probably already have a bank card with Chipknip - you can recognise it by the gold-coloured chip on the front (if not, do ask your bank for one). International students will get advice on opening a Dutch bank account and obtaining a bank card with Chipknip.