The introduction market brought some much-needed life back to the campus of the Radboud University after one and a half year of dead silence. A stream of thousands of freshmen met all the student organizations Nijmegen has to offer. Coordinator Dionne Aldus was pleased with the way it was set up, even though the one-and-a-half-meter rule was impossible to enforce.

Pre-corona student organizations would build their stands in Park Brakkenstein, not too far from campus. This year, instead of a big, open market among the trees, students walked a pre-determined route from the Maria Montessori building, via the Berchmanianum and ending at the Erasmus square.

Permit

The setup had a lot to do with obtaining a permit. With this setup the market was marked as a flow-through-event (an event where visitors don’t stand still for very long and walk in one direction). It was for this reason that the market did not have a stage with live music this year, to avoid students standing still too much.

Dionne Aldus, coordinator of this year’s introduction, was very pleased with the new style. If it was up to her, the introduction market will permanently trade Park Prakkestein for the campus. ‘Because students all walk the same route, they encounter all student organizations. This way they all get the full attention they deserve.’ Furthermore, by using timeslots it’s easier to maintain how busy it gets. Another advantage is new students get to meet the campus early on.

Busyness

Even though the organization used time slots – a new group of students arrived every hour – and one-way traffic, they couldn’t avoid students standing still at some stands. Officially students had to follow the one-and-a-half-meter rule, but in practice it was impossible to enforce. ‘It’s good that the market took place in the open air,’ Aldus says. ‘Because of that I expect the number of infections to be low, but it’s hard to pinpoint where exactly someone got infected.’