The new batch of Psychology students were waiting for their bus on Monday morning like they were about to embark on a field trip. Instead, the bus was taking them to a lecture at CineMec in Lent. As for the atmosphere? 'It's just like a TED Talk.'

The students laughed and joked during the bus ride. ‘I hope there’s popcorn’, said one. ‘Maybe we’ll get 3D glasses’, said another. The students were on their way to a lecture in the multiplex cinema CineMec as part of the English-language Bachelor’s programme in Psychology.

While the students missed the commotion that surrounded the programme last year, they expressed their dissatisfaction with the large number of students that was accepted this year – an influx that made life on campus rather cramped for Psychology students.

‘It’s too busy’

‘There are too many people’, says Bulgarian student Stela Shiveva. ‘I understand why; the programme is extremely popular and Nijmegen is a great city, but I think this will cause a lot of students to quit. It’s just too busy.’ Nevertheless, Shiveva is happy with the cinema solution. ‘I think having class in a cinema will work. Watching a film in a cinema is much better than watching one at home on the sofa. Maybe the same applies to lectures.’

Coffee and M&M’s
Some students bought a cup of coffee or a bag of M&M’s before heading to class. The massive screen was filled with the opening slide of a PowerPoint presentation and the red Radboud logo. Each student received a laptop cushion in lieu of a table. The sound blasted into the room from immense theatre speakers. ‘Dolby Surround’, joked one of the students.

What does cognitive psychology lecturer Dennis Schutter think of the situation? ‘It’s pretty cool. I get a huge screen to work with and someone to control the sound for me. It’s a far cry from CC1. In fact, it’s just like a TED Talk.’

Arjenne Osnabrugge, who works at CineMec and was closely involved in the project, explained that the multiplex had hosted similar events before in the form of conferences. Nevertheless, this project still called for the necessary groundwork. ‘I visited the university to see how they do things there’, she says. ‘We then got to work making the necessary preparations, like changing our product range and adjusting our bar prices.’

Long travel time
There’s also a downside to the story: travel time. The bus left the Spinoza building at 10:00, even though the lecture wasn’t scheduled to start until 10:45. Add to that another fifteen minutes to get to the university and the students spent nearly an hour travelling to class. This solution also has added costs for the university.

The students don’t expect the CineMec solution to last very long. When people quit the programme, the group will automatically become smaller and the temporary provision will no longer be necessary. But for now, Schutter is happy. ‘I hope the rooms in the new building [which will be constructed on campus in 2018, ed.] will be just as nice.’