Those who are not fully vaccinated but still want to attend introduction parties, must get tested. Especially international students appear to be having trouble.

This week the university pulls out all the stops a whopping nine times during the Radboud Introshow. Keeping one and a half meters distance isn’t necessary during the festival at the Honigcomplex, organized by the university. What is needed: proof of vaccination or a negative test result. Many parties not part of the official introduction program also require a valid QR-code.

Not a problem for many students, was found while talking to introduction participants Tuesday afternoon. Many are fully vaccinated already and can show a valid QR-code in their Coronacheck-app.

Error

That’s not the case for all students. Vox found most not fully vaccinated students to be internationals. Take Sabine Hanh (22) from Germany for example. She received her second vaccination shot in Germany only ten days ago. Result: no valid QR-code for the introduction show. That means going to a test site. Not too much trouble for Hahn. She’s lived in the Nederland for a while now, has a DigiD (a digital passport for all government services) and can easily make an appointment.

‘I thought I could get tested on campus’

New international students often don’t have DigiD, or they encounter other issues. A Turkish Business Administration student (21) who prefers to stay anonymous: ‘A couple of fellow students and I received an error when trying to make an appointment. I honestly didn’t know I had to go to the Municipal Health Services to get tested; I assumed this was possible on the campus. Now I have two days to fix my issue. It’s going to be intense.’

But some international students who are fully vaccinated run into problems. Their vaccination is not automatically registered in the Netherlands. ‘In the United States we don’t get a QR-code, just a physical card,’ says an American student. ‘Those are worthless in the Netherlands. A friend whose also from the United States did receive a code after a lot of hassle, but whenever the code is scanned it says ‘not valid’. We have no idea what’s going on. It’s going to be quite the puzzle before we can go to the introduction show.’

Getting tested daily

How convenient would it have been if students without a full vaccination were able to get tested on campus this week? For example, Bas Backbier (19) and Paul van Haren (19) have an appointment at the GGD (Municipal Health Services) every morning this week. ‘We go to a party where a QR-code is required pretty much every night, so this is the only solution,’ says Backbier. ‘The test site is around the corner for me, so I don’t find it too troublesome.’ Van Haren seems less enthusiastic. ‘I have to ride my bike for fifteen minutes before they can stick a test in my nose.’

‘The current test sites in Nijmegen have the extra capacity to test students’

Creating a test site on campus was an idea the university had, but that idea was eventually scrapped. University spokesman Martijn Gerritsen: ‘We spoke with the GGD. The current test sites in Nijmegen have the extra capacity to test students.’

The university does house a vaccination site this week. This service is mainly provided while keeping the coming academic year in mind, says Gerritsen, not so much because of the introduction week. ‘With a higher vaccination grade, we’ll have less infections and more options for physical lectures.’

Gerritsen also points out that international students who do not yet have a DigiD, can still get tested. An appointment can be made via www.testenvoortoegang.org. When the results are negative, they will receive a QR-code with which they can attend parties where it’s required.