A semester abroad is something many Radboud students look forward to during their studies. But the housing crisis has reached many of the study abroad destinations – and can interfere with students’ year abroad plans. ‘The problem ended up being out of my hands.’

Maarten Neubauer is in his third year of the Comparative European History bachelor’s programme at Radboud University. And up until recently, the 21-year-old was expecting to switch his home university for the University of Glasgow during the second semester. Neubauer’s plans, however, were turned upside down when he got word from the Scottish university in late October that his study abroad application was not going to be considered unless he had proof of housing. ‘That would have given me two weeks to find a room in a city with a huge housing problem and all reliable student housing already taken.’

‘I am annoyed with the lack of communication’

For Neubauer, the fact that the housing crisis would put his study abroad plans on hold is particularly frustrating considering that he had already secured a room in Glasgow earlier that summer. ‘I started looking for a room in July because I knew how difficult the housing situation in Glasgow was and found one of the last available rooms via United Students (leading provider of student accommodation in the UK, ed.),’ Neubauer explains. But when contacting Glasgow for a final confirmation, they told him to not commit. ‘Glasgow said that my application had not been officially accepted yet and they didn’t recommend taking the room if there still was a chance I might not go. So, I cancelled the room booking.’ When Neubauer finally heard back from Glasgow on the 31^st of October, he knew that finding housing on such short notice was going to be impossible.

 Inform and prepare

Charissa van Mourik, head of the department of Student Life and International Mobility, understands that finding housing at university can be difficult: ‘As the procedure for accommodation can differ per university, we recommend students to check the housing application details beforehand.’ According to Van Mourik, the university tries to inform and prepare students as good as possible and cases like Neubauer’s are a rarity: ‘Generally, outgoing exchange students find accommodation and they don’t have to cancel their exchange due to housing problems.’ But if problems arise, she adds, students are always welcome to contact the International Office.

‘Radboud was very helpful,’ says Neubauer. ‘They fought with me, they tried to get me in contact with the right people in Glasgow and they offered me alternatives.’ But the semester abroad still fell through. ‘The problem ended up being out of my hands; I did my best, but it didn’t work out.’ Especially the lack of response from Glasgow still frustrates Neubauer: ‘I am annoyed with the lack of communication. From July onwards, it was complete radio silence until their email at the end of October.’

Luckily for Neubauer, despite the cancellation, he will still manage to graduate in time. His advice for future students: be proactive with regard to getting into contact with the destination university. ‘And don’t be afraid to ask for help at Radboud,’ he adds. ‘They can help you a lot because they have better chances of getting you into contact with the right people, especially if you have urgent issues or problems.’

Future plans

In the end, not going abroad also had some upsides for Neubauer: ‘There are some new courses at Radboud this year that I like much better than the ones from the year before.’ And future study abroad plans? ‘Originally, I planned to put my thesis on hold and work on it during my fourth year, but now I aim to finish it this year, so I can go abroad for a master’s degree as soon as possible.’ And this time, hopefully without interference.