For the 2017 Intro a total of 2,289 new students registered, as we hear from the Central Intro Committee (CIC). Of this number 288 are international students, 145 are pre-Master students and 1,856 are Dutch Bachelor students, 608 of which are of the female gender. Last night an extra 110 late registrations were added.

Last year 2,367 new students had registered altogether. Then the Bachelor and Master intro still formed one event. There were 1,703 Bachelor students and 180 international Master students with 536 women among them.

To supervise all the intro kids this year, there are 542 intro parents involved all in all. The 7 members of the CIC have been preparing the event for many months and are overseeing the proper running of everything this week. For the Master Kick-off, which will see its first edition next week, some 400 participants are expected.

It is difficult to say precisely when the very first TU/e intro took place, because its format has been changed over the years. In the 1960s the arriving freshers of our university were transported by bus to the barracks in Oirschot, where they were given all the information about student life within 3 days: about the financing, clothing regulations, the study program and many other things. After this general introduction the 3 student associations would hold their own intros, as is still being done.

In the 1970s the Stichting Inter Kommunikatie (Student Intercommunication Foundation; StIK) was responsible for the ‘supervision of the education of the students’. Apart from receiving information about the university and student life, freshers were also made familiar with the city.

Girls received special attention as of the 1980s in the form of several extra days prior to the Intro week, the so-called Pre-Intro. The offer of English-language study programs as of 2007 also resulted in more international students coming to Eindhoven. For them an extra period of time was added to the Intro as well. It is the first time this year that there are separate Intros for the Bachelors and for the Masters.

For those who cannot get enough of the Intro: more photos, news and other updates can be found on Cursor’s Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram.