Last Monday we had the kick-off of the study information activities of this year with the new students of the study information team of our department. An experienced student explained what to expect this year. Not only did she take her fellow students through the curriculum and any changes, all the information activities were covered. There are, of course, the open days. Saturday 5 October is the first one. 

After that, the whole string of more in-depth information activities was discussed: Experience Days, ‘Student for a day’-days, the online open day, an open day for prospective masters, individual guided tours, sometimes a meeting with an academic advisor, etc. The most important advice: try to involve all participants and find out what they want to know, and adapt your programme accordingly.  

User-centred design, they would call this at the Department of Industrial Design. Maybe that doesn't quite apply to the initial registration as a prospective student, which could be more user-friendly. But it certainly applies to all the information activities that follow. We expect to have reached the maximum number of participants of 4,800 for the open day by the end of this week. So I will go to bed early on 4 October, put on my comfy shoes on Saturday morning and dive in that sea of students, parents, colleagues, tours and presentations.  

Annemarie van Malsen is a communications officer at TU/e’s Department of Industrial Design. The views expressed in this column are her own.