At the moment, new students are mainly offered a mix of campus tours and, since last year, company visits. But where do you really get to know Eindhoven? Where do you discover the places you want to live, work and - eventually - stay? With a central campus full of facilities, the city often seems like an afterthought. You study in Eindhoven, but you hardly experience Eindhoven. 

And that is exactly the problem. Eindhoven is not a classic student city like Groningen or Utrecht, where student life and city life merge seamlessly. Here it is all about innovation, cooperation between education and business, and the ambition to keep young talent in the city. But how can we expect students to stay if they have never really connected with Eindhoven? International students stay in their campus bubble, Fontys students hardly get to know the city outside their own education, not to mention interacting with students from other educational institutions. 

In cities like Maastricht and Delft, they do things differently: there, students from mbo, hbo and wo start together. The result? More contacts outside your own study, a closer student life and a much stronger bond with the city. Last year, Eindhoven organized its first joint party for all students, a step in the right direction. But now that the Fontys intro has been moved, further expansion of such initiatives seems to become more difficult instead of more obvious. 

With a city-wide introduction we kill two birds with one stone: we create more connectedness among students and strengthen the bond with the city. This is an opportunity for the municipality, educational institutions, student associations and companies to invest together in a shared, memorable and accessible start. Eindhoven is the city of the future. Let's make sure it is also the city that truly welcomes students from day one.  

Wob Knaap is a student Data Science at TU/e. The views expressed in this column are his own.