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| Welcome to the first newsletter of 2025. To some, the year is still starting slow, as the cloudy skies and freezing cold don't motivate them much. That's why DUB asked a psychologist to share some tips on how to beat the winter blues. Hopefully that will help you find some energy for exam week, which is right around the corner. And if you're international, you must bear in mind that a 9.0 or a 10 is probably out of reach, no matter how hard you study. Furthermore, we'll also need to get ready for a series of strikes in Dutch higher education. For a complete overview of our news and articles, visit dub.uu.nl/en.
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| ‘I thought my performance was really bad’
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| “Forget about 9s and 10s”. That’s the first thing many international students hear when they arrive at UU. Scoring a 10 is rare in the Netherlands, which confuses and frustrates students from different educational cultures. “Why do these grades even exist?” Read more
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| Four tips to beat the winter blues
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| The weather is cold and rainy, the days are shorter and the sun doesn't show up for days on end... No wonder you sometimes feel a little gloomy. Psychologist Denise Bodden, Associate Professor in Pedagogy, shares four ways to alleviate the winter blues. Read more
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Dutch universities contain cyber attack after hacking attempt against TU Eindhoven
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| Last Friday, higher education institutions in the Netherlands were hit by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. All universities and universities of applied sciences were targeted. Read more
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| Dutch higher education to go on strike
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| The actions against the budget cuts are not over. Teachers, researchers and other higher education staff plan to walk out of their jobs to protest the government's austerity measures. They are planning a "relay strike". Read more
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Would you like to help DUB get a sense of what the UU community thinks about debates in education, research and policy? Then join the DUB Panel! It is a group of students and employees to whom DUB regularly asks to react to a statement.
Should UU abolish cum laude diplomas? Should it become easier to get a 10 on an exam? Should there be a limit of guests students can invite for their graduation ceremony? These are some of the questions the DUB Panel has reacted to recently.
If you're interested or have any questions, please contact dubredactie@uu.nl.
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| ‘There are fireworks everywhere!’
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| How do international first-year students perceive Dutch end-of-year traditions like diving into the cold sea on New Year’s Eve or exhanging chocolate letters for Sinterklaas? How do these celebrations differ from the ones back home? Three internationals share their experiences. Read more
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| 'It's not an ideal era to live in'
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| Video - Wars, climate change, polarisation, budget cuts hitting the university hard... UU students can't help but have these issues in mind as they enter 2025. They try not to let this interfere too much with their plans, but that's easier said than done. Read more
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Student association GNSV gets Utrecht-based branch
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| The conservative student association GNSV will have a branch in Utrecht. Linked to far-right movements and parties, GNSV already has branches in Leiden and Nijmegen. Read more
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Education gap is recurring theme among submissions
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| From Spotify Wrapped to musings about NS trains, personal experiences were the main source of inspiration for the aspiring columnists who participated in our contest this year. Read more
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Bring friends home instead of laundry on the weekends
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| Matthew Tan is one of the nominees for DUB's English page. He is a junior lecturer in Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine. His nominated column talks about how international students can get closer to their Dutch counterparts. Read more
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| Say a little prayer: saints, Slavic gods, and a successful fieldwork season
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| Tara Neary, a Master's student at the Graduate School of Life Sciences majoring in Environmental Biology, is also one of the finalists. Her nominated column reminisces about a fieldwork trip to the Czech Republic. Read more
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| DUB Panel: Should it be easier for students to get a 10?
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| It is rare for UU students to score a 10 on a test, assignment or course. DUB asked its panel of students and employees if this should change. They believe the perfect score should remain an exception. Read more
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| ‘Language test shouldn't be a crowbar to impose austerity’
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| Paul Rullmann, the outgoing chair of the committee that will assess if programmes need to be taught in English, understands the advent of a language test. But he is not in favour of using it as an austerity measure. Read more
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| Students in the University Council want to get rid of strict resitting policy
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| UU students must obtain at least a 4.0 on the first exam to be considered for a resit. Students in the University Council argue that this policy unnecessarily stresses students out. Read more
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| New student accommodation building at De Kwekerij
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| Student housing provider SSH will get 3 million euros from the government to construct a building with 375 new student rooms at De Kwekerij. Construction works will start within two years. Read more
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| Lawyer of 'slut list' victims disappointed at UU and HU's leniency towards USC
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| Lawyer Ina Brouwer can't understand why UU and HU lifted all sanctions against USC. In her view, the university should introduce strict policies to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Read more
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People watching in Utrecht
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| Blog - Utrecht is a vibrant and diverse city, so if you allow yourself the time to sit at a café to watch the passersby, you're sure to have quite a rich experience. In this month's poem, Nerea imagines the lives of the people she sees in the city. Read more
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Cabinet working on law to improve cyber security
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| The Dutch government is working on a bill to improve cyber security. The law might include universities and universities of applied sciences. If it does, administrators will be co-responsible. Read more
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Improvise, adapt, overcome?
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| Blog - Everybody is talking about the world's new tech wonder: Artificial Intelligence (AI). As not all of us are tech-savvy, or read technological journals, our blogger Márton decided to write about AI from the perspective of a non-STEM student. Read more
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| Israeli university threatens to sue Dutch institute over boycott
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| Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and BlueSky for the latest news about UU and university life. Is there something interesting going on in your study or faculty? Feel free to send us a message. Prefer sending an e-mail? No problem. Just write to dubredactie@uu.nl.
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| Coming up: Right-wing students make themselves heard more and more | Meet the winners of the 2025 Campus Columnist Competition.
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