Hi and welcome to our information page for first years international students. We’re happy to have you here!

First of all: Welcome to the Netherlands! We hope to make your life here a little easier by providing you with a couple of tips from 2nd years international students and Dutch students. Next to these tips we want to introduce you to our study association and Enschede!

Who is LiNK?

Welcome to LiNK!
LiNK is the Study Association of the Academy of Creative Technologies from Saxion, Enschede. Creative Media & Game Technologies, Fashion & Textile Technology and Creative Business are all part of this Academy. LiNK was founded on the 21st of September 2001 and currently has more than 900 members. LiNK is largest and most active association of Saxion.

What does LiNK do?
LiNK is the connection between the student, study and future work field. During your study LiNK organises workshops, seminars, guest lectures, parties, drinks, movie nights, the yearly study trip, introduction and many more (study related) activities. LiNK also offers her members discounts on books and other study materials. At the same time LiNK also offers other exclusive offers and discounts for her members.

Committees
Become an active member of LiNK! Within the study association we know many committees. They organise the party’s, movie nights, promotion of LiNK, workshops or the introduction for new students. They also plan the yearly study trip. We’ve visited many cities including Paris, Berlin, London, Milan, Prague, Budapest, Copenhagen, Cracow and Bratislava. For more information about the committees check the committees in the menu above.

Weekly Drink Every Tuesday night we are having a drink. Normally we would have a drink in Bar Update in the city center. Due to COVID-19 the drink is now online. Feel free to join us in LiNK-Discord server from 21:00! You can join the LiNK-Discord server here!

Sign-up!
If you’re starting to like the idea of signing up, here is the sign-up page!
For more information about the membership click here.

Tips for International students

• Banking:
  If you don’t know how to open a Dutch bank account take a look at this page: https://collegelife.co/nl/dutch-bank-account-beginners-guide/
  
• Dutch Texting app:
  Pretty much all Dutch people use Whatsapp. It’s very useful to have so you can stay in touch with everyone you meet here. It’s free and available in all app-stores.
  
• Finding a Room:
  If you’re looking for a place in Enschede, you should check this website, it has a quick overview of all websites that accept international students. https://dutchstudentunion.nl/finding-a-room/enschede/
  
• Insurance EU/EEA students:
  EU/EEA students with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) need to be aware that EHIC only covers emergency health care, and therefore might not cover basic health care.  Please note that the conditions of the European Health Insurance might differ per country. Please check with your insurance if all medical costs will be covered during your study in the Netherlands.  If not, we strongly recommend that you take out additional health insurance, as medical care can be very expensive in the Netherlands. Please visit www.aonstudentinsurance.com for more information and application. Next to this, Saxion strongly advises European students (EU/EAA) to take out third-party liability insurance to cover any accidental damage or harm caused to other persons or property during your study in the Netherlands, for which you are held responsible. The usual coverage against liability is up to the amount of € 500,000. The International Office can arrange this insurance for you through AON. The costs for this insurance is € 32,- per year.
  
• Insurance Non-EU/EEA students:
  For the first year of their study programme, Saxion will arrange insurance for NON-EU students through AON. The cost for this insurance is covered in the package fee, which includes tuition, visa & residence permit, insurance, and housing. For the following year(s), students can extend the insurance themselves online.
  
• Visa:
  If you are a citizen or an official resident of a country not belonging to the EU or EEA, you require an ‘Authorisation for temporary stay’ and/or entry visa (MVV). The Saxion International Office will handle all immigration related matters and will guide you through the entire application process. Each year, Saxion is obliged to inform the IND about students who did not meet the 50% credit requirement for that academic year. If you have not made sufficient study progress, you are not allowed to re-register at Saxion, being for your current course or any other course at Saxion.  Please note that the IND may revoke your residence permit.  Do you want to know if you need a VISA? Visit https://ind.nl/en/study/Pages/study-at-university.aspx

For more information we highly recommend checking out Saxion’s International Office page or contacting them through this e-mail adress: internationaloffice@saxion.nl
If you have any other questions or feel there is some info missing, feel free to send us an e-mail on bestuur@islink.nl or use the contact forms on the website.

Saxion Tips

Ordering books
Before you start ordering your books, check if you can find the books from your book list at the Saxion library (https://saxionbibliotheek.nl/) or at your local library (https://www.bibliotheek.nl/). Here you can borrow study books or you can get digital access to the book (message “Click here for online access”), so you don’t have to buy the book yourself.
Copies are also available for inspection in the library. In that case, you cannot borrow the book and take it home with you, but you can view it in the library. The Saxion library is open every day from 8:30 to 19:00.

Wait with ordering your books until the lessons have started and see if you really need them. Most book orders you’ll have the next day from ordering. This way you don’t have to worry about being behind because you didn’t have the book right away.
If necessary, ask senior students which books from the book list they actually used, and which ones have remained in plastic. There are also senior students who sell their study books for a friendly price.
There are several places to order your study books, for example studystore.nl. Also consider if you want to order second-hand textbooks, this can save a lot of money. Look for example at bol.com at other sellers -> second-hand, on marktplaats.nl or on tweedehandsstudieboeken.nl. The studystore.nl also offers second hand books, but through these other sites you can generally find them cheaper. Sending second-hand books takes a little longer, but here too you generally get them within a week.

Adobe License
The Adobe license can be used on 2 computers. For example, you can agree with a classmate to split the cost of the license, and to put the programs on one computer each. You will use the programs mainly on your laptop and work from here, instead of on a laptop at school and a desktop at home. The license runs for one year.

You can get a lot of software cheaper as a student. For example on websites like surfspot.nl . You can log in with your Saxion account.

Taking notes
Don’t literally take over what’s on the powerpoint slides during lectures, the slides will come online later. Write down what is not in the powerpoint and what you can’t read back online. Some teachers also put the powerpoints online in advance. You can then, for example, make your notes in the notes of the presentation for the slide in question.

Examination material
The exam often mainly discusses things that have been discussed in the lectures. To a lesser extent, the information from the textbook and its chapters is discussed. When learning, focus mainly on the course material and your notes, and to a lesser extent on all the material in your textbook.

Work and study places
At Saxion there are several workplaces, for example in the library. In the library there are silence cabins that you can reserve if you want to work alone for a while, via the library website. These can be reserved for a maximum of 2 hours per day.

If you have any questions for us about the start of the school year, feel free to drop by the LiNK office on the seventh floor of the Epy Drost building or write us an email at bestuur@islink.nl.

Enschede

In general, always ask if the location has a student discount or menu. More often than not you’ll get a small discount. LiNK has some special deals, check here!

The best bars

• Update: Always open for student drinks and parties. This is the pub of our study association, every Tuesday at 9 pm our drinks start here.
• Space bar: This is the newest bar in Enschede. Completely space-themed, very bold and you must have been there once!
• Rocks: Do you like to rock? Then Rocks is the place to be!
• Friends backstage: The general pub of studying Enschede. Every day of the week you can enjoy yourself here, they are even open till 4 o’clock!
• Wigwam: Feel like singing loudly and falsely with the wrong numbers? Then go to karaoke cafe de WigWam.

Nice dinner locations

• Poco Mucho: LiNK has been working with the Argentine restaurant Poco Mucho for a number of years now. You can eat out here for only 13 euro’s (incl. Bread basket, 2 drinks and a main course) when you show your LiNK-membershipcard.
• Daghappen: Dinner doesn’t have to be that expensive.That’s why Enschede has the site www.hapdedag.nl . Here you can see the offers of different restaurants every day, then you have a main course to grab around 10 euros!
• Unlimited sushi: Would you like an enjoyable evening with lots of sushi and alcohol? At several sushi restaurants in the city centre you can eat unlimited sushi and drink unlimited beer/wine for only 30 euros for 2 hours.

Going out late into the night

• Aspen Valley: This is one of the real dance bars of Enschede.
• The General: This is the pub of all HBO student associations. There are often drinks and parties here, there is also once per quartile a HBO party. Definitely recommended to go to!
• ‘t Gat: In the middle of the old marketplace, a flight of stairs goes down, then you get to the Audentis student club: ‘t Gat. You don’t want to come here too early, but you know you’ve had a nice evening when you end up here.
• Pakkerij: The Pakkerij is home to several student associations. Once in a while they give an open party, this is always crowded. The beer here is only 90 cents!
• Bolke: Bolke is a club. Large parties or galas are held here.
• Tabula soos: Above the general sits the soos of the study Physiotherapy. Every Tuesday they have a drink that goes on into the late hours.

Other fun activities to do

• Bowling: You can bowl in two places in Enschede. This can be done at Bowling Enschede (Colloseum 72) and at Starballs (J J van Deinselaan 28). Definitely fun to do as a date or with friends!
• Glowgolf: On the same square as Starballs is Glowgolf (J J van Deinselaan 30). Very nice activity to do once in a while!
• Escape room: Do you want to get to know each other well? And puzzle together under time pressure? Then you should definitely go to one of the many escape rooms in Enschede.
• Cinema: Want to go to the movies? In Enschede the cinema Kinepolis is located in two places. One at the FC Twente stadium and one in the city centre.
• Museums: There are two museums in Enschede. Namely the Rijksmuseum Twenthe (lots of art), the museum factory (this is a fusion of 3 different museums, very interactive).
• Swimming: It’s always fun to go swimming for a day. You can go to the Aquadrome, this is a recreational and competition pool. It is also fun to cycle to the Rutbeek on hot summer days. This is a large swimming pool in the south of Enschede.
• Pubquiz: Lot’s of pubs organise a pubquiz. Check out ‘Bij Flip’ Very nice to take part once in a while!
• Pooling: On the old market there are two locations to pool, at the pool centre and at the bridge.
• Grolsch tour: In Twente, it’s important that you learn to drink Grolsch. This is drunk everywhere and is the most accepted beer. The brewery is located in Enschede and it is very nice to do a tour there. You will also get to taste all their beers!