‘We received more visitors than we expected,’ says Rita de Wilde, Project leader of Open Days. ‘In fact, there was so much interest in the general presentation in the Waaier on Saturday that people couldn’t fit into the lecture hall anymore. For safety reasons, we therefore had to close the doors and not allow more people in.’
The Master’s Open Day on Thursday was attended by roughly 1500 people, while the Bachelor’s Open Days on Friday and Saturday welcomed 7850 visitors. ‘Of those, about 50% were study seekers and the rest were parents,’ clarifies De Wilde.
Two extra messages
Besides the total number of visitors, this year marked several other record numbers, says De Wilde. ‘We had the highest show percentage ever. Over 80% of people who registered for the event actually came. I believe this is also thanks to our new approach. After the people registered, instead of receiving one email, they received two extra messages informing them about the importance of selecting the right study programme.’ The number of people joining the campus tours also broke a new record: over 500.
Where did the visitors come from? ‘Most attendees were Dutch, but there were also people of other various nationalities, as is usual,’ answers De Wilde. At the Bachelor’s Open Days, 90% of visitors came from within the Netherlands, 7% from Germany and 3% from elsewhere – this number was higher at the Master’s Open Days, about 12%. People who couldn’t come in person will have the opportunity to join the Online Open Day on the 28th of November.
