The scarcity of housing is the main problem for students in the Netherlands.
Unlike British universities, Dutch universities, except Twente University in Enschede, are not campus based. Therefore students that are unable to arrange accommodation through the University Accommodation Office will have to make their own arrangements. However, all Dutch universities have arrangements whereby exchange students are helped to find somewhere to live, though in places like Amsterdam where accommodation is at a premium, they cannot guarantee places to all students. Although the specific procedures vary from university to university, once a place has been confirmed a student's name is passed on to an accommodation office or an International students' committee or even a faculty coordinator who then set about organising rooms.
At the University of Amsterdam the course coordinator sends the names of new exchange students to a housing corporation which has a number of available student rooms or rooms with families. Once a suitable place is found, students sign a rent contract either with the corporation (if corporation-run) or, in the case of private rooms, with the university, who manage the tenancy. In both cases the course coordinator decides on the type of accommodation needed and tries to house students accordingly. All accommodation is furnished, including blankets and sheets.
Both the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and the University of Utrecht have similar accommodation schemes run jointly by faculty and a housing office. Groningen University assigns a contact person to individual exchange students whose brief includes organising accommodation for the new exchange intake.
Note: Exchange students are actually given priority over Dutch students in many instances!
