Plans for new parking spaces, study spots and lecture halls

How will the university tackle the crowdedness on campus? That’s what Univers readers wanted to know. During last week’s Daily Board meeting, rector magnificus Emile Aarts presented new plans to get a handle on the overcrowding. A report.

Important news is that forty extra lunch seats will be added in the lunch room in the Cobbenhagen building, where Remco serves his 1-2-3 meals. . The road verges along the Warandelaan have been cemented to create additional parking space, and an additional 317 bicycle parking racks will be placed on campus. In other words: hooray! The university board will monitor the latest developments regarding the basic facilities on campus, such as bicycle parking space, work places, lunch spots and lecture halls. A ratio of facilities per students will be set.

The rector reports that there are currently 2300 places to study on campus, although these places are not all accessible due to renovations. The campus has been expanding rapidly over the past few years: in 2016 an additional 143 study spots were created, and 140 extra spots were added in 2017, for instance in the newly built Reitse Poort. In 2018 an additional 350 work spots will be created in the Education Experience Center, or the Onderwijs Zelfstudie Centrum (OZC) in Dutch. During periods in which no exams are taken, 480 more study spots will be available. In addition, the campus has received 120 outdoor work places in recent years. According to the university board, Tilburg University will have the best ratio of work places per student compared to other Dutch universities when the OZC is opened, with 1 academic work spot for every 4,8 students. This would be the highest ratio in the country, although we aren’t quite there yet. The rector also promises to improve communication on study spots, so that students know which places on campus are available.

Future

In the further future, 200 new work places will be created in Tilburg’s central library in the Spoorzone, although that will not happen before 2019, when the construction of the Mind Labs building in the Spoorzone has been completed. Another plan for the future: replacing the current university restaurant (the mensa) with the new Food Plaza. Univers has not been informed as to when the renovation of the mensa will be commenced, but the project is mentioned in the New Real Estate Vision.

As to overcrowded lecture halls, the new OZC building will have to offer some relief: it will house one big lecture hall with a 600-person capacity, which can be split up into two smaller halls for up to 300 students each, five smaller lecture halls with a 81-person capacity, and twelve classrooms for up to 40 students each. In addition, two large examination halls will be realized, which offers room for 200 to 280 students. These examination halls are suited for digital exams, but they can also be used as studying spots.

Because of the campus growth, the Prisma building will not be demolished any time soon. That’s nothing new, though: there have been plans to take down the building since 1997, but Prisma is still standing.

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