InnoEnergy Master School has two programmes which have the option of choosing TU/e as second year university: MSc in Sustainable Energy Systems and MSc in Smart Electrical Networks and Systems.

TU/e is located inEindhoven, the heart of the high-tech Brainport region of the Netherlands, and is ranked 2nd best in the country according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023: Engineering & Technology. Eindhoven also happens to be the location of the headquarters of EIT InnoEnergy. Therefore, the connection with innovation is clear!

According to the 2022 National Student Housing Monitor, students were struggling finding housing nationwide. As a result, the Dutch government has been actively working on action plans to create more student homes in the next years. In Eindhoven, the rules for private homeowners renting out rooms have changed recently, to stimulate residents to rent out spare rooms to students.

The issue is being addressed, however, finding accommodation can still be a challenging task.

I moved to Eindhoven in August 2022. We were advised to look for accommodation in advance but if I tried too early, the starting time of the contract did not work for me. Since it is a highly demanded market, landlords normally make the contract start immediately or for the following month, which makes sense because many people want that.

So, I started looking in June through Facebook groups and housing platforms.I was lucky to have the support of EIT InnoEnergy friends. So, I found temporary places to live during August, September and October and finally I obtained an indefinite contract for a room since November!

• My fellow classmates all had different experiences! Here’s some notes looking back at them: You may find accommodation through TU/e, but this is not the case for everyone.
• You may take advantage of knowing someone who is move out of their accommodation. So, you could take their room. This happened especially with seniors who graduated and moved to another city. This is a great thing about students at EIT InnoEnergy studying two years, meaning we already knew students from the year above.
• You could make use of housing platforms such as Holland2Stay, Kamernet and Vestide.
• Finally, you may have to live in another town and take the train to school. There are many towns nearby. But bear in mind the possible extra costs for commuting. Commuting to/from Eindhoven is not difficult as there are frequent connections from most cities and nearby towns. However, public transport costs are not particularly low in the Netherlands.

When you get admission to the university, you will receive information about its housing partners in Eindhoven: Vestide, Holland2Stay, The Student Hotel and Mosaic World. I recommend creating an account in all of them and start applying for everything available!

The advantage of these platforms options is that you will easily know who gets the place. You get the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

If you are fine with living with other people, Kamernet is a platform to find a room in a student house or residents with a spare room for rent. Facebook groups that I knew about were Kamer in Eindhoven and ‘Eindhoven Housing.

There is also a platform called Huurwoningen. I do not have a success story using Facebook or Huurwoningen but it should not be discarded as an option.

Nevertheless, you must be beware of scams! They are not unusual, don’t let yourself be rushed. If a landlord asks you to transfer money quickly, that is usually a bad sign. Make sure you have seen the property in real life or, if possible, send someone you know to check that the place exists.

If you are going to move soon to Eindhoven and you know people who live there, it is recommended that you reach out to them so they can help you if they know about people looking for a housemate/tenant.

Moving to Eindhoven may be difficult but it is definitely not impossible, and the Dutch life experience is quite valuable!

by Silvia Adriana León Cruz, EIT InnoEnergy student