It goes without saying that as a student, it’s important to stay focused on your studies. You have to pass your exams and meet your deadlines. However, there’s a lot to learn during your student years, and perhaps the most important lessons don’t come from books or lectures. While some students join a student team, others organize events or combine their studies with top-level sports. As a result, TU/e produces engineers who are versatile and have unique skills.

In addition to personal growth, active students are also important to society. They fill in the gaps where the university falls short and make Eindhoven a truly vibrant student city. Just look at the Thêta triathlon, the Career Expo recruitment days, or the Liberation 040 festival. All of these initiatives are organized by students.

Focus on studies

Nowadays, students are increasingly choosing to focus entirely on their studies. This isn’t because students have no ambition to do more. The threshold for participating in student life has simply become higher. Students are being asked to do more and more on all fronts, which means they can no longer afford to develop themselves outside the lecture rooms.

Rising rents, higher grocery costs, and increased tuition fees mean that students have to work more to make ends meet. At the same time, the study programs themselves also demand more from students. In the past year, no less than a quarter to 40 percent of students indicated they thought the study pressure was too high. And as if that weren't enough, the government is trying to add to that pressure, first with the slow-progress penalty (which was ultimately scrapped) and then with the abolition of cheap student sports (also scrapped).

Reducing workload

All in all, uncertainty has grown considerably among students, forcing their hand when it comes to choosing a path. You have to study quickly to avoid delays and high student debt. As a result, we’re in danger of losing the active student life in Eindhoven.

The Executive Board must do everything in its power to prevent this before it is too late. For one thing, the board could reduce the education-related workload for students or lobby with politicians for adequate policy. If the university invests in active students now, it’s investing in more than just individuals – it’s building a vibrant city and helping to shape the engineers who will drive our future.

Danny Liu is a Mechanical Engineering student and represents Groep-één in the University Council. The views expressed in this column are his own.