Roeterseiland

The UvA has different buildings and campuses located in different parts of Amsterdam. The psychology department is located on Roeterseilandcampus, Roetersstraat 11. This is the center of Amsterdam, and the place you will have most of your lectures and tutorials. However, your exams mostly take place at another location, mostly at IWO, Meibergdreef 29, Amsterdam.

The different buildings at Roeterseiland Campus:

  • A, B, C: you will have most lectures in these buildings. These are the bordeaux red, light orange and lila buildings on the map. Big chance that your tutorial groups will take place here as well.
  • D or “De Brug” (the Bridge): De Brug is a canteen on a bridge over the canal on the 4th floor and has an amazing view over the campus. It is the green building on the map. So, for a nice view during your lunch, you should definitely go there.
  • E: Faculty of Economics & Business
  • G: the Psychology Department. The VSPA room is also situated in this building. This is the place to get your summaries, ask your questions about extracurricular activities and meet fellow psychology students. This is the orange building on the map.
  • H: In building H, the red building in the top left corner, is the general canteen. Here you can buy sandwiches, soup, and a changing assortment of warm meals, such as vietnamese, indian or mexican food. Building H also has workspaces, a library and computers to work on.
  • JK: there is a chance that your tutorials will take place in the purple JK building.

For a nice study break, a good lunch, some coffee or a beer, CREA is the place to be. CREA is a cafe and a cultural student center, where you can do a lot. You can do courses in music, dance, film & photography, theatre, creative skills, fine arts and much more. And everything with a discount for UvA students. For more information about CREA go to their website, (https://www.crea.nl/?lang=en) or see the topic down below.

For other food around campus, you should go to “De Brug” or the canteen in the H building. Luckily, the buildings are very well marked on campus with their letters. And you can always ask someone at the service desk of a building. Furthermore, the campus has practical facilities as well. There are computers in the library, you can print on campus, and you can book your own rooms via https://uva.mapiq.net/.

Around campus, there are loads of facilities. There’s a supermarket, Albert Heijn, around the corner. There are tram and metro stops close by, what makes the campus easy to reach. Moreover, there are bars, cafes and restaurants in the streets around campus as well.

For a tour around Roeterseilandcampus, see this video:

Canvas

Canvas is one of the main websites you’ll be using when studying or planning your courses. This is the website where the UvA puts all the information about your courses, they call it their digital learning environment. The course syllabus, your lecture slides, course announcements, assignments, etc. will all be posted here.

Go to canvas.uva.nl and log in with your UvAnetID (this is your student number and password). If you’re logged in, all your active courses are placed on the Dashboard. For help, you can click “Help” in the toolbar on the left of your screen.

If you scroll down in the Help section, there are five tips posted for using Canvas. Also, more information can be found on the UvA Website(https://student.uva.nl/en/content/az/canvas/canvas.html). Hopefully this will help you further!

Who to Contact at UvA

The Ombuds student

The Ombudsstudent is an independent contact person, this year that is Elin Swaan. If you ever find yourself in a situation in which you feel that you are being treated unfairly, or if you disagree with something and you don’t know how to solve it, she is your contact person!

Contact: 

Email: psyombudsstudent-fmg@uva.nl

The study advisors

The study advisor’s primary job is to help you go through your studies without hiccups. For study advice, guidance and planning you can contact one of the study advisers. So, all study related questions are for them! You could come to them for information about a specific course, or any personal issues you might experience, that influence your studying.

Because of the corona restriction, the study advisers work mostly form home, and it’s only possible to visit (Nieuwe Achtergracht, 129-B, rooms G0.23 and G0.24) by appointment.

You can send the study advisors an email and ask for a telephone or zoom appointment if you like. You could also call them during the telephone consultation hours for short questions.

The study advisors are:

  • Rebeka Rotter
  • Rosemarijn Franses
  • Irene Luth
  • Sarah Plunkett

Contact:

Email: Studyadviser-psy-fmg@uva.nl

Open office hours
Monday to Friday 13.00-15.00, REC G0.23 and 0.24.

Make appointment online
Students can make a personal appointment online. An appointment is set for twenty minutes.

Telephone consultation hours

Tuesday              10.00-11.00 T: +31(0)20 525 5855
Wednesday        10:00-11:00 T: +31(0)6 3927 0562
Friday                  10.00-11.00 T: +31(0)6 1893 8247

The VSPA

The VSPA is always there for you, for whatever questions or issues you might have. Both personal and study related questions are always welcome! We will try to help you or send you to the best person to contact.

This year we have two appointed trust persons, Heleen and Irmak. They are the specific people in the VSPA to contact when you have personal troubles and you don’t know who to contact. Heleen or Irmak will then help you out, either directly or with finding the right person.

Contact:

You can contact us via Instagram by sending us a private message, or you can send an email to info@vspa.nl.  You can of course also always stop by at the VSPA room (GS.25)

Trust persons: heleen@vspa.nl and Irmak@vspa.nl

Teacher

You can always contact your teachers, the people giving the lectures, for questions that are related to the study material.

Contact:

Their contact information is course (and teacher) specific, but you can always find them on canvas or by googling: ‘their name, UvA’.

Tutorial teacher 

Your tutorial teacher is there to help you with your study material and studying in general, but they’re also your mentor! You can always contact them with your personal and study-related troubles, don’t be afraid to ask them for help.

Contact: 

Every semester you get a new tutorial teacher, you can always email them via canvas and they usually also share their other contact information in one of the first tutorials.

The education desk

If you have other questions about your application, admission or selection, you can contact our education desk. You may experience difficulties reaching the Education Desk via telephone. If you send them an email, they will reply to you shortly.

You can contact the education desk for:

  • Your (certified) grade list, which includes your GPA
  • Requests about general study information
  • To pick up your propaedeutic and bachelor’s degree (after notification)
  • Information about test viewings and reassessment requests (1st and 2nd year bachelor)
  • Contract education
  • Colloquium doctum (21+ tests)

Contact: 

Educationdesk-psy@uva.nl

Nieuwe Achtergracht 129-B, room G0.22

1018 WS Amsterdam

Telephone: +31(0)20 525 6770 (between 10:00 – 14:00)

Course Registration

Course registration for second and third-year students 

Course registration is easier than you think, but because the first time can definitely be a bit stressful, we’ll give you a step-by-step plan to complete.

The study advisors always sent you an email containing a very useful document, which explains everything very clearly. So be sure to check out that document in case you haven’t.

General information 

As you may already have gathered, the upcoming course registration period for the bachelor of Psychology will take place via a new pilot system called GLASS. From Thursday 25 November 10:00 up to and including Tuesday 30 November 23:59 you can register for the courses you want to take in the next semester.

With GLASS, the idea of ‘first come, first served’ no longer applies: it does not matter when exactly you register, as long as it is within the given course registration period. In addition, you do not choose groups, but only indicate which courses you want to take and what your time preferences are. After registration closes, we will place you in courses and groups, taking into account as much as possible your schedule and time preferences. On 3 December you will hear to which groups you have been assigned and you can access your schedule.

PLEASE NOTE: Because the results of SSR and first-year resits will not (all) be known on 3 December, there will no check on entry requirements after this course registration round. The check will follow at the end of December and January. This means that registration can still be reversed on the basis of this check.

Step-by-step plan

Registering for courses works as follows:

  1. Go to the Course Catalogue, find the course for which you want to register and select ‘Add to course registration’
  2. You will be redirected to GLASS. Please log in there.
  3. You will see a pop-up indicating whether the course is open for registration. If it is, add thecourse to the course registration.
  4. The course will appear in the ‘Registration’ column.
  5. Repeat these steps for all courses. Your registration for these courses will be processed on 3December.
  6. You will receive an email when your registration has been processed. Please log into GLASSto find out in which tutorial you have been placed.

Time preferences

You will be able to use the clock icon in the registration column to designate up to 2 half days when you would prefer not to take any classes. Where possible, this will be taken into account when assigning students to courses and tutorials.

Unsubscribing from courses

To deregister from courses in GLASS, simply click on the course you have registered for and click the deregister button in the window that opens.

Questions

Do you have questions about GLASS and the technical side of course registration? Then please fill in this form. Do you have questions about your study programme or planning? Please contact the Education Desk or the study advisers.

Where can I study?

Volkshotel  

  • This is probably the most well-known study spot for students in Amsterdam. The hotel has a ‘werkplaats’ (workplace) area, with indoor and outdoor workspace, and even work-cabins available. You can book meeting rooms for work or group projects. Usually the ‘werkplaats’ is open until 1AM (2AM on Sundays), but with COVID-19 these opening hours can vary, so make sure to check before you go. https://www.volkshotel.nl/en/werkplaats/

UvA

UB singel

UvA Campus

  • Of course, every UvA campus has a lot of libraries as well. You can always visit these libraries, but in times of COVID-19, make a reservation first!

Cafes

  • Cafes are a great place to work if you don’t like to study in silence, some examples are Coffee Company, Bagels and Beans, CREA, House of Watt, and many more!

OBA

  • OBA stands for Public Library Amsterdam, the main library is located near the Central Station and has seven floors, but there are a lot of different OBA locations all over Amsterdam, so there is always one close to you! https://www.oba.nl/oba/amsterdam-public-library.html

Stedelijk Museum Library

  • The Stedelijk Museum Library is accessible for free and without a ticket to enter the museum.

The Student Hotel, West & East Amsterdam

  • The Student Hotel provides the perfect place to work, there are a lot of students and it acts as a networking hub as well. There is a lot of space and the chairs are comfortable. There are two locations on opposite sides of the city. https://www.thestudenthotel.com/amsterdam-city/

Sports

Working out is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but as a student you do not always have the time or the money to do so. Besides joining a sport association (see above) you can also sign up for a gym!

First of all there is the USC. USC is the student sports center in Amsterdam, focused on improving sports facilities for students in Amsterdam. They have multiple locations throughout the city, for example on Science Park, and close to Roeterseiland. They offer group or solo training, ranging from tennis, basketball and football, to fencing, pole dancing, and diving. Trial memberships are available, and their gym membership starts at only 16 euros a month!

https://uscsport.nl/en/

Next to that there are multiple (big) gyms you can sign up for, these are the most popular ones in Amsterdam:

  • FitForFree
  • BasicFit (also offers Lady Only gyms)
  • SportCity
  • TrainMore
  • VondelGym

CREA Courses and Workshop

CREA is the UvA’s cultural centre. It is situated on the Roeterseiland Campus opposite the G-building. CREA offers a wide variety of courses and workshops in the fields of music, theater, dance, film, digital media, photography and literature. Learn how to play ukulele during an 8-week course or dive into improvisation theatre during one of their week-long summer courses! As a UvA student you get a 50 percent discount on these courses and workshops.

For more information on the different courses that CREA has to offer you can head over to their website: https://www.crea.nl/cursussen/?lang=en

Student Parties

UvASociaal

Description:

Diversity, sustainability, accessibility and transparency, these are UvASociaal core pillars. We were founded in the year 2006 and have worked tirelessly to have the voice of the average student heard in the decision-making process of the university since then. Our goal in UvASociaal is a university that exists as a democratic and inclusive community with equal opportunities for all. This community is ideally one where accessibility of higher education and the quality of education is and will always remain the priority. Our members believe that we have a vital role to play in improving the university and we welcome everyone who believes they can help us in representing the students and to let their voice be heard.

Some examples of what we stand for:

  • The ability to study regardless of one’s socio-economic background
  • Proposals such as the Green Commitment to reduce the ecological footprint of the
  • University and its student associations
  • Smaller number of students in tutorial groups
  • A higher budget for teaching and the improvement of its quality
  • More blended learning incorporated into our education (lecture recordings, online tests)

020

Description:

Student politics has to change, fundamentally. 020 believes in a democratic system capable of truly representing the students, while effectively holding the UvA accountable. Our University is both bureaucratic and slow in enacting any form of change—something we all have become familiar with.

Therefore, within one year, we have established ourselves as the party that fruitfully acts both within the Student Council and also outside of it. You can think of our Project Major event and booklet series that helped hundreds of students decide which academic and professional field to pursue, but also of the policies––such as blind grading and mid-course evaluation, among many others––that our representatives have passed in the Council.

What allows us to be so active and successful is our unique approach to student politics. Instead of a few candidates scattered over faculties, 020 has grown to become an organisation with soon almost a hundred members, all working towards the same goal of making the University simply a better place. This means that every vote cast for an 020 candidate is a vote for our whole organisation to keep growing and enacting the change we need.

Inter UvA

Description

We are a student party at the University of Amsterdam working to increase transparency in decision-making at the institution and improve your student experience. We are diverse, curious, ambitious, and determined to bring these values to university politics. We believe in more student involvement in university politics to create a more interconnected, interactive university. We strive to close the gap between university governance and the student community through direct and transparent democracy. We aim for solutions benefiting all students at the University of Amsterdam. Five goals of Inter are: transparent and democratic decision-making, quality of education and academic flexibility, diversification of backgrounds of the student body, improved student welfare and sustainable policies and practices.

De Vrije Student

Description

De Vrije Student (The Free Student) puts students in the first place. That means that all lectures should be available online, that there should be more space in the university to study and that we are in favour of a higher teaching level in international classes. We find it important that you can evolve yourself to the utmost level during your time in college. Being a student is more than just study: it also comprehends the possibility to become a board member of your study association, to have a job next to your study or enjoy your free time in Amsterdam! We want you to be able to make use of these possibilities by giving you online lectures.

At the same time, we stand for a realistic university: of course, we are not against gender neutral toilets or vegan food in the cantina, but can the university’s money not in the first place be spent in another way? We say: first the study spaces and online lectures, and after that we can look into other subjects. That is how we distinguish ourselves from other parties.

Sport Association

Sport associations are the perfect combination of playing sports and the ‘gezelligheid’ of a student association. You will meet a bunch of new people and have a lot of fun, while also staying in shape! What more could you ask for? Amsterdam offers around 25 sports associations, varying from badminton to cricket, and volleyball to rowing. Whatever sport you prefer, there is always something that floats your boat!

Most sports associations are open to registrations at the beginning of the academic year (Aug/Sep), and halfway through the academic year (Jan/Feb)

You can find all the sports associations on the website of the UvA, go check it out!

Student Association

Besides study associations, Amsterdam also has a lot of different associations you can join! A student association focuses on student life in Amsterdam.

Student associations are separate associations for students from all different programmes. Most student associations have a hazing system. This is a period in which students have to prove themselves with all sorts of crazy assignments before they belong to the student association. Think of being dropped somewhere random in the Netherlands without a phone or money. The aim is to get back to the city you came from. In addition, student associations are mainly about having fun and getting together. For more information, go to the student life page on the UvA website!

Next to the ‘basic’ student associations, there are also some student associations with a specific focus on for example theatre, art, politics or music!

  • International associations

There are international associations, these associations focus mostly on the internationalization of young people and offering them opportunities for e.g. cultural integration, international internships or housing! For more information, click here  

  • Cultural and ethnic associations

These associations that focus on specific cultural or ethnic groups. For example, there are associations specifically for Moroccan/Dutch students, Asian students, Jewish students and Surinamese students! For more information, click here

  • Religious and spiritual associations

These associations have a religious or spiritual focus. For example, there are reformed Christian associations, Hindu associations or meditation associations. For more information, click here 

  • Gender and sexuality associations 

Then, there are also student associations that focus on gender and sexuality. For more information about these associations, click here

  • Creative arts and media associations

You can also find associations that offer opportunities to take part in arts, music or media! Want to know more about orchestra, TV or art association? Click here