Words of welcome by Jan van Zanen to the participants of The Hague Orientation Program, 19 August 2024

Dear students,

Welcome to The Hague.

The city where you will be living and studying in the coming years.

The Hague has a lot to offer, for relaxing but also for your new study.

Let’s start with the fun bits: The Hague is by the sea, has beautiful beaches and lovely parks.

The Hague is the ultimate international city: you will meet students from all corners of the world here.

Some of you have come from abroad.

Like you, I too had the opportunity to study abroad many years ago.

Thanks to the Rotary Graduate Foundation, I was awarded a scholarship and a place at Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York.

A year fending for myself in a foreign country: an educational time that I have fond memories of.

In our city, you can do almost any sport you can think of, at a special student rate, of course.

The various active student associations offer opportunities to socialise and to make new friends.

There are also many cultural activities you can explore in the city.

The night life is equally diverse, with plenty of options for relaxing and celebrating academic successes together.

Because your studies are also important…

You are here for your personal development, to broaden or deepen your knowledge and, at the end, complete you studies with a diploma.

The Hague has a lot to offer in that respect too.

Due to the unique character of The Hague, you will find that bit more here.

Like the Peace Palace with its library as an endless source of knowledge relating to international law.

The Peace Palace is considered the ultimate symbol of peace and justice, two things that have defined the character of The Hague for 125 years.

Or the National Library of the Netherlands, where you can find nearly everything ever published here.

The Dutch government and many international organisations, NGOs and companies are also located here.

They offer you the opportunity to do research and put the knowledge acquired into practice, with an internship, for example.

In the past, students have researched a variety of social issues in The Hague.

As a city, we are obviously delighted about that.

And about the positive boost to the business climate for companies.

After all, the presence of students makes it even more interesting for start-ups to work on social and technological innovations in the city.

I wish you the best of luck with your studies and lots of fun in the time to come.

I’m sure we’ll meet again at some point in our beautiful city.