A Vice Ain't No Crime — Interview Concerning All Things Student

Catherine Léglu is our Vice-rector for academic affairs. You might have gotten emails from her through Moodle regarding course feedback, student delegation elections, and other matters related to life as a student of uni.lu.

Q: Thank you very much for doing this interview! Let us start with what’s fresh. Is there anything new cooking for students?

The pleasure is mine, and yes: there is something new that concerns all students. We are constantly working on making students' experience with uni.lu better. For this, it is vital that students are able to communicate their needs, observations and critiques about the university.

Course feedback is one of the means our students can affect their surroundings. Unfortunately, only 28% of students usually fill out the course feedback questionnaires. To involve all students in shaping the teaching culture, we are making providing course feedback mandatory for bachelor and master students.

"We know it might look like a drastic change, but feedback from more students means the university will understand better if there is anything wrong (or right) with courses or professors."

Hearing students' needs is very important; and not only regarding classes. It is also important that students have the opportunity to talk to someone if they face personal or professional challenges or if they feel excluded or discriminated against.

To aid students flourishing as individuals, Umatter is a major section of the new uni.lu website. One of the important news is that the university website got a much-needed facelift! Umatter is dedicated to students’ well-being, mental health, peer support, and financial support, and it links to the support of social and cultural life.

"Well-being includes mental health, but also includes campus well-being. It includes whether you can belong, whether you have a community, whether the university is willing to take you seriously as a person."

Did you know for instance, that the rector has open office hours where students can directly talk to him and ask questions?

Q: I actually did not know that! In my experience, a lot of students feel that the university – or more specifically Belval – is not a very nurturing environment in terms of wellbeing.

I have to say, I agree with the sentiment regarding Campus Belval, but only at first glance. Belval is a modern academic district and might seem unfriendly at first because of its purely contemporary architectural solutions.

However, the campus offers a lot. Firstly, the infrastructure aiding academic life is state-of-the-art. The conference systems, the IT network and the LLC make studying a flawless and socially satisfying environment. Secondly, there are cafeterias and restaurants, and the Sunday opening of the LLC makes a big difference.

"To make the learning experience even better, we are now working on harmonising classroom slots and the needs of departments. This will result in course schedules that are more smooth for all students."

Also, there is an IT helpdesk on the MSA second floor, to provide support for any problems regarding one's university email inbox and registrations to all university online services. I encourage everyone to ask the helpdesk for help – they are very helpful and very hands-on.

Finally, the Office of Student Life (OSL) is on Campus Belval, and they are doing a very good job in providing students with help and resources if they want to be active in any way: culturally, athletically, or in any way students happen to think of.

There are currently 15 student associations and 21 student clubs – and one can form an association and club for virtually anything (History, basketball, Bollywood dancing…). If you wish to be a part of such a community, feel free to join one. Or establish one with your friends.

"The more student initiatives, the better! OSL will help you during the process! They have new offices now, on the fifth floor in the SEVE. They are happy to welcome you anytime." ( You can find out about OSL in the 2023 September ROUX.)

Q: Apart from students being able to influence how they study and how they shape their cultural and social life, housing is also a very important aspect of wellbeing – and finding housing is very problematic for a lot of students, to say the least.

That is a constant challenge for us. Before I talk about what we are working on now to make things easier for students, let us see the issue in numbers.

There are currently around 6,000 students at uni.lu. Around a third of these students request for accommodation: this summer, over 900 students applied for housing, 195 of whom were on a waiting list by early October. This includes both EU and non-EU students.

"There are currently 1,000 units available as student housing, which can cover a bit more than half of what we would need."

This is obviously a problem, but the solution is unfortunately not only in the university's hands. There are a few things happening at the moment regarding the issue.

On the one hand, some 140 units will be built by non-university stakeholders next to the MSH building on Campus Belval – construction will start relatively soon. This is good news but will obviously not solve the issue completely. Other projects are under discussion, some are very promising.

On the other hand, we are doing what we can to alleviate the situation. For instance, we introduced a limitation on how many times one can renew the lease – the limit is the number of semesters one's programme lasts. This considerably helped in finding a place for students who are beginning or are mid-studies.

We are also working on ways to balance who gets placed in a housing unit according to nationality, gender, on which campus one studies and based on one's budget limitations. Plus, we take into consideration if one has a child to live with and to take care of during their studies.

We work hard towards making the best of our existing resources, with an existing time pressure: lease contracts are for six months.

Q: Hopefully more accommodation units will be established in the future – on all campuses, not just Belval. Would you like to add any closing remarks, or a message to the students?

Let us hope for the best. There are developments on the way, but these things tend to happen very slowly. In the meantime, I encourage students to join and establish groups, clubs, and associations to take initiative and to take advantage of OSL and what the campuses can offer. Also, visit the rector in his office hours – he will be there to listen!

Roux Magazine

Roux Magazine is made by students at the University of Luxembourg. We love their work, so we decided to team up with them and bring some of their articles to our audience as well. You can find all of their issues on Issuu.