TU Delft Summer School Planning and Design for the Just City

If you are selected and need a visa, TU Delft will provide a letter of invitation after verifying your application. The university cannot grant the visa itself — only the Dutch authorities can do so, based on your documents, an interview where applicable, and a fee.

Apply for a short-stay (tourist) Schengen visa, not a student visa. The Summer School runs for ten days and counts as a short workshop — the much longer student visa process does not apply.

A Schengen visa lets you travel freely within the Schengen Area, which covers most of continental Europe. It does not cover the UK, Ireland, or a few other countries.

You are responsible for arranging your own accommodation. TU Delft has no student dormitories — students rent independently — and we have no agreements or discounts with hotels or hostels in Delft. We can suggest options, but cannot manage bookings for you.

Our top suggestion is The Social Hub (formerly The Student Hotel), a short walk from the venue. Rooms fill up early, so book as soon as you are accepted.

Other options include:

• Hostelworld — hostels in Delft
• Airbnb
• Friends or contacts in the area
• Student room-rental Facebook groups, where TU Delft students sometimes sublet rooms over the summer — this group is one starting point

You must have valid medical insurance for your stay. The Netherlands does not provide free public healthcare to visitors, and uninsured treatment can be expensive.

For guidance, see Study in Holland. We recommend Aon Student Insurance.

Fees are set according to the World Bank income classification of your passport country, so that participation is as accessible as possible. The fee covers the course, the final certificate, some meals, site visits, and social activities. It does not cover travel to or from Delft, accommodation, or daily meals.

To find out which category your country falls under, see the Fees page, which lists all countries by tier.

Students from Low Income countries pay €150 and may apply for a full scholarship covering the course fee. Students from conflict and crisis contexts are considered for a full fee waiver; places are limited to around 10–12 per edition and are allocated case by case.

A very small number of earmarked scholarships also exist for Sub-Saharan African students and for Young Teachers (early-career academics in a teaching position). These are extremely competitive — recent editions have attracted over 100 applications for two or three available places. We mention them here for transparency, but applicants should not rely on them and are strongly encouraged to seek independent funding.

To apply for a scholarship or fee waiver, contact us at summerschool@tudelft.nl with a brief statement of motivation and confirmation of your nationality.

Note: These arrangements apply only to this Summer School. TU Delft has separate scholarship policies for its regular degree programmes — see TU Delft scholarships for those.

Delft is easily reached by train from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and Rotterdam The Hague Airport. From Schiphol, the train takes 40 minutes and costs €12.30 — far faster and cheaper than a taxi (€80–100).

Plan your journey at 9292.nl or ns.nl. For discounted travel, check NS season tickets.

If you will travel by public transport often, consider an OV-chipkaart — a top-up travel card similar to London’s Oyster card. Cycling is also practical: rent a bike through Swapfiets.

During the Summer School, transport to site visits and field trips is arranged for you.

The Summer School is held in the PULSE Building on the TU Delft campus. The opening session takes place in the Square; most teaching activities happen in Hall 2. Some sessions also take place in the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.

PULSE is open 08:00–19:00 in July. Summer School activities run 09:00–18:00 each day.

From Delft Central Station, the venue is a 15–17 minute walk. Delft is compact and very walkable.

By bus, alight at stop “Julianalaan”:

• Bus 40, direction Rotterdam Central
• Bus 69, direction Technopolis
• Bus 174, direction Rotterdam Noord

The Summer School opens on the first Monday. Registration takes place from 09:30 to 10:30 in the PULSE Building, in the space called the Square. The opening session begins at 10:30.

The school closes on the last Friday at 16:00. You can check out of your accommodation that afternoon.

At the end of the programme, you will receive a certificate confirming that you have completed the course and that it is equivalent to 120 hours of study.

The Summer School does not offer ECTS credits. Awarding ECTS would require enrolment as a regular TU Delft student, which would significantly increase the fees.

We provide meals on a few occasions during the Summer School. You pay for the rest yourself — a typical student meal costs around €6–8.

You will find student catering options on campus here. There is a Spar supermarket on campus and an Asian supermarket nearby.

Halal food is widely available in several restaurants and shops in Delft. Vegetarian options are plentiful throughout the Netherlands.

If you have serious allergies or strict dietary requirements, let us know in advance and we will help identify alternatives.

Bring your own laptop. Most exercises are hands-on — drawing, discussing, sketching — but a laptop is useful for downloading maps and data and for software such as Illustrator, Photoshop, Excel, or Word. The programme does not include GIS exercises, but if you know GIS you are welcome to use it. TU Delft cannot provide computers.

Also bring drawing materials: pens, pencils, markers. Come ready to work with your hands as much as with your screen.

Wi-Fi is available on site. A password will be provided on arrival. If you need a local SIM card, you can order one online in advance or pick one up at Schiphol Airport on arrival.

Please do not text or browse during lectures and group activities. In the Netherlands, using your phone while someone else is speaking is considered disruptive and disrespectful. If you continue after being asked to stop, you will be asked to leave the room.

For SIM cards, see this guide to prepaid SIMs in the Netherlands or this eSIM guide for international students. Providers include Simyo and Lebara.

The currency is the euro (€). The Dutch use cash less than many other countries — debit cards (Visa or Mastercard debit) are the standard, and many shops, canteens, and restaurants do not accept credit cards at all. American Express is rarely usable outside major international retailers.

Card payments use chip-and-PIN; contactless is accepted up to €50. For online purchases such as train tickets, you will typically need a credit card or an internationally enabled debit card — local Dutch payment systems such as iDEAL do not work with foreign bank accounts.

For a fuller guide, see DutchReview.

The Summer School is taught in English at an advanced level. If your spoken and listening English is weak, you may struggle to follow discussions and get less from the course.

The local language is Dutch. You will not need it: almost everyone in the Netherlands speaks fluent English, and getting around day to day is straightforward.

Dutch summer weather is unpredictable. July temperatures typically range from 13°C to 21°C, though highs above 30°C have been recorded in recent years. It can be rainy — pack warm clothes and a waterproof jacket. See average weather data for the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is in the Central European Time zone — CET (GMT+1), one hour ahead of London. Check the current time here.

The Netherlands uses Type C and Type F sockets, operating at 230 V / 50 Hz. If your devices use a different plug type, you will need an adaptor — check here whether one is required for your country.

Type C has two round, ungrounded pins and is common across continental Europe, South America, and much of Asia. Type F (the standard Dutch socket) also has two round pins with grounding clips and accepts Type C plugs. Both are incompatible with UK and US plug types.

The PULSE Building and the Faculty of Architecture are wheelchair accessible. We welcome and actively encourage participants with mobility impairments to join the Summer School.

If you have a mobility impairment, please let us know in advance so that we can adapt site visits and other activities to suit your needs.

We are happy to answer your questions and will respond promptly. Write to Roberto Rocco at summerschool-bk@tudelft.nl.

For application details, visit the How to Apply page.