52°North recently opened its doors to a group of 12 international students and two staff from the University of Twente, The Netherlands. The students are involved in a two year program, in which they learn to address large-scale and complex societal challenges by combining both technical and socio-economic knowledge with a strong basis of spatial data analysis and modelling. At the end of their first year, they complete a study tour throughout Europe, visiting institutes, universities and companies active in Spatial Information Science, Technical Engineering and Spatial Planning & Governance.