Slowly improving integration at Studentersamfundet
The president of ESN Trondheim is pleased with Studentersamfundet's inclusion of foreign students, but points out that there is still much to be done.
Both Erasmus Student Network Trondheim (ESN) and the International Section of NTNU have been in meetings with Studentersamfundet over the years to better improve Samfundets role in the integration of international students.
President Tvete of ESN praises that Studentersamfundet now offers a six-month membership for exchange students, but says there is still a long way to go.
– Samfundet has debates at least every Saturday, but they are almost never held in English. Not even the Facebook events are written in English. It doesn’t exclude anyone to keep events in English, but it excludes almost all of the international students when it’s all in Norwegian, Tvete says.
The exchange students Cloé Faure and Łukasz Pieczonka have never participated on any of the debates held at Studentersamfundet. This is because they feel the debates do not apply to them as they are not held in English.
Faure explains that she has been to Studentersamfundet some evenings during her stay in Trondheim, and that she enjoys the good mixture of Norwegians and international students that one can meet there.
– If Norwegians are a bit hard to talk to during the classes at university, going out clubbing is a good alternative in order to talk to them, Faure says.
– Will keep expanding the contact
Leader Gabriel Qvigstad of Studentersamfundet in Trondhjem explains that they continually try to improve the usage of English, both with the information they distribute and the events they host.
– We are, among other things, working on an information brochure written in English that will be distributed to the students next fall. We are also thinking of having debate clubs in English, and we already host ISFiT, where most events are held in English.
Qvigstad says Studentersamfundet will keep expanding the contact with the international students.
– It is important for us to speak to the new international students during the orientation week, and we will contact NTNU about distributing information about Studentersamfundet and what we can offer, Qvigstad explains.
Former leader of the International Section at NTNU and current senior advisor to rector Bovim, Hilde Skeie, says that they will gladly engage in dialogue with Studentersamfundet regarding integration of international students again, after several attempts over the years.
– We would love to have Studentersamfundet as a part of the team, she says.
