International students have difficulties meeting local students
But while the international experience is very rewarding and easy, most international students had a hard time getting in contact with local students during their studies.
The Spy-tip: How to meet swedes
GISA – coffee, skating and serious sightseeing
GISA, the Gothenburg International Student Association offers a lot of opportunities to get to know new people and see the city and the surroundings from a new point of view. From language cafés, trips to the Archipelago up to city challenges, ice skating and international dinners. There are many different ways to meet Swedish people.
– I have felt that there is some kind of gap between our international student and Swedish students. But there are lots of exchange students making contact with Swedes, and other way around, says Inger Sandell from the GISA team.
GISA also offers parties for both Swedish and international students to meet, talk and become friends. And if there are any questions – the GISA student buddies are very open and help organizing everyday life in Gothenburg. GISA is available either via Facebook or Den här e-postadressen är skyddad från spamrobotar, du måste ha Javascript aktiverat för att visa den
A good website to get into Swedish life is misi.se, an English site dealing with everyday life in Sweden and how to get along.
Praised projekt for language friends
Practicing a language, helping and encouraging students and making new friends from other countries: The rewarded project "Language Friends" at ABF Vux, a college for further education, offers these perspectives to their adult students and to international students staying in Gothenburg for their studies.
– It was very easy. I joined the project and could decide myself when I have time to be at the school, reports Maike Stöckmann who was a language friend during the last semester.
The language friends do not have to teach, but they assist the teachers and support the students during the lessons and afterwards.
– We talked about different issues and I found it fascinating to hear
experiences from people from many different countries, Maike says.
Most of the students were very open and wanted to tell something about themselves, sharing experiences and practicing English at the same time.
– The project is very successful and rewarding for everybody who joins it, says Anna Bilek-Göransson, project head teacher.
And although the project is based on voluntary work, it also offers something in return for the work: The language friends receive a lunch voucher every time the help out and a certificate of completion at the end of the term.
Interested students with a native or near native proficiency in English who enjoy speaking English with other people are highly welcome to join the project. If you want to join, please send an e-mail to Anna Bilek-Göransson: Den här e-postadressen är skyddad från spamrobotar, du måste ha Javascript aktiverat för att visa den
– Before I came to Sweden, my big aim was to meet Swedish people, improve my language skills and learn more about the Swedish culture. But at university it was really hard to get in contact with local people, says Katharina Senger from Bielefeld in Germany.
Hard to reach english goals
Handelshögskolan offers some mixed courses at bachelors level. As many of the master programmes at GU are in English, courses at master level often are available also for exchange students. Otherwise most of the courses at bachelors level held in English at GU are reserved for exchange students only.
– Our goal is to offer courses in English open for both Swedish and international students, states Petronella Ljungberg, International Coordinator at the Department of Political Science at GU.
But this goal has not been reached so far: Since the courses in the Bachelor programmes at GU are set in Swedish, they cannot include courses taught in English only. Every department has a fixed amount of student places that have to be distributed among Swedish and International students.
– If we open up the courses taught in English to Swedish students, it also means we would have to reduce other courses in Swedish. It takes time to produce new courses, and also all the departments within the faculty would have to be on the train in order to get it all to work. We are aware of the problem, and are trying to find a solution to it, explains Petronella Ljungberg.
Private level
A general problem is the language gap: While exchange students for example in France or Spain often can participate in the courses that the local students attend, only few exchange students speak the Swedish language.
To bring the students together and to promote cultural understanding, the departments have already started thinking about different ways to solve this gap between local and international students. If the courses cannot provide sufficient possibilities to meet, that has to happen on a more private level.
The first step was to install the GISA (Gothenburg International Student Associaton), which is independent from the university and works as a voluntary association. But there are also many different ways outside university life to meet Swedish people. One of them is the language project at Odinskolan (see separate article).
christopher clausen
