NEWS Beginning on 15 June, 17 international student information officers at Umeå University will be answering questions from newly admitted students via e-mail and instant messaging. This is the first year of this unique two-month project, which aims to provide better information and service to new arriving international students from the most reliable source, a fellow student from their own country.
All of the students that have been appointed by the university as Student Information Officers over the summer are currently International Students at Umeå University. They come from different countries and study different subjects. Newly admitted students that begin their studies in the autumn 2009 term will have the opportunity to ask a fellow countryman who will be able to respond to questions with an understanding of their frame of reference. Additionally, they will be able find an international student that studies the same subject or programme that they have been admitted to and ask them about their experience.
The student information officer campaign has been carried out under the supervision of Jenny Eriksson, coordinator at the International Office.
“We know that the new students have many questions about Umeå and the university. We want them to be able to ask these questions and have them answered, and who better to ask than the students who were in their shoes a year ago? We hope that being able to ask a student from their own part of the world about how they dealt with moving to Umeå will make the move easier for this year’s arriving students,” says Jenny Eriksson.
The students will be available to answer questions via e-mail from the 15th of June until the 14th of August. They are also available to chat with for 2 hours per week during this period. The chat message service varies depending upon the nationality of the student. An easy to navigate web page with the international students from nine different countries and speaking 11 languages has been produced for the newly admitted students.
The student inforrmation officers come from Cameroon, China, Germany, India, Poland, Russia, Sudan, Turkey and the United States. In addition, students from Iran and Bangladesh will be available to answer questions from admitted students from their home countries, but strictly on a volunteer basis without any obligations.
Prospective students, or those considering applying to Umeå University, are asked to refrain from contacting the international student information officers, as this service is intended only for those students who have received notification of admission to begin their studies in autumn 2009.
Direct to the "Ask Our Students" web site
Photo: Jieru Dong from China
Photo by Mattias Petterson
For questions, please contact:Jenny Eriksson, Project CoordinatorInternational Office, Umeå UniversityPhone: + 46 (0)90 786 7181
E-mail: jenny.eriksson@adm.umu.se
Editor: David Meyers