Dear students
I would like to welcome each one of you. If all the international students were gathered her today, and I would welcome every student, I would have the pleasure to say welcome 124 times, and I would really like to do that. OUC appreciate the increasing number of international students. This is fulfilling our goals to internationalising the campus. 124 students have decided to come to OUC for one or two semesters of their studies, this number may increase to 150 when we get a full overview of the situation. 31 countries will be represented at the campus from all parts of the world except Australia. Spain is the number one according to numbers, 21 Spanish students arrive this semester. Germany is number two with 15 students, Denmark and the Netherlands are number three with 10 students each, Other countries represented are according to the alphabet: Bangladesh, Brasil, Canada, Columbia, England, Finland, France, Ghana, Hellas, Israel, Italy, Joguslavia, Kenya, China, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Nepal, Paksitan, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Sudan, Sweeden, South Africa, Germany, Hungary and United States of America.
An exiting part
You are all entering an exiting part of your study these days. A study abroad might turn out to be the most important part of your education period. And I can promise you amusement, joy, knowledge, strange cultural experiences, frustrations, longing for home, new friendships, unforgettable memories etc. This is what it takes to live abroad for a while; however all these strong feelings are necessary to implement all your experiences and transform them into knowledge.
International Office as I represent will do its best to give you an unforgettable stay.
Int. office is a small central office which collaborates closely with the international coordinators on the faculty level. The faculty level will be your closest contact on a daily basis. But as you already have discovered, we are responsible for housing, excursions, and International Café which is a popular meeting place for international students. The excursion programme will give you a touch of the Norwegian culture and many pleasant surprises.
A different culture
Your own responsibility is to open up for a different culture, strange experiences and new knowledge. You may find the Norwegians a bit shy at the beginning, but once we have got acquainted we make a real good friendship. At the first sight some of you will think we are a bit unpolite, that is in a way a correct observation, however we call it informal. Look forward to discover this strange culture at the Nordic end of the world, and try to find out why we are not a member of the European Union. Next year Norway will celebrate 100 years of independence from a 90-year Union with Sweden. And that union was one step up from the status as colony under Denmark for 400 years. 500 years of dependence. History and Geography are always good sources for exploring a culture. My guess is that after having celebrated a hundred years of independence Norway will really feel free to join the EU as an equal member. I myself have been ready for some years now, together with 49% of the Norwegian people.
What you probably don’t think of today is that you are a part of a huge movement that we call internationalisation in higher education. Internationalisation is an important issue on several levels. On a society level internationalisation is a basis for future social, political and economic co-operation, to get more international experience into all kind of institutions.
Peacemaking
On a political level internalisation is important for peacemaking, getting young people to know each other and to know different cultures is a key in the progress of peacemaking. In 2003 the European students exchange programme Erasmus reached the number of 1 million students, 1 million students have had a study abroad period since the programme started in 92. This is a great contribution to peacemaking.
On a university level student mobility is the power of internationalisation. You make a change in the student body, you give us new experiences in the education, and in the long run this is influencing our curriculum according to our goals which is to be a part of a network of learning that stretches around the world.
Get to know eachother
However, internationalisation is first and foremost a contribution to the individual, to each one of you. This stay in Norway will give you new ideas, new perspectives, new experiences that you will bring with you back home, in fact this stay will change your life a bit. My advice to you is to be open and to seize the opportunities that we can offer here.
At the end of my welcome I will give one mission to each one of you: challenge your Norwegian fellow students on internationalisation, encourage them to go abroad like you do. Convince one Norwegian student of the benefits of taking a part of their study programme abroad.
But first and foremost take the opportunity to get a meaningful and amusing time at OUC.
Dagrun Kvammen
Head of International Office