Dear new students from abroad
We feel privileged that you have chosen to study at our institution. Altogether about 150 new foreign students have been enrolled this year. That is a considerable amount, but we constantly strive to make it larger – not least by working for an increase in the number of scholarships for students from developing countries. We have also special efforts devoted to increasing student exchange more generally, by establishing exchange agreements with partner universities all over the world.
Right now Europe is struggling with intense heat, while in Oslo we, today feel the coming of a new season. With rain and a cool breeze from the fjord. I hope you have enjoyed your first days in a hot summer city and that you have discovered how pulsating, vivid - but also relaxed life can be here. Oslo has one of the best club and concert scenes in Europe, you can see films from Hollywood, Bollywood, China and Afghanistan, the restaurants and cafés offers food from all around the world and the museums can take you to the Viking area and back in one day.
Meaningfull life outside campus
And, perhaps just as important for a student from abroad: Oslo is one of the most expensive cities in the world, but it also offers a lot of cheap alternatives. You will find that creating a good and meaningful life outside of the campus first of all requires that you make an effort to get around, talk to our Norwegian students, ask for the good places to go, and go there! I know that for an exchange student, especially when you don’t speak the native language, it is easy to seek company from other students in the same situation. However, I encourage you to take the initiative to get to know Norwegian students too. We have a number of student activities, and joining them is the most efficient way to make new friends.
As you probably know Oslo University College, or OUC, is the fourth largest public, state owned, institution for higher education in Norway, and the largest University College with its 10 000 students and a staff of 1000 employees.
Important for OUC
For OUC, it is of extreme importance to have you as our students. Our aim is to create an international environment, based on a high quality academic activity. Obviously we can not do this without your presence.
We encourage our own students to go abroad for at least a semester or a year during their studies. But some of them find it difficult to do so, and for them it is of tremendous value to relate to foreign students here at our own campus. Therefore we greatly appreciate that you have chosen to attend our university, and we hope that you will actively participate in all aspects of the activities here, both academically and socially.
Sometimes when you talk to Norwegians you will make an interesting notion: Many seem to think that we are the centre of both political and intellectual insight. And there is research that tells us we live in the best country in the world according to specific quritereas. And we like to hear that we have among the best wellfarestate system in the world. And we also like that the higher education institutions are free of tuitions fees. A bit arrogant, yes certainly, but at the same time we admit that we live in a far away corner of the world, and in a sparsely populated and often cold and snowy corner of Europe.
A young nation
Our university tradition is going back less than two hundred years. We are a young nation. The Norwegian Constitution was written in a period of transition from Danish to Swedish rule, and dates from 1814. Constitution Day on May 17 is celebrated festively every year. The union with Sweden was not dissolved until 1905. In this perspective you can wonder were the self consciousness comes from, and perhaps is it because Norway has developed into a wealthy country – a wealth first of all built on enormous oil-resources – today we are the second largest oil-exporting country in the world after Saudi-Arabia. We also take great advantage of nature resources like fish, timber and metal ores.
A country can, however, not build a prosperous future on nature resources and industries alone. Knowledge is perhaps the most important commodity of our time. Our ability to develop our teaching and research and to increase our educational contribution to the modern, global society, not least to develop the professions underpinning the welfare state, has been nurtured by necessary international contacts. Exchange of knowledge is crucial in the global village we all live in. Therefore I urge you to think not as if you are here mainly to learn something new. Just as important is the experience and knowledge you offer us. That is what exchange is all about. And OsloUniversityCollege is proud to be part of this tradition of exchange of knowledge, exchange of students and we are happy for your contribution to keeping it up.
Events like today - to welcome international exchange students are therefore very important to me, and are giving OsloUniversityCollege the possibility for a more exiting and challenging venue for learning.
A memorable stay
I sincerely hope that your stay with us will be an enriching one – for every one of you as well as for the Norwegian students and OsloUniversityCollege.
I hope you will have a positive and memorable stay at our university - and that you will find the Norwegian part of your education both academically and socially a special time of your lives.
I wish you good luck and hope you make a lot of Norwegian friends. Enjoy these last summer days before the autumn starts. In a while you will experience a distinct change in the natures colours – they are getting stronger before disappearing completely, there will be a change in the light – it’s getting darker and darker, and the mood amongst the Norwegians tend to darken a bit too, some say we are turning colder in parallel with the weather.
In order to make an enriching time out of your stay, we – and by we, I refer to you as well as to the university community – have to take seriously the fact that, for many of you, your time in Oslo will pose not only an academic but also a social and cultural challenge. You will encounter a culture and social system that in many respects may differ radically from what you are used to, with a strong democratic tradition and an emphasis on equality between the sexes as two important examples.
Do our best
We promise to do our best, and I appeal to each and every one of you to help us fulfil that task. So. Please, tell us if there are things you find unreasonable or difficult to understand. We practice an open door policy – literally – in the sense that anyone may enter the buildings of the rectorat, international office, the dean at the faculty to give some examples. We are open to criticism and recommendations on how we can improve our institution as a truly international and encompassing one. So don’t be afraid to come and talk to us.
And as this first days pass you will have a lot of credit later on for doing the important work of fitting in now during your first weeks here. Have fun before the serious and hard work starts, and I hope you will look upon the college, and the campus, as a professional, competent, interesting and sociable place to spend the next few months.
Again. Dear new students from abroad: Welcome!
Per Lilleengen
Rector