The Welfare Group = Student love

Food&Chat, free supper during exam time, talks about everything from heartbreak to study techniques, memory courses, stress-reduction yoga and "source sorting" in the library are just a few examples. The offers for students in Volda go far beyond the academic.

If you are a first-year student, you are about to or have already been visited by these people from the Welfare Group who are on care tours around the lecture halls. They do this to tell you about the offer you have if you need someone to talk to about big and small, student health, student counselling, your rights as a student, in addition to courses and activities offered by the group.

- Study time is about the whole student life, not just the studies, says the committed Welfare Group at Volda University College (HVO).

- Here we care about each other!

The welfare group at HVO is made up of representatives for various offers that will help make your time as a student easier, better and safer. In the group we find student counsellor and coordinators from the Students' Association (Studentsamskipnaden), a librarian, a student humanist and a student adviser. The Student Parliament is involved, and so are the study administration, Student Service and the communications office at the University College. In addition, the offer is passed on from the Student Ombud and the health center in Volda. What they all have in common is that they want to make your study time magical.

- There is something special about Volda. Here we care about each other, says Eli Anne Løksa, student adviser at the Studentsamskipnaden. Student humanist Lone Ellingvåg Knutsen (first student humanist in Norway!) adds:

- And everything is in order for it to be easy to show student love. Here there are short distances between people, literally. The doors are open, and we don't operate with a queue slip, she smiles.

Follow the college's Instagram account @hivolda throughout the autumn for a presentation of the various welfare offers at HVO!

How to be a student, first aid and source sorting

The welfare group first started to work with feedback and measures based on the SHoT survey (Students' health and well-being survey). Creating more social meeting places was one of the main mandates. Courses with psychologist Peder Kjøs, stress management courses and classes in the award-winning course series Thought Virus were also set up. October became "Mental health month" at HVO, with a number of courses, relaxing training and the offer of conversation to name a few. The response and effect of it all added flavor. Several ideas came up, say Eli Anne and Lone:

- We would like to do something for the students during the exam period, help them with everything from stress levels to specific study techniques.

And thus "first aid during the exam period" was born. Long lines of hungry students wound their way into the canteen in the evening to partake of the free evening meal. Shared reading sessions, physical exercise and the popular "source sorting station" at the library (where you don't throw anything away, but get help navigating the source landscape), were among the activities. Students asked for more:

- Super nice! Came for free food, but then actually did my homework, was one of the feedbacks.

During the pandemic, the welfare group had to rethink restrictions, and stepped in with a "pop-up exam boost", where the welfare group met at various student dormitories with corona packages for encouragement and help.

New from this autumn is the drop-in course which focuses on the transition from being a student at upper secondary school to becoming a student at higher education. Here we talk about expectations for life as a student, study techniques, everything to do with exams, deadlines and plagiarism, how to write academically and the use of source criticism, in addition to what kind of services the library offers and taking care of yourself and others during the study period. After the course, there is also a free taco buffet in the canteen for those who take part in the course!

- There was a good turnout during the first meeting last Monday, and we hope even more people will make the trip to the next three meetings throughout the autumn, says librarian Elin Gundersen.

PS! The next drop-in course is on Wednesday 28 September at 16 - 18. Feel free to put it in the calendar.