Are you an international student, or a student close to international student affairs? Are you politically engaged, and want to bring along that engagement during your time in Oslo? Are you interested in student issues, and want to contribute to the welfare of international students in the Oslo area? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this call for applicants was written for you.
The Student Welfare Council in Oslo and Akershus is recruiting voluntary members for its International Committee, and wants you to join. The International Committee will be working to improve the Student Welfare Council’s engagement with, and advocacy of, international student concerns, as well as generally promoting the welfare of international students in the Oslo area. Some such issues the committee might choose to work on are for instance:
- Looking into how the Student Welfare Council is organized for international students in its processes and work,
- The offer of student housing available to international students,
- The access to SiO-services for international students,
- International students’ encounter with Norwegian bureaucratic processes and the help they receive in navigating this, and
- International student’s access to social arenas to interact with locals outside campuses.
The Student Welfare Council and the International Committee
The Student Welfare Council (“Velferdstinget i Oslo og Akershus” in Norwegian) is a student interest organization representing the over 70 000 students in Oslo and Akershus studying at 29 academic institutions. We work to give a voice to the students in the Oslo area, advocating their interests towards institutions like SiO, Oslo municipality and other relevant parties. Where the student democracies of individual academic institutions address concerns such as the internal affairs and academic issues of their institutions, the Student Welfare Council focuses on general welfare issues that affect Oslo’s students across institutions, such as access to healthcare, recreational activities, housing, communicpal support and the like.
In this work, there is still room for improvement in how the Student Welfare Council works for international students – hence why the council elected this spring to form an International Committee to start up this autumn, in a two-year trial period. You are therefore applying to be a founding member in a committee that will hopefully develop into a significant contributor to an improved international student experience in Oslo. While the committee is largely empowered in how it constitutes its internal affairs, it is expected to form an action plan which includes holding at least 3 meetings per semester. Beyond the capacity for this voluntary work, and being a student at a Student Welfare Council affiliated institution, the only requirement is that you are proficient in English. The leader of the committee should preferably also be proficient in Norwegian. Regular committee-members are elected for a period of one semester, while the leader is elected for a year.
Applying and deadline
The deadline to apply for having your candidacy considered by the Election Committee is the 23rd of August. It is still possible to candidate at any point until the election is held on the 4th of September, but you are strongly recommended to apply within the first deadline. You apply by filling out this form.
Further information
For a bit of english-accessible information about the Student Welfare Council, see our website’s page in English.
For more formal information about the International Committee and its mandate, see its guidelines.
If you have any questions concerning the International Committee beyond this, you are warmly encouraged to contact either the election committee at valgkomiteen@studentvelferd.no or executive board at vt-au@studentvelferd.no!
