- I've been looking forward to this event, so it was great that so many people showed up. I wanted to create a nice social meeting point that wasn't formal - where you could just eat, mingle and enjoy yourself," says Olea Magdalene Norset, Project Manager at Studenttrivsel.
- At the same time, I wanted to talk about the Student Wellbeing Project and get the students' input on what makes a city a good place to be a student. So it was important not to invite them to a general meeting with coffee and a twist, but rather to meet the students in a "student format".
Dialogue, well-being and belonging
Project Student Wellbeing is part of a larger regional initiative to increase the wellbeing of students in the university towns and ensure that more graduates choose to stay in Agder. The project is a new three-year collaboration between Kristiansand Municipality, Grimstad Municipality, Agder County Council, the University of Agder, Studentsamskipnaden i Agder and the student democracies. At the same time, the business community, the municipalities' student councils, the colleges and vocational schools in Agder are also included in the work.
From June 2023 to May 2026, the initiative will work with three focus areas: well-being, connection to regional working life and information for students.
In October 2023, Studenttrivsel invited to a kick-off at both BARE student house in Kristiansand and BlueBox in Grimstad. "POV: Student in Kristiansand" and "POV: Student i Grimstad", as the events were called, were free and open to all students in the region.
- "I called the events 'POV' as a reference to one of the trends on social media. The abbreviation stands for "point of view" and is often used as a title in videos on TikTok that show the sender's perspective," explains Norset.
- In the social media promotion, I also used designs that many would associate with TikTok. All of this was a way of saying "come as you are" without saying it. Participating in your local community shouldn't be scary, it can even be fun.
A non-traditional method for participation
The events offered several activities that gave participants good opportunities to win prizes from the region. On several of the walls in the room there were posters with various statements. For example, "For me, the most interesting way to strengthen the link between business/working life and studies is through: Relevant summer job, thesis collaboration with a company, networks where I can meet businesses" and other options. The students were asked to mark the option that was most important to them. Håkon Høgvoll Norland, an internship student in Grimstad municipality, laid the foundation for the preparation of these statements.
Elsewhere, there were comic strips with empty thought bubbles, where students could freely express their wishes, dreams and concerns. The comic strips were created by Åsmund Åmdal at Plan og Bygg in Kristiansand Municipality.
- "We need events like this to be able to talk about how things are and what can be improved. I also think it helped a lot that this was at the student house, and that it was planned to be chill with music and tapas. So there was no stress about stopping by and answering questions," said sociology student Linda Kristine Olsrød.
Collective effort
The project was hosted by several volunteers from the Student Organization in Agder (STA), the Welfare Council in Agder and Business Region Kristiansand. In the end, the team was left with almost 100 inputs.
Subsequently, the responses were transcribed and reviewed by six students in their first and second year of the bachelor's program in Social Planning at the University of Agder.
- This has been an example of playing on several strings. When more of us bring our qualities and skills to the work, the end result really harmonizes - and it becomes much more inviting for those who will participate. We're now looking forward to processing the input and planning the way forward for the project," concludes Norset.
