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International Mentoring Programme IMPOS
We need you!
In the 2021/22 winter semester, the International Office is organising the first Intercultural Mentoring Project in collaboration with the Language Centre.
Registration deadline has passed
Thanks for your registration - or welcome next time!
What we offer:
- a local student guide who will tell you everything you need to know about life at the University and in the city of Osnabrück
- supervision, training sessions and other opportunities for intercultural exchange and language learning, as well as an array of leisure activities
- hands-on support to assist you in preparing for your studies at UOS
- first-hand experience of German life and culture
Why participate?
- Having a mentor makes it much easier to meet local students, make new friends, and get insider tips on the must-do activities in and around Osnabrück!
- You can tap into your mentor’s experience in your particular field of study and get a head-start preparing for your academic life at UOS!
- You can ask your mentor to help you organise your arrival in Osnabrück and help you to settle in to your student dorm
- You can rely on your mentor’s assistance throughout the semester. They can help you find the right mobile phone contract, break down language barriers between you and your dorm’s facility manager, or simply be there to share a meal with you at the University canteen.
What to expect:
- The Intercultural Project (IP): You will have regular meetings with local students who will introduce you to the different facets of life in and around the University as well as the city of Osnabrück.
- The Intercultural Project PLUS (IPP): You will join other local and international students in choosing a project topic that strikes you as particularly interesting from an intercultural perspective, and present your findings during the closing session.
- You can also participate in a host of other activities such as talks, presentations and training sessions, pub quizzes, movie nights, hiking trips or guided tours in and around Osnabrück.
The programme at a glance:
before your arrival:
- online preparatory workshop and welcome meeting in September
after your arrival:
- official opening meeting in October
- Intercultural Project (IP) and Intercultural Project PLUS (IPP): Between October and January, you will be able to find out more about German culture together with local students, and creatively explore an intercultural topic of your choice
- closing session and exhibition of IPP projects in January
during your stay (optional), you can:
- take part in a variety of leisure activities in and around Osnabrück
- participate in intercultural supervision or intercultural training
- hone your academic literacy skills or find out more about career options and professional development in Germany
Application deadline: August 22nd, 2021
Are you interested? Would you like to join us?
If so, you are probably keen to find out more! The following information contains an overview of the most important points the program has to offer and when:
What awaits you when you come to Osnabrück? What are the common problems or obstacles that people have to negotiate? This and much more will be presented to you at an online meeting prior to your arrival here. You will be provided with a short course on intercultural training as well as information about the International Mentoring Program. The Language Center will prepare you for the intercultural project, which is intended to get you thinking about language and culture, and which is a key component of this program.
During the semester, two additional dates are scheduled for intercultural training events or meetings with your mentor so that you can talk to them about your situation as a mentee, or perhaps have the opportunity to ask us for help and support.
On September 8th, all international students participating in the mentoring program will be offered an introductory online workshop containing information on the program, a short course on intercultural training, and a preparatory session on the Intercultural Project (IP) and the Intercultural Project PLUS (IPP). This workshop will be recorded so that you can download it again at a later date.
Dates
If you are arriving in mid-September and taking part in the pre-sessional German language course “Studying and living in Osnabrück” at the Language Center, there will be an initial online meet and greet session with the team from the International Office, the Language Center and the mentors on September 10th at 11 am CET.
If you are arriving at the beginning of October, the “meet and greet” meeting will take place on September 28th at 11am CET.
Intercultural training sessions: November 3rd, 2021 and December 15th, 2021; 4pm – 7pm.
Supervision Sessions: October 27th, 2021; 4-6pm and December 8th, 2021; 4-6pm
Schedule and workload:
- Regular meetings (weekly or bi-weekly) between October 2021 and January 2022
- As a group (of up to 6 students), you will complete at least 5 worksheets, each of which deals with a different topic that promotes intercultural exchange
Wüste, Bremer Brücke, Moskaubad and Pinkelnder Polizist? Varusschlacht, Weihnachtsmarkt, Westfälischer Friede and Grünkohl? All of these places, buildings and events are probably new to you. But what do your German peers know about the sights, customs, history and local cuisine of your home town and home country? This is what the intercultural project is all about: During regular meetings (weekly or bi-weekly) and using tailor-made instructional materials, local students will introduce you to the different facets of life in and around the University as well as the city of Osnabrück, while you have the chance to teach German students a thing or two about your home culture and daily routines.
What are the similarities and differences between drinking tea in Cameroon and in Germany? Why do family and friends in Germany celebrate an upcoming wedding by smashing their crockery, while in China they weep bitter tears instead? And why is it so difficult to translate the Turkish word ‘yakamoz’ into another language?
If you are looking for (creative) answers to these kinds of questions, then the Intercultural Project PLUS is for you. In a small group of up to eight international and local students, you will choose a topic or issue that strikes you as being particularly interesting from an intercultural perspective. By creating a piece of (visual) art together with your fellow group members, you will obtain a more intimate understanding of a familiar cultural practice or you will discover completely new ways of being, seeing and doing things. And while working on the artefact together with your group members, you may also improve your foreign language skills or even take your first steps towards learning a new language.
Schedule and workload:
- choose and research a topic you are interested in on an intercultural issue or phenomenon in a group of up to eight international and local students
- together with your group members, create a piece of (visual) art or an artefact by using, for example, texts, images and drawings which present your group’s research on your chosen topic
- Present your project during the International Mentoring Program‘s Closing Session on January 24th, 2022
- Write an individual critical reflection (approx. 400 words) about your intercultural learning experience during the Intercultural Project PLUS
- Preparatory Workshop (Introduction to the Program, Intercultural Training, Preparing the Intercultural Project):
September 8th, 2021; 9 am OR 3 pm
Alternativly: September 20th, 2021; 9 am OR 3 pm
- Online Welcome Meeting with all participants
September 10th, 2021 (Group 1); 11 am
September 28th, 2021 (Group 2); 11 am
- Opening Meeting
October 7th, 2021; 7pm
- Intercultural Training Sessions
November 3rd, 2021; 4-7pm
December 15th, 2021; 4-7pm
- Supervision Sessions
October 27th, 2021; 4-6pm
December 8th, 2021; 4-6pm
- Closing Session
January 24th,2022; 7pm
Free-time activities are also an important part of your studies and should not be neglected. In your free time, you can either engage in spontaneous activities and participate in social events, outings and excursions which you have organised yourself, or take part in the events we have organised for you.
Roughly every two weeks we suggest an activity that you can do together with your mentor. These include cooking together, pub quizzes, games evenings, walks, a visit to the Christmas market. Something that gives you a taste of everyday student life in Osnabrück!
For many of you, it goes without saying that you have to write a research paper or send an email to a professor – but how do you do these things when you are not in your home country? What rules do you have to pay attention to? And how and where can you find a suitable student job during your studies? We will deal with these and other questions on a regular basis in our information sessions. What we talk about and when and where the sessions take place will be announced during the course of the semester.
COVID-19 Information
Due to COVID-19 we can't promise that all activities in our programm will take place as planned. We will however do our best to find a way following the official rules to make the most out of it!
Interested?
The registration deadline for this semester's period has already passed. Please check out if this programme will be offered again next spring.
