Why should students attend SI meetings?
Bassent: The SI program provides a tool to ensure the wellbeing of the students during their studies and provide a peer to peer platform to communicate and resolve academic challenges. As an international student myself who faced challenges during the first year, I benefited from different mentoring/supporting programs at Lund University including the SI sessions.
Annemari: To take advantage of the platform to discuss and learn with peers as well as getting to know their classmates better.
Leran: It is a good way to learn and gain insights from each other. It is also a good way to socialize with your fellow classmates.
Ruth: SI sessions help you to improve your academic performance. These sessions are led by second year students and can be perceived as a nice way to increase your confidence and critical thinking. Anyone can participate without being judged and all the information provided is confidential.
Nafees: Students should attend SI meetings to share knowledge of the current course with their fellow classmates and SI leaders. If they find something difficult to understand in the regular class, they can sort things out in the SI meetings with the help of the senior students. Study strategy and tips are shared during SI meetings which can be helpful for the new students. Finally, through collaborative learning during the SI meetings students can prepare themselves in a better way and that will lead to increased academic performance eventually.
Jared: It is an opportunity to share and learn new perspectives with peers in a safe and collaborative environment.
What are your best study tips?
Bassent:
● Do not procrastinate
● Use mind maps to connect topics from a helicopter view to produce a coherent argumentation
● Stress is your enemy, your active participation during the SI sessions through raising up questions and sharing your academic challenges, is one of the crucial tools for stress management.
Annemari: Try to schedule your time well. The sooner you start the better. Start small and go from there to decrease pressure. And finally, it's always good to discuss with your peers!
Leran: Don’t stress yourself too much and try to keep a life-work balance.
Critical thinking is always welcome in academia.
There are different ways to be more productive and to stop procrastination, try to find the one that suits you well.
Ruth: Use a critical eye and do not forget to take notes while you are reading. Take advantage of seminars and SI sessions to discuss your ideas, clear up your doubts and start building a more coherent argument.
Nafees: I would suggest preparing a structured study plan for each day of the week, read academic papers on a regular basis, keep notes, and focus on improving your academic writing skills.
Jared: It helps to be curious. Avoid procrastination of your readings.
Why did you choose to become SI leaders?
Bassent: I have a great passion to help people reach their goals and share experiences with others. I can see the program as a two-way learning process. Through the program, I will help the new students realize their potentials and overcome their challenges and at the same time I will be able to realize and strengthen my skills, widen my network and make new friends.
Annemari: I wanted to give my help to new students and share things which I wished I were told when I first arrived as a new student. Additionally, I saw SI as a learning opportunity for myself and as an advantage in the future.
Leran: I had developed several learning strategies that work really well for me during my first year here in the program, and I know how stressed new students could be sometimes, so I’d really love to help new students if they need help with school work. And I think it is a great opportunity for me to learn as well and to experience new roles.
Ruth: This is a great opportunity to help other students to reach their academic goals, break mental barriers and connect with other students. At the same time, I can improve my public speaking and time management skills.
Nafees: I chose to become an SI leader because I wanted to share my academic learnings with the new students so that it becomes easier for them to carry out their regular studies. As I have passed that phase of the study period, I knew how new students go through that time and I wanted to provide some guidelines by becoming an SI leader. Also, as a Certified Supply Chain Analyst (CSCA), I thought it would be better to become an SI leader in order to help the students from supply chain specialization with their studies by sharing insights of the global supply chain sector.
Jared: For the passion of helping new students adapt to the learning process in Lund and stimulating them to develop fresh perspectives.
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SI leaders 2020:
Bassent Elsoury from Egypt (Sustainability)
Annemari Nieminen from Finland (Culture & Creativity)
Leran Wang from China (Tourism)
Ruth Bedoya López from Colombia (Culture & Creativity).
M Nafees Emtiaz Chowdhury from Bangladesh (Supply Chain Management)
Jared Offei Lartey from Ghana (Retail)
Text/Interview: Victor Kwame Elikplim Agbebo