Af Lea Laursen Pasgaard og Signe Tørnqvist Halvorsen, AAU Kommunikation og Public Affairs. Translated by LeeAnn Iovanni, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photos: Malte Rüsz Møller Wyrtz and Iben Skov Bertelsen

Students across degrees programmes and semesters came together on Thursday, 25 April in CREATE for the annual Study Environment Day organized by the university’s Study Environment Council. This year's theme was communities in student life, and the day offered presentations, workshops and debate. The event ended with fun and food with board games and pizza, as well as the opportunity to chat with various student associations at AAU.

Pro-rector Anne Marie Kanstrup was the event's first speaker. She emphasized that a good study environment is not just a nice-to-have add-on for a good student life. It is the core of what we do at AAU:

"It’s what we want to be known for. It’s what AAU students are known for. You master the art of collaboration. Being able to work together as a group is a crucial prerequisite in many workplaces. It is rarely the individual performance, but rather the team effort that is the key to success", said the pro-rector.

Community was also a central theme from student Daniel Sejr Vitagliano. He is deputy chair of the AAU Study Environment Council and also gave a short speech to the students in attendance. One of the things he noted is that life as a student can be both meaningful and challenging. Deadlines, exams and a demanding syllabus can put enormous pressure on the individual student:

"Your final grade, your final diploma – it's yours and yours alone. But at the same time, learning – and this is especially true here at AAU – is a team effort. We’re in this together, almost to the very end. Being part of a study group, a learning community, a social community can be difficult, but meaningful. That's why a day like this is so important," said Daniel Sejr Vitagliano.

After the opening speeches, psychologist Johann Daustrand from the Student Counselling Service kicked off the day with a presentation that nuanced the common understanding of community, including ideas like expectations for the community, what the community should be able to do for the students, and what students should be able to do in it.

After the plenary session, attendees dispersed to three different workshops. In workshop 1, which was held by psychologist Johann Daustrand from the Student Counselling Service, the students were presented with a number of approaches to navigating student social life. The participants gained knowledge about different needs to enter communities and personal tools to be able to do so in different ways.

Workshop 2 was held by Nikoline Sander Jensen, MSc from Industrial Design and research assistant, and Christian Tollestrup, Associate Professor, Head of Section and Education Coordinator at Industrial Design. They were invited to give the participants tools to set the stage for a rewarding collaboration, align expectations and, not least, address the difficult conversations that can arise in project work.

In workshop 3, the theme was cultural awareness. Here, the participants gained insight into the general cultural differences that play a role in cross-cultural cooperation as well as concrete tools to improve cross-cultural group work. Chanette Hemdrup Jakobsen from the International Office at AAU held the workshop.

The formal programme concluded with a panel debate consisting of students, teaching staff and the workshop leaders. Based on questions submitted by the participants, the panel came up with their best advice on how students get into communities and how we help and embrace students who are outside the community together.

Lastly, the event offered board games and pizza as well as the opportunity to chat with a number of AAU student associations.

Study Environment Day evaluation

The evaluation showed that 83% were satisfied or very satisfied with the event. In addition, the three workshops received good evaluations, including the following comments on the three workshops:

"It was nice to meet others who felt like me and be able to talk to them relatively freely. 
In addition, it gave me a lot of tools for group work and made me more comfortable and maybe also open to my group. It also offered insight into the fact that all decisions in a group are compromises. In addition, I personally think it was very reassuring and helped to give me peace of mind with the overview of the types of communities where it was made clear that there are types of communities where you don’t always have to be part of everything, and can withdraw and participate according to your time and energy." (participant, workshop 1)

"Nice with some concrete advice and tips for collaboration. The commitment of the speaker especially stands out in a positive way. It was refreshing to hear advice in a much more concrete way than I usually hear in my programme (where things are often wrapped in cotton wool and everything is up for interpretation)." (participant, workshop 2)

"I really liked the way Christian and Nikoline ran the workshop. Invited to dialogue. In addition, it was extremely rich on content and very rewarding. I came away with tools I will use in my project work with my current and future groups, as well as some suggestions for my study board to increase interaction across semesters." (participant, workshop 2)

"It was a very dynamic presentation with very nice fun games that did not force us to reflect on the learning but instead showed us possible cultural differences and conflicts to get us thinking.” (participant, workshop 3)

Read more about Study Environment Days at AAU on this website