6-7-2024
The second- and third-year students at St. Albert's have started theire school year a few weeks ago. And so have we, as you could read earlier. The lecturers at the college especially like exposing the students to foreigners, with their different way of talking and their different outlook. To them, we have an accent that is sometimes hard to understand. And we have had to learn to understand Indian English. And our view of the world as rich Westerners does not always match the local view. Certainly not where the feasibility of measures to improve society is concerned.
This week, we received the biggest compliment we could get: The students who had done a session with us enthusiastically told their friends from other departments about it. These friends then went to their professors, asking if they could also have our class. Dr Geo has already received more requests from different departments whether we could also visit them!
Furthermore, from the groups of students we have already worked with, we have been able to put together a team to participate in the UN's My sustainable living challenge on behalf of St. Albert's College. Students from four different departments will be working together. Unfortunately, the challenge does not start until 19 August, the first day we are back in the Netherlands. But we will follow the students from a distance and coach them if necessary. (Update: unfortunately, our team was not selected to participate by the UN: too many applications and we were very late in submitting the application. However: it was great to find a group of students who were interested. Maybe next year St. Albert's can participate with a new team.)
In the meantime, the admission procedures of the new freshmen took place. The system here in India works somewhat differently from that in the Netherlands. Students register for a course of study, often at several universities and colleges. Admission interviews then take place, and their exam results are considered. In the first round, the best students are already selected and placed. If a student is placed in several institutes, they choose the preferred college. This goes on like this for several rounds until all the spots in the college are filled.
St. Albert's offers courses at different levels. The best students -those who are accepted in the first round- usually go to the regular undergraduate programmes. However, they also have Bvoc programmes here, a more practical form of a bachelor's degree. I think you can compare it in terms of level to an MBO-4 course (3 to 4 year-programme secondary vocational education) in the Netherlands. Students who are not placed in the first rounds often end up choosing a Bvoc programme. They did not get as good results in their secondary school exams, and probably displayed less ambition in the admission procedure.
On 1 July, the school year kicked off for the new students with an official meeting. The students were seated in a hall. Parents and other family members were invited and could follow the meeting on a big screen in the Baccinelli Hall. Speakers from the diocese, government and business spoke to the students, and at the end there were vows expressing the intention to be the best possible person and student. What followed was an introductory week, during which the freshmen were introduced to the campus. Thanks to a communication glitch, we also got the opportunity to do a short one-hour session with 80 first-year Bcom students, in which we only covered the quiz and discussed the answers a bit more extensively.
To conclude the induction days, there was again dancing. Music and dance has a big place in Indian society and every little festivity is accompanied by enthusiastic dancing. Be it a wedding or engagement, a birthday party or a celebration at school. In electronics shops we have seen boomboxes of various sizes, with a microphone, for the beloved speeches that are always made, and the ability to mix music to allow dancing. The volume during those events is usually quite high.
From next Monday, freshmen will also start their new life as students. We wish them the best of luck! Secretly, we are already dreaming of coming back to St. Albert's, to give this batch of students our crash course next year....
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