Every year, the Danes sign up

Exchange and full-degree students, as well as PhD students, at the University of Copenhagen can choose to have a mentor.

In the students’ case, the mentor is always another Danish student, usually taking the same subject or attending the same faculty, whose role is to help internationals settle in and give advice on practical matters.

We all know that, as a student, having a mentor can be really helpful. But why would a Danish student agree to do this on a voluntary basis?

Saxe Lomholt studies ethnology at the University of Copenhagen. He decided to join the Global Society Programme this semester, and now has a full-degree international as a mentee.

»I received an email on Absalon, the e-learning platform of the University of Copenhagen, asking me if I wanted to be a mentor. I thought it would be fun«, he says.

Learning from mentees

Developing a mentor-mentee relationship with a complete stranger, with whom you might have nothing in common, can be a difficult thing. Choosing a mentee is like drawing a lucky number.

»I asked for someone who speaks German«, says Kim Stig Andersen, a Danish student of Scandinavian Studies, who also joined the mentor programme this semester.

His mentee is from Munich and they now see each other twice a month. Not only his language skills have improved.

»I’ve met new people, and have learned how to make sushi«, he says.

uni-avis@adm.ku.dk