Inside Campus Helgeland, there is student activity in all lecture halls, classrooms and around the tables in the canteen, a new semester is well under way. After an exciting start to the semester, colloquium groups now meet in group rooms in the B wing all day, where they often sit and work until ten in the evening. Students in all cohorts have settled in well on Campus and have entered study mode after the freshman week.
The academic year started in August with the freshman week, with activity days with mountain hikes, puzzle races, barbecues, a trip to Sweden, bowling, quiz nights, themed parties, free dinners and a number of other get-to-know-you events. In the weeks after the freshman week, the Student organization Helgeland followed up with, among other things, a student day in the climbing park at Høyt og lavt Krokstrand and Oktoberfest, and the students in Mo i Rana were invited with the students at Nesna to take part in a RIB trip on the Helgeland coast.
Student leader Anna Viktoria Bjørsvik
Photo by Studentorganisasjonen Helgeland
A particularly exciting event, a collaborative project between the Ranaregionen Næringsforening, the Student organization Helgeland, Kunnskapsparken Helgeland, Rana Utvikling, Nord University, the University of Tromsø and Spark* Nord, called “Kompetansejakten” (competency hunt), was also carried out for the first time this autumn. Here companies and students met to get to know each other, a number of exciting lectures were held and the parties took part in speed-dating between students and business.
Going forward, the students’ timetable will be filled with a lot of curriculum literature, writing assignments and studying for exams, but in between all the work we will be going to Halloween parties, waffle days, student cinema nights, board game nights, and closer to Christmas there will be a Christmas workshop. There will also be many pleasant film evenings for the students on Campus in the future. The planning of activities in the spring term is also already well under way, then there will be the New Year’s Gala. There will also be a new opportunity to sign up as a student representative for a variety of exciting posts and selections at the university. We must also not forget the annual student trip to the alpine center in Hemavan, winter activities are both important and popular. We are also working on establishing a student choir, and several interest associations will emerge during the semester.
It is also very exciting to be a student at Mo i Rana at the moment seen in a broader perspective. A truly future-oriented local community offers almost every single week a rich selection of events with a focus on themes such as innovation, aquaculture, industry, technology, sustainability and energy, circular economy, entrepreneurial support and entrepreneurship, and the city’s recent focus on internationalization is something we young adults see as extra gratifying and bodes well for the city’s future.
What is so wonderful about Mo i Rana is the commitment, benevolence, openness, closeness and positivity directed towards us young people in society now. If a group of students wanders into a business lunch about regional and international cooperation for manufacturing companies, or a mingle breakfast for companies and organizations – then we will be greeted with a smile and a hand in greeting on the same level as the head of department with 10 years’ experience. It may well seem foreign and a little intimidating at first, having to show up at such meeting places, but the business world gives students a feeling of having a genuine interest in the next generation, and the likelihood of being rejected if you make contact with someone outside your original network, is approximately equal to zero here in Mo i Rana. The students experience business life in Mo i Rana as inclusive, innovative and future-oriented. We especially like the internationalization trend we have seen in Mo i Rana in recent years, it really bodes well for the city’s future and we look forward to the continuation.