Help getting started in everyday life

The Intercultural Counselling Office at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) offers very targeted support. In 2014 it was awarded the prize for excellence in supporting foreign students at German universities by the German Foreign Office. An interview with its director, Juliana Roth.

Ms Roth, what sort of concerns do students getting in touch with the Intercultural Counselling Office have?
They are seeking additional support and guidance – some initial help getting to grips with everyday university and personal life so that it soon becomes plain sailing. Their sensitivities, however, are naturally very varied and depend on where the students come from. A Chinese student will have different questions to one from the Ukraine. We use our knowledge from teaching and research into international communication to look at each individual with his or her personal profile and support them accordingly.

What prompted the establishment of the Counselling Office?
At the beginning of the 1970s I came to Germany from Bulgaria and was able to see for myself during my degree that the international students often had difficulties settling in. This was predominantly because the teaching and education systems in their home countries were structured very differently to those in Germany. Towards the end of the 1990s, the number of foreign students rose substantially, as did the need for professional support. The Intercultural Counselling Office was set up at the LMU’s Institute for Intercultural Communication (IKK) in 2007.

What specific help do you offer?
One of our activities is an open consultation service, but we mainly offer events and workshops. Here we work under the motto of “students for students”. More advanced students like PhD students and alumni of the IKK work as trainers and address the precise points the participants are concerned about. One of these is the teaching style in Germany, but another might be the issue of making friends. At these gatherings the international students have the chance to address problems openly. We also invite them to tell us about their home countries. On request from the student country organizations we also arrange special workshops for students from a specific country. The Counselling Office focuses on culturally sensitive support and a high level of commitment among our young trainers.

Interview: Helen Sibum

www.en.ikberatung.ikk.uni-muenchen.de/index.html

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