In 1999 the Buddy Programme was started at Umeå University. Since then, thousands of international and domestic students, have met and made friendships for life. Every year one person is hired to coordinate the programme. For the 20 years anniversary we've interviewed some of the former coordinators about their time in the Buddy Programme.
Name: Helena Gradin
Buddy Programme Coordinator year: 1999-2000
Education at Umeå University: Teacher Education (Swedish and German for high school/gymnasiet), but my degree back then turned out to be a bachelor’s degree with a major in Swedish/Scandinavian languages.
ImageMattias Pettersson
Best. Job. Ever!
It is really hard to choose just one, but I will always remember when I “lost” four German students in Skuleskogen… They were, however, found again a few hours after we realised they were gone. I will also always remember the e-mail that one student e-mailed our buddy programme/mentor programme community (this was before Facebook, so we used the “reply all” button a lot) when this student was about to leave Umeå after being here on exchange for the full academic year. This student wrote that the exchange had been life altering and that it had broadened this student’s mind in ways this student did not think was possible.
Maybe around 300?
Since the buddy programme was rather small back then, most activities were popular (once we kind of fit the entire buddy programme in to one student corridor… but that was REALLY crowded…).
I stayed at the international Office and kept working with international education.
I still live in Umeå and work at the International Office, as the Assistant Head of Division.
Yes!
