A series of five preparatory workshops are being organized by the Student Support Services Division (SSSD) for all students who applied for study financing via the Study Financing Division (SF) of the Ministry of Education to pursue their studies in Holland.
These interactive and themed workshops, which are slated to start on April 22, 2013 and run until June, are designed to address many of the issues that our students face while pursuing their studies in Holland and to equip them to be successful.
The titles and objectives of the five workshops include:
1. Preparing for my Holland experience
Objective: Assessing and adjusting expectations: focus on reality.
2. Social/Cultural and personal issues and adjusting to life in Holland.
Objective: Familiarization with new environment: What to expect.
3. Educational Success I
Objective: To provide information which can assist in educational success
4. Educational Success II
Objective: To provide more information which can assist in educational success
5. Integrating into society in Holland.
Objective: Provide information about maintaining a sense of wellbeing in integration without letting go who you are.
Some of the topics that will be covered in these workshops include expectations about Holland, day to day living, dealing with home sickness or feeling overwhelmed, learning styles, study skills, time management, importance of Dutch language skills, group interaction, handling procrastination, increasing motivation, dealing with prejudices, cultural differences, coping strategies, and the importance of friends and networks.
According to SSSD officials, these workshops are an initiative of the Minister of Education and all the workshops will be held in the evening hours from 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. at the University of St. Martin. They added that attendance to the workshops is mandatory and participants will be required to sign in and out at the workshops.
Once the workshops conclude, there will be a general session for the students where officials from the Ministry of Education are slated to address the students. In addition to this, there will also be a session for the parents of these students, where parental involvement in the students’ lives will be stressed. It is mandatory for at least one parent of the student to be present at this session.
All Holland study financing applicants are urged to attend all of the sessions on the respective dates. The Division of Study Financing sent an email to each applicant informing them about the workshops and the dates they have to attend and followed up the email with a phone call.
Head of the Student Support Services Division and acting head of the Division of Study Financing, Olga Mussington-Service, stated that the Ministry strives to do all that it can do to ensure that our students are prepared as they continue their educational journey.
"The content of the sessions were derived at based on feedback from students in Holland regarding their preparedness and the bottlenecks that they face while pursuing their studies and the findings in the 2012 report of the Stichting Soualiga Foundation", Mussington-Service said.
Mussington-Service further stated that the staff of the Division of Study Financing is actively engaged in the preparations for the departure of our students and these workshops are part of a joint program to be executed by SF and SSSD.
Should you have any questions about the workshops, you can contact Michel Chance at the Student Support Services Division at Tel: 543-1235.