The smell of ginger, curry and garlic filled the lobby of TUC's campus Porsgrunn on Thursday, April 18, as our international students served a buffet of dishes typical of their home countries as part of the International Day programme.

International Student Union (ISU) at Telemark University College organised the buffet and offered tastes of traditional dishes from many different countries.

Many of the students had worked all night to prepare the most delicious food.

Share food and culture

Behzad, Hamed, Najmeh, Sahar, Samaneh and Mojtaba from Iran, had prepared 12 Persian dishes all together. Staff and students crowded the lobby and evidently liked the taste of Iran. Shortly after the buffet opened, only crumbles were left of the persian specialties.

- In addition to serving national dishes, we want to display the symbols we use when celebrating persian New Year, the girls said.

Saturday, April 20th, the Iranian students celebrate Navrozs, which is the name of their new year celebration. Navroz is celebrated by Iranians of all religions, and the students had decorated their table with all the different symbols of the new year:

The table held seven dishes with different contents; planted grass symbolizing new life, coins to symbolize wealth in the future, and nuts - hard on the outside, but soft inside - as the men often have to be! The four last dishes contained apples, garlic, a red spice and vinegar.

Want more students to study abroad

Apart from the international buffet, International Day featured cultural performances as songs, music and a quiz, as well as information on study abroad-oportunities for TUC students.

- International Day is primarily aimed at making the students aware of the various oportunities they have to do part of their TUC degree abroad, says Trine Ellefsen, who is head of TUC's International Office.

- We hope to increase the number of outgoing exchange students from TUC. A study abroad periode gives the students valuable experiences in many ways.

- TUC has many international partner universities where our students kan spend one or two semesters, and we continously work to improve and facilitate our international programmes, she continues.

- Finally, International Day is also a great oportunity for our international students to introduce themselves as a group and to demonstrate their own culture through food and cultural performances, and for us to focus on internationalisation in general, she adds.

Students from more than fourty countries

More than three hundred international students from more than fourty countries are enrolled with Telemark University College. Most of the international students on campus Porsgrunn attend the international Master of Engineering programmes.

Every year 30 - 40 TUC students take the oportunity to study abroad at one of TUC's international partner universities. The exchange periode may last from 3 to 12 months of their total study period, and the credits they earn while abroad are recognized by TUC and fully counts towards their TUC degree.

A study abroad experience contributes towards increased language skills, a better understanding of differnet cultures, not to mention private relations and networks that may be useful for in the future - privately as well as professionally.