Malmö University 101

Dining at the City Hall, singing Britney Spears karaoke at the Student Pub, questioning policeman Mike about Swedish law, eating hotdogs at the beach and staying for 24 hours at an university building… a regular first week for Malmö University student. Let me briefly introduce you to the Malmö högskola!

                                                                    Source: GIPHY

SOME TECHNICAL INFORMATIONS:

“Hey mom, my university is younger than me! “

Malmö University was founded in 1998, which makes it younger than most of the students. It also means that since at that time nearby Lund University already offered traditional programs like law or architecture, at Malmö University you can get a degree in  Interaction Design, Criminology, Human rights or Leadership for Sustainability. How cool is that?

Credits: Kentaroo Tryman/Folio/imagebank.sweden.se

CAMPUS

Most university buildings are located in the northern part of the city, where old industrial harbour was transformed into the nest for education, entrepreneurship and innovation. Especially innovation – did you know that Forbes ranked Malmö as fourth most innovative city in the world? The newest building of the university looks like a headquarters of an important company.  And we are only a few steps away from Västra hamnen, famous neighbourhood that is sometimes described as the first carbon neutral district in Europe.

INTRODUCTION PROGRAMME

Let’s get to the point! What happens when you come to Malmö as an international student? For sure you are not alone. On the contrary, together with me in the Introduction Programme participated over 500 international students from 84 different countries!  Coming two weeks earlier is not obligatory but I would recommend it to anybody – it is essentially 9 days of fun and getting to know people from all over the world. I prepared a calendar summary of my first days in Sweden to get you the idea. I had numerous fikas (traditional swedish coffe breaks with mandatory cake!), had a chance to talk to the Mayor at the official reception at the City Hall, enjoyed  last summer days at the beach, got to know all the university services, danced to Swedish tunes, met my future teachers and much more!

INSPARKEN

aka Seeking the Holy Graal of a Swede

A running joke among my classmates is the general difficulty of meeting a Swede here. Most of the people I know in Malmö are international students. We were quite surprised to discover that the total number of Swedes attending our program is a grand 1. The more excited we were about Insparken – the first two weeks of the term which are somehow an equivalent of the Introduction Programme but for Swedish students. This time it is only about fun: teambuilding with your faculty, karaoke, theme parties, boardgames… All in the spirit of rivalry between faculties (go sports!). The epic final of Insparken is a 24h race with a new activity announced every hour. Tasks varied from dance competitions to baking cake… and decorating christmas trees. All this in a great atmosphere. And by great I mean several-dozen-Swedes-singing-Pokemon-theme-song-aloud-and-toasting-every-hour great.

As you can see, international students are never bored during their first weeks at Malmö University. There are countless opportunites to get to know the school and future classmates.This is not unusual in Sweden – here you can check out how Dena described her introduction experince in Lund University. What about you? Do you have some special events at the beginning of the term at your universities?

Would you like to know more about Malmö University, my faculty or Interaction Design Master Programme? Feel free to suggest topics that interest you. I have just came to Sweden from Poland to study interaction design and from now on you can follow my student blog for stories about my time here. Stay tuned!