“Being a MACOMM student at VID has been eye-opening. Especially because our class was international, with students from Europe, Africa, and Asia, making intercultural learning and dialogue challenging and easy at the same time.”, says Elton March, master graduate.
Daphne Langwe (26) and Elton March (27) from Malawi are two of the students that graduated from VIDs master programme in community development this spring.
“It has been an amazing experience”, says Daphne Langwe, highlighting the international classmates and lectures that made the classes interesting and engaging. “Our varied experiences and backgrounds meant that the information we got and shared was beyond what the syllabus mandated.”
“Overall, studying in Norway, and at VID in particular, was a continuous learning opportunity both in and outside the classroom”, adds Elton.
They have both come a long way to complete their master’s. In addition to their study, they both highlight the cultural experience of being a student in a country far away from home.
“The most interesting thing for me was how student life, both social and academic, is prioritized by the school – and even within the city in general. The student discounts and free activities that are arranged by the student union make it easy to socialize”, tells Daphne.
Introverted Norwegians
They still found the Norwegian students to be more introverted than they were used to from Malawi, and it was hard to make new friends with the “locals”. Elton thinks that some of these challenges was due to the language barrier. He experienced that most Norwegians preferred communicating in Norwegian.
“It was challenging to join student activities like the football team and other minor events, because you knew you wouldn't be fully integrated language-wise”.
They both ended up seeking out fellow international students for easy communication.
Eye-opening lectures
In academia, they underline, language was not a problem, as they were able to interact with fellow students, teachers, and administrators in English.
“We had wonderful teachers”, says Elton. He liked the Norwegian concept of addressing the teachers by their first names.
“This reduces the distance between students and teachers, an element that isn't available in the African school system”.
Daphne also highlights the areas of study. “The MACOMM degree is a study of issues that are not abstract, but built on experiences and real-life situations. In addition, the degree is interdisciplinary, providing us a wide range of career options and issues we can work on», she says.
Her master thesis was titled «Masculinity Tales: the Impact of Masculinities on the Socio-economic Status of Refugee Men». This topic was inspired in part by her status as a migrant student, but also by the large number of refugees she encountered during her stay in Norway.
“The encounters inspired me to inquire more about the situation of refugee men in my country Malawi. In addition, the lectures I attended during the master’s thesis in Migration and Intercultural Relations, were also very inspiring and eye-opening”, says Daphne.
Realizing dreams
Both Elton and Daphne are participants in the NORPART mobility programme in Sustainable Community Development and Eco-Social Change. It is a cooperation between VID Specialized University, University of Malawi (UNIMA), and University of Western Cape (UWC), supported by The Norwegian Directorate of Higher Education and Skills.
“I would definitely encourage others to have the same experience I did in Norway and at VID”, says Elton and continues: “NORPART enabled me to realise my dream of pursuing this master's, which has widened my horizons. I was drawn to the programme because I knew it would be highly marketable in Malawian or African contexts, where most communities are still in the process of development, most people live in poverty, and there is a high demand for community development practitioners. But when I studied the programme, I realised that I am a global citizen, not just a Malawian citizen. I can influence change both at the local, regional, and global levels.
Text: Arne Morten Rosnes
Photo: Tord F. Paulsen