Læserne med på råd - CBS OBSERVER

c b s o b s e r v e r 1 f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 0 2 1All aboard the Study BoardsCBS’ international students are underrepresented in CBS’ governing bodies and study boards. Not from any lack of CBSStudents’ desire to involve especially the international full time students. To the contrary – even though Danish is still thelocal lingua francaCBS Students’ President, Emil Fuglsang, encourages full-time international students to run for the study board,but stresses that international students will be represented by the Danish members, too.d u ly v o t e dBy Chris DayPhoto: Liselotte ØstergaardYou might be forgiven for notknowing that the yearly electionsto CBS’ study boards have just beencompleted. This year’s turnout was18.8 percent – fairly high for thecourse, but far from impressive.This fairly mild to indifferent studentinterest is fairly ignorant. CBS’study boards provide a vital functionin this egalitarian educationalinstitution, establishing a separatefocus on each program to ensurethat the learning experience is optimised.As guardians of democraticinfluence, the study boards areintended to represent every stakeholderwith a direct interest in thewell-being of their program. Thisincludes professors, secretaries andof course students.Seats are allocated to studentson the study boards. It is their jobto provide a voice for their classmateswhen assessing the strengthsand weaknesses of their program.The boards are dynamic, criticallyconstructive and constantly seekingto make improvements that willbenefit future participants; so farso good.Foreign relationsWith a large and ever growinginternational student intake at CBS,it has become increasingly difficultto ensure that the study boardsare fully representative. The fulltime international students are farfrom adequately represented onthe study boards, and how can theschool’s exchange students maketheir voices heard in a systembased on annual elections, designedonly to recruit full time students?Presently there are less thana handful of fulltime internationalstudents sitting on the studyboards. When compared to a totalof 11 percent ofCBS bachelorsand 19 percentof CBS’ master’sstudents, theproportion of fulltime students isextremely underrepresentedonthe study boards.Although thisis most certainlythe case, anuneven distribution of full timeinternational students across theprograms may account for some ofthis lack of representation. Certainprograms taught in Danish may bediscounted for lack of internationalstudents. Other, more internationallyfocused programs such as BScInternational Business and Politicswith one fifth overseas students,has exactly one of its five seats onthe study board taken by an internationalstudent. In this case, theone counts for many.Important importsCBS Students new President, EmilStigsgaard Fuglsang has noted theproblem and says:- There could be and should bemore. On those studies that arecalled ‘international something’ weneed at least one. It’s not optimalunless there is a percentage matchbetween the students studying andthose on the board.However the numbers are read,study boards have little in the wayof international student flavor. Thismay be due to lack of time, apathy,a belief that they won’t get elected,‘Even though aninternational student is notpersonally on the studyboard, Danish students willalways represent them.Emil FuglsangPresident, CBS Studentsor down to trusting that their morevocal, eager Danish colleagues willserve their interests better.- Even though an internationalstudent is not personally on thestudy board,Danish studentswill alwaysrepresent them.Also, study boardmeetings arealways open. Iwould encourageeven those notelected for thestudy boards toattend meetingsor at least workclosely with their Danish representative,Emil Fuglsang says.For any full-time internationalstudent still at CBS when electiontime rolls around again nextNovember, Emil makes a concertedplea to get involved, take up thecause and add an international perspectiveto the board.- Run for the study board. Morepeople should do it. It’s a reallyvaluable experience to say I wasactive in student politics in anothercountry and international setting,the CBS’ Students President pointsout.Exchanging inputFor exchange students, usuallyat CBS for periods of three to sixmonths, the annual elections andprogram based nature of the studyboard means that they are not eligiblefor inclusion. This leaves aproblem as to how they can air theiropinions, which are more specificallycentred on the courses theyselect rather than overall programs.Their valuable input cannot directlyreach a study board, unless they gothrough their student representative.Vive la differenceably more rigid manner. There isr e p r e s e n t !so much red tape there that it’sBy Chris Dayquite hard to get anything done,Photo: Liselotte Østergaard Thomas Nielsen explains.Although it’s still extremelyearly days in Thomas’ career onOne of CBS’ few full time internationalstudents determined to clear objectives of what he’d likethe study board, he has quitetake up the chance to sit on a to achieve for his classmates andstudy board is Thomas Nielsen. future participants on the program.Brought up in Zimbabwe, educatedin French schools and - It’s still a fairly new programso lots of courses can bewith Franco-Danish parentage,Thomas certainly has an exceptionalinternational pedigree. in everybody’s interest to havedeveloped and changed. It’sHis wealth of exposure to other the best program possible, so Inational viewpoints means that intend to take my responsibilityhe will already be able to bring seriously and listen to what myanother perspective to the BSc class mates have to say, ThomasInternational Business and Nielsen states.Politics study board.On the potential pitfalls awaitinghim at the study board introAlthough only in his first year,Thomas jumped at the chance conference conducted in Danish,of getting involved when hearingabout the elections. In fact already understand the language.Thomas is lucky in that he canhe was surprised at the lack of - I’m not used to speakingenthusiasm from his fellow classmates– while pointing out that a good thing if it was held init, but I’ll be fine. It would bethe introduction to the concept English. If you do courses inleft much to be desired, if the English, the study program’sidea was to generate interest. international and it’s important- I heard about the study to have this working languageboard and thought it seemed like aspect represented fully; it addsa good idea. At first I thought to the relevance – and the internationalstudent interest, saysit might just be a ‘look good’thing, but it seems that you Thomas Nielsen.really do have a voice and can1get involved. It seemed like a lotof people weren’t interested andthought it might not be useful orhelpful when beginning the firstyear, but if they found out, theyought to realise it’s something,Thomas Nielsen says.Thomas thought differently.He was convinced that he mightbe able to make a difference. Hewas surprised to see students atCBS given such localised accessto the decision making processregarding their own programs.- There are no study boards inFrance. Here at CBS, you do havea voice – which is quite nice,I must say. It’s a nice idea toinvolve the students in the decisionmaking process as in Francethings are handled in a consider-Thomas Nielsen is French.In reality, the study boards stayDanish, so it follows that the coursesmaintain a Danish perspective.For Emil this constitutes a particulardilemma:- On the one hand, our exchangestudents need representation. CBSStudents try their best to work withthe International Office, so thatour representatives can perform inthe best possible way as also theirstudy boards, and we are just ascommitted to representing them aseveryone else. At the same time,the study boards need committedstudents to run an educational programthat has some kind of longrange link to all of the students,Emil Fuglsang explains.Despite the protestations anda real desire by all concerned tomake the study boards more representativeof the diverse studentbody at CBS, Emil duly notes thatnext month’s study board introconference will be conducted in…Danish.1