Old and new wind power. Photo: Margareta Ohné.

Why a network?

The purpose of the network is to create a meeting place for Master's students, teachers and alumni. Through regular meetings, students and teachers will have the opportunity to discuss the content of the education with alumni. The students should also be better prepared for life after graduation.

The investment is a result of the discussions at the Pedagogical Council's teacher meeting in June. It had the theme "How do we help our students succeed in their future careers?". One suggestion that came up was the formation of networks, preferably one for each Master's programme.

It was decided to start with the Master's programme Ecology and Biodiversity as a pilot project. It is thus the students and teachers of that programme who are part of the new network, as well as alumni with work relevant to ecologists. BIG's study counsellor is also included.

Provided there is interest from teachers and students, BIG will start networks for the other Master's programmes as well.

Alumni talk and give good advice

On September 26, the ecology network had its first meeting. The invitation had gone out to everyone taking the first course in the Master's programme and to several of the teachers concerned, but not so many could come this time. The invitation had also gone out to eight alumni; these were either consultants or employees of various authorities or organisations. Two of them were able to participate in the meeting, the other six had obstacles, but all were very positive about the initiative. In addition, two of BIG's study counsellors attended the meeting.

The two alumni who participated in the meeting were Maria Bergström at the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, operations manager for Greater Stockholm's nature guides, and Inger Näslund at WWF, senior advisor in the area of ​​Seas & Fisheries. During the meeting, they talked about their careers and gave some advice to the students, including the following:

• dare to invest in what you are passionate about,
• read statistics even if you don't think it's not that fun, you need this tool,
• don't underestimate your skills, you can do more than you think,
• keep in mind that the public and the politicians do not understand what we are saying!

Next meeting

The idea is for the network to meet once or twice per semester with predetermined themes. The next meeting was set for Monday, November 20 at 16:30 – approx. 18. The invitation will be sent out to affected students, teachers and alumni, but if anyone else is interested in participating, just contact Birgitta Åkerman, who is responsible for alumni and collaboration issues at BIG.