The Intercultural Mentoring (IKM) for international students at the UdK Berlin was launched back in 2013. Today, six qualified student mentors work in the team and help new international students to get started with their studies at the UdK, to get in touch with fellow students, to find their way around in the German educational context. For participants in the Intercultural Mentoring, the mentees, the program offered brings double benefits because their activities in IKM get accredited with up to 4 ECTS points in the Studium Generale module.

Small groups of mentees are guided and assisted by experienced student mentors from the very beginning of studies up to the end of the second semester. A weekly meeting point for international students ist the "IKM Kaffee-Runde" every Wednesday at 9 h in Café Kubik in the 3rd floor of Hardenbergstr. 33. Further activities will be discussed there and announced thereafter. There is a small set of study skills workshops for studying in German speaking environment at IKM every year: Workshops include "Kommunikation & Feedbacktechniken", "Fachsprachen", "Präsentationstechniken", "Wissenschaftliches Schreiben" etc.

Student mentors help with problems in everyday life as well as with study relevant issues. In the mentoring groups international students get familiar with “Campus of the UdK Berlin”, with the institutional structures and explore the manifold activities at the University of Arts. The students explore musical, theater, art and cultural scene together and discuss about their experiences. The group may invite people from the university an beyond and they talk about topics which are interesting for the mentees . They may speak about the cultural embeddedness of habits, about life in Germany and in the students’ countries of origin. They talk about art and politics. The mentees get encouraged by the mentors to take an active part in student life, to get engaged and start own initiatives.

The intercultural mentoring also serves as a bridge to the cultural studies courses in the Studium Generale: the cultural-theoretical content is discussed in round tables and one's own cultural experiences are compared.

In the intercultural mentoring makes it a lot easier for international students to integrate in everyday life of Berlin. With the intercultural mentors the students obtain qualified persons to talk with,  with them they can also talk about individual problems. The mentees receive a variety of suggestions and support for their studies as well as for life outside the university. For active participation in the mentor group over two semesters the students earn up to 4 credit points in the Studium Generale module, which means they don’t have to visit as many seminars in the cultural studies section.

 The Head of the mentoring program is Flóra Tálasi, at the same time she coordinates the “Studium Generale”. She represents the team of IKM and she is the first person to contact for general questions, too. Further on, she is responsible for the qualification, coordination and supervision of the mentors as well as for the content and structural development of the program.
 
Tel.: (030) 3185 2878
E-Mail: sgk@intra.udk-berlin.de
 

A network of engaged colleagues helps the coordinator and the mentoring team by their work: employees in the General Student Counseling, in the International Office,  in the International Student Services, in the Career Service & Transfer Center (CTC) and also members of all faculties are active in the network for intercultural mentoring. Prof. Sylvia Wächter and Dr. Jessica Haß from the Institute for Theory and Practice of Communication, Department of Intercultural Communication are currently involved in the content development and supervision.