Cultural ambassadors wanted

15.3.2022 | DIT Public Relations

The summer semester starts at the European Campus Rottal-Inn (ECRI) and the students return to Pfarrkirchen. In order to bring the international young people closer to the culture and make life in Lower Bavaria easier, ECRI is now looking for cultural ambassadors as part of the Host Family Programme.

The programme matches students with locals who then meet at regular intervals. The aim is to give international students an opportunity to make contacts off campus and get to know Lower Bavarian culture. Especially at ECRI, Bavaria's most international campus, the Host Family Programme is indispensable for the exchange with people from other cultures. The process is quite simple: you meet the students casually and as often as you like. The participants decide for themselves whether the first meeting takes place in person or virtually because of Corona. As far as further meetings are concerned, there are no limits: whether it's an excursion to the beer garden, a walk around the Rottauen Reservoir or cooking together, there are many opportunities to share the area and culture with the students.

The cultural ambassadors do not have to be afraid of possible language barriers. Christiane Benesch is one of the ambassadors and meets regularly with two students as part of the Host Family Programme. She has high praise for them: "Hashem and Ersilja already speak excellent German and then I get scolded every now and then that I shouldn't speak so much English with them". She is not only behind the programme because of the exchange. She also finds the Host Family Programme indispensable from the perspective of the students' parents. "If I had children, I would of course be very grateful if my children were in foreign countries and someone was there to look after them a little and offer something like that," she says.

If you would like to gain a little insight into the programme and the process, you can find a short interview with Christiane Benesch in the university's podcast. There she talks about her experiences so far. You can find the podcast at: https://www.th-deg.de/campustalk

Further information and the application form for the Host Family Programme can be found at www.th-deg.de/hostfamily. If you have any questions, Andrea Ebertseder from the Centre for International Affairs at the DIT is available via e-mail at andrea.ebertseder@th-deg.de.

The Host Family Programme is a non-profit organisation of the Deggendorf Institute of Technology, which is dedicated to the integration of foreign students. In Deggendorf, the network includes people from a wide range of nations, religions and cultures and currently consists of more than 80 host families from Deggendorf and the surrounding area. At ECRI in Pfarrkirchen, the programme started for the first time in the winter semester 2019/20 and since then over 50 students have been placed with host families in the region.

Bild (DIT / ECRI): They got to know each other better on a walk together: Christiane Benesch with Ersilja and Hashem (from left to right).