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Information about Hald internasjonale skole

At Hald International School you can nurture your leadership skills and cultural expertise by vocational education that is aimed at fostering leaders for tomorrow.

The school is a meeting place for cross-cultural understanding and international work. Every year, 60 youths gets admission to develop as leaders and learn about personal growth, information work, sustainable development, mission, and leadership. The students are in the age group between 18 and 25 years and are selected by our partners in Norway, Nepal, Bangladesh, Uganda, Kenya, Madagascar, Tanzania, Brazil, Colombia, Spain and France. One of our distinguishments is the vibrant international environment at the school.

Consider an intercultural learning environment where you and your fellow students from all over the world share friendships, learn from each other by sharing experiences and knowledge, discuss faith and reason, and explore the most pressing issues facing the world such as sustainable development, or how to fight global poverty and inequality.

The vocational education will present you with relevant challenges through classroom teaching, self-study, guest lectures, a close collaboration with and insight into civil society organisations and most significantly a 6-month placement in a civil society organisation in a foreign culture. Cross cultural learning thus happens both at the school and while you are in the practice placements.

The vocational one-year education awards a “professional degree” of 60 credits, however perhaps as important, a vocational education at Hald International School may be one of the elements that contributes to forming the rest of your life.
The school is owned by the Strømme Foundation, the Norwegian Mission Society and Laget. It hosts three Norec youth exchange programs administered by these three civil society organisations: Act Now, Interact, Connect

Act Now

Act now is the youth exchange program by the Strømme Foundation and partners in Nepal, Uganda and Tanzania.

Partners in Nepal are Group of Helping Hands (SAHAS) and Agro-Forestry, Basic Health and Cooperatives (ABC).

Partners in Uganda are CBS Pewosa and Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD).

Partners in Tanzania are Sustainable Environment Management Action (SEMA) and Organization for Community Development (OCODE).

The main goal of the partners is to eradicate poverty through community-based development and rights-based approaches. They fight poverty and inequality through creating livelihoods and job opportunities, ensuring inclusive quality education, and building strong societies. Act Now focuses on empowering youth leaders and enabling youths to advocate for positive changes in their communities. Through this program the partners wish to strengthen youth participation and leadership in civil society.

Interact

Interact is the youth exchange program between Norges Kristelige Student -og Skoleungdomslag (NKSS) and partners.

Partner in Brazil is Allianca Bíblica Universitária do Brazil.

Partner in Nepal is Nepal Bishwobidhyalaya ChristiaBidhyarthi Sangati.

Partner in Colombia is Unidad Cristiana Universitaria Colombia.

Partner in Kenya Kenya is Fellowship of Christian Unions Kenya.

Partner in Madagascar is Union des Group Biblique de Madagascar.

Partner in Bangladesh is Bible Students Fellowship of Bangladesh.

Through this program NKSS and their partners want their participants to take leadership responsibilities in the organizations as well as in the wider society. The program aims at strengthening youth leadership through building leaders with integrity who may impact the church, the university, and the overall society. The exchange aims to increase the knowledge and ability among the participants to meaningfully interact with cross cultural issues. The program seeks to equip and empower students to address current global issues, and to respond to contemporary challenges from within a Christian perspective.

Connect

Connect is the youth exchange program by NMS (Det Norske Misjonsselskap).

Partner in Brasil is Movimento Encontrão Brazil.

Partner in Madagascar is Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy.

Partner in Hong Kong is The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong.

This year, the program has been expanded by also including collaboration with mission stations and churches in Spain and France. The Connect project’s main goal is to raise young leaders that are influencing their societies in a positive way and that are working for a world without injustice and poverty. Important elements to reach this goal is to work for increased youth participation in the organizations, training of young leaders and work for an increased awareness of global challenges. During the exchange, the participants will increase their competencies in intercultural communication, human understanding, and tolerance, and in turn obtain a greater understanding of development work.

Norec

The Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation (Norec) is a Norwegian competence centre for exchange cooperation, that provides grants, training, and follow-up for this mutual exchange of young people between the organisations and partners involved. Read more about being a norec participant here.

 

Application and admission criteria

Applicants residing in Norway apply through this link: https://www.hald.no/soknad
For students residing outside Norway the application process is administered through the partner organisations. If you are from one of the countries listed, you may apply through the partner organizations. They call for applicants once a year, normally between December and February. Potential candidates will be called in for an interview before admission.
A precondition for admission as a student at Hald International School is that you have completed three years of high school education or have a minimum of three years relevant study -or work experience. The programme is best suited for persons between the ages of 18-25. Previous experience from working in a civil society organisation or education from a college or university will be an advantage.

Contact persons

If you have been admitted as a student through one of our partners, these are your primary contact persons at Hald International School:

Act Now: Kaia Kristensen
Interact: Turid S. Olsen
Connect: Gregory Bieberbach

Finances

Students from Norway pay a fee of 119 000 NOK, which may be applied to be covered by student loans and grants by the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund (Statens Lånekasse for utdanning). The cost of their exchange is also subsidised by NOREC.
Students getting admission through partner organisations will get their expenses covered by NOREC. This will cover school fee, travel, visa, insurance and a basic level of food, accommodation, transportation, telephone, internet, and some pocket money.
This will not be sufficient to save up money. Leisure time travels must be covered by private funds. You are not provided a salary since your work is voluntary. Your visa will not allow you to receive any other salary or have any extra paid work during your stay in Norway.

Life at Hald International School

Hald International School has a campus in Mandal, a small town on the south coast of Norway. The start of semester is in August, when you will go through a 6-week introductory training period and the semester ends in June after another 8-week training period. During the training periods, in autumn and spring, you will live at campus and attend classes at Hald International School.
Most of the classes take place in the great hall which has room for 150 students. The hall contains a stage, and it is possible to divide it into two smaller rooms. We also have smaller classrooms and conference rooms in the main building.
As a student at Hald you will share room with one or more fellow students. We have two dorms which together consist of 32 rooms: 13 with two beds and 19 with four. All rooms have their own bathrooms with shower and toilet. Each dorm has its own laundry room with washing machines and tumble driers. In the main building there is a living room, a TV room, and a dining hall for common use.
The School also has a library, s study room, a computer room, a prayer room, various music instruments, a volleyball court, a football court, table tennis, and a cinema projector that students may access freely.
The food at Hald has a good reputation. The kitchen serves traditional Norwegian dishes but also international cuisine. The kitchen will accommodate for vegetarians, food allergies, or other food preferences. As a student at Hald you will enjoy three meals a day, in addition to a fruit break at midday. The students also have access to a student kitchen, with good opportunities for cooking your own food, if desired.
Hald International School takes great care in facilitating for and raising awareness about sustainable living. We focus on reduce, recycle, and reuse, each building contains garbage recycling stations, we encourage saving electricity by turning of lights, the kitchen focuses on reducing food waste and serve vegetarian dinners twice a week etc.

Teaching areas

The teaching at Hald is mostly arranged according to subjects. We concentrate on seven subject areas:

1.Culture and intercultural communication, 15 credits
2.Christian faith and ethics, 5 credits
3.Sustainable development, 5 credits
4.Communication and advocacy, 10 credits
5.Leadership and personal growth, 10 credits

All the students will be taught in these subject areas; however, the three programmes have slightly different emphases. While Act Now has an in-depth study topic in Poverty eradication (15 credits), Connect and Interact has an in-depth study topic in Bible, mission and diakonia (15 credits).

You may find the curriculum here:

Curriculum Hald International School

Internship or practice placement

Internship or practice placement

During the 6 months practice placement you will be provided a relevant workplace for internship, a local contact person, a contact family, and/or a mentor (cultural broker). You will live with a fellow student as your teammate and the two of you will help each other establish an everyday life in the new setting. Some will live in an apartment, some will live with a host family, while some will be hosted in a boarding school. You will maintain and plan your own economy and daily life. Every week you will have four days a week with work opportunities, and one day a week with time for self-studies and school assignments. You will also attend Norwegian language classes.
We facilitate so that you may take an active part in Norwegian culture. Personal development and cross-cultural understanding will increase through being an active part of a workplace, through building friendships within and outside work, and through participating actively in spare time activities.
When the program staff allocate students to the different placements, we attempt to consider several things: the students’ interests and experiences, the needs of the practice placement, preferences of the partner organisations, and the team composition.

For contact information to the School office, click here.

Whistleblowing

Read our routines for whistleblowing by clicking here

Student ombudsman

 

For more information regarding the schools Student ombudsman,  click here