Welcome to a new semester! I hope we were all able to get a week of rest and relaxation after the gruelling exam period. Back at it again and I am here to talk a bit about one of the University’s most important resources that you may or may not be familiar with- the Peer Programme, just in time for the start of the semester.
A little anecdote to begin. My father, over the course of his career, has worked a lot with people and even more with tools and machines, and after well over 2 decades in his profession, even in this age of artificial intelligence and automation technology, he maintains that the most valuable resource you can ever have is people. Tools and machines certainly make things easier but people will give you the human experiences and emotional connections that enrich our lives.
That being said, you may have seen our beloved Peers in the last couple of semesters in the Aula giving away cups of tea and coffee and pastries, in their branded t-shirts and wide smiles. They definitely put themselves out there and make their presence known, and yet I’ve come across an alarming number of students who still don’t know who they are and what they do. I use the word ‘alarming’ because for all the challenged that students, especially international students could potentially face in the university, it is crucial to know that this resource exists and can be extremely helpful. You wouldn’t wait for your home to be on fire to find out where the fire extinguishers are, right?
To shed some light, I reached out to one of the Peers to get a little bit of a personal glimpse into the Peer programme from their perspective.
Q: Hi Edna! Thanks for agreeing to be a part of this. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
E: Of course. My name is Edna Bartolomeu. I am a 5th year medical student from Angola. I am in the Hungarian programme and I’ve been a Peer for 2 years now.
Q: What exactly is the Peer programme?
E: So, the program is an initiative from the university to help students handle all kinds of questions or struggles but more from the perspective of a fellow student, someone who might have experienced the same problem, and has the tips on how to circumvent it. It was initially created in 2019.
Q: What can students expect from you as a Peer?
E: As peers, we assist in matters such as study tips– what kind of materials to use for some subjects, study techniques, what subjects we advise to tackle first during the semester, and which ones are manageable during the exam period, how to take advantage of some of the resources like Potepedia, or the Google drive contents you see floating around. We also help students who struggle to balance studies and social life, which might sound utopian, because what social life can we have? *laughs*. But it is truly essential to have an outlet, so our advice is often to make friends, find hobbies, even the most “basic” ones like going to the gym, or reading your favourite genre of books, go to a party or two if that’s your sort of thing, program your long weekends so you’re able to take a little trip and experience different sceneries. We help out with situations regarding the bureaucracy involved in being an international student, like how to handle the immigration office, requirements and timelines. Another important aspect of our work is helping students who struggle with mental health issues, either by giving advice based on our experiences, or better yet referring them to our professional partners, the psychologists and psychiatrists in Pszikon-Psychology Counseling.
“I always aim to be objective whilst answering or advising someone…”
Q: How exactly does it work? Students reach out and get assigned a peer or they can reach out to anyone at any time?
E: Students can reach out to us through the university’s website, in person at all times on campus, via email (our information is on the website), or during one of our events in the Aula.
Q: What kind of problems do students frequently come to you with? What kind of help can you and do you offer?
E: Students usually reach out with all kinds of situations, and I try to assist in the best way I can. It varies from study tips, how to best utilise their time without burning out, how to schedule exams keeping in mind the work that they did during the semester, private life problems, immigration issues, school requirements like the health aptitude test. I always aim to be objective whilst answering or advising someone, either through personal experience or acquired knowledge, and whenever I don’t feel capable of or comfortable with handling a particular issue, especially the personal ones involving mental health issues, I ask them to pursue professional counselling.
Q: Sometimes we see your posters and flyers around the university and on social media. What kinds of events do you host and how regularly? What is the aim of these events?
E: We host a few events during the year, the main one being the “Chill with the Peers”. The other ones are usually associated with major holidays like Easter or Christmas. The aim is always to bring awareness to the program so that more people know of it, to make the initial contact with students, answer questions on-site and establish a communication channel if that encounter wasn’t enough.
Q: What advice would you give to students to be able to make the most out of the Peer Programme as a resource?
E: My advice is to ask away. Ask anything you might have questions about, and even if I don’t have the answer, another peer might. We usually brainstorm on the situations that we couldn’t solve on-site, and get back to you. Another tip is to check your email, because the site doesn’t allow the student to ask the question directly, so it only notifies us that someone tried to contact us and then we send an email to start the conversation, but people usually don’t see or respond and that hinders the process a bit.
So that’s it for this. You can reach out to the Peers on their website. The website is easy to navigate and for each Peer is a brief introduction and description of themselves, the languages they speak and in what capacity they are able to help. You just need to go to the ‘Contact Us’ page and ask away. Be sure to check your emails (inbox and spam, just in case) to continue correspondence.
Also check out this piece on the University’s website that explains what they do, as well as a video of their event, “Chill with the Peers”. Look out for their social media posts here and here and posters around the university campus.
Author’s note: My sincere appreciation goes to Edna for agreeing to be a part of this blog post and giving us her perspective on this topic.
THE BEST.