A volunteer experience provided by DEGIS aims to connect incoming international students to already settled ones in Germany, in order to improve the experience and provide better opportunities through networking and mutual support.
The DEGIS Buddy Program was launched in the Wintersemester 2020/2021, with the goal of connecting one or more incoming international students, so-called “incoming buddies” with an experienced senior international student in Germany, so-called “local buddy”. The goal of the program is that the local buddies, who have a great understanding of the challenges of newly arriving international students in Germany, can help the incoming buddies on overcoming these challenges and have a smooth start in Germany. While many Universities have supporting offerings for international students, having a fellow student is a more approachable option for support.
During the Buddy program, there is a list of tasks that we recommend local buddies to fulfill in order to support their incoming Buddies. Some examples are;
The hope for us at DEGIS is that with the Buddy Program, we can start some long-lasting intercultural friendships that go way longer than the duration of the Program.
Since the program is on a volunteering basis, all our local buddies support the incoming buddies without expecting anything in return. We as DEGIS reward them with a certificate to honor their support for the international student community in Germany.
As the program is on a voluntary basis, we expect both sides to be respectful to each other. In order to guarantee that, both sides have to agree to a code of conduct, in which they agree to the rules of the program.
In Addition to the connection between the buddies, our DEGIS City Chapters are also organizing Events, especially for buddies. The goal of this is to help to connect with even more international students in your university or city.
We are hoping to grow and establish the DEGIS Buddy Program as the main program for newly arriving international students in Germany. If you want to join us as a local or incoming buddy keep an eye out on our next intake session.
Sign-up for our newsletter and we will inform you about the dates of the upcoming Buddy Program batch.