Almost all alone in Hamburg

The situation for international students in Hamburg

The corona pandemic has turned the everyday lives of everyone at HAW Hamburg upside down – but it has presented extra challenges for students who speak and understand little or no German, who are worried about their families and friends at home in addition to being worried about their own situation, and who face the question of whether and how they can continue their studies at HAW Hamburg.

At the end of summer semester 2020, the International Office surveyed the international students at the university about their situation. The answers provide insights and reflect the topics that are currently typical in advising conversations. For an especially large number of students, the language is an invisible but almost insurmountable barrier. This barrier includes the absence of exchanges for learning the language, problems understanding, and too little or delayed information in English on the HAW Hamburg website. 

'I feel really lonely.'

Even more so than domestic students, the international students are also facing financial hardships – both their own and the financial worries of their families back home. Unlike German students, international students are generally not entitled to receive BAföG (federally funded student financial assistance) and have to cover their living expenses completely on their own. This survival-related stress is accompanied by emotional stress: anxiety and loneliness dictate the everyday lives of many of the students. 'I feel really lonely in Germany and miss my family,' says one student. Another adds: 'I don't participate very actively in seminars and I find it difficult to interact with the professors in the normal lectures. In the current situation it's even more complicated. And I'm having trouble learning and studying at the moment.' Because contact with fellow students is often only possible in a limited way through the online courses at the moment, many international students don't have the opportunity to experience the full diversity of HAW Hamburg, its 17,000 students and its numerous offers. In some cases this leads to negative impressions: 'Many are not prepared to cooperate with or get to know us. They often come with preconceived ideas as stereotypes and hold these up to us as our reflection.' And the student adds: 'Unfortunately, this behaviour was also there before corona.'

The International Office and the Student Counselling Office provide assistance

The advisers from the International office are the first point of contact for the international students. Alongside the central advising services in the Stiftstraße building at Berliner Tor Campus, Christine Reinking and Wiebke Bendt of the Information Engineering and Public Health degree courses are the direct contact people for students.

Students can also obtain (psychological) support from the HAW Hamburg Student Counselling Office. Because of corona this mostly takes place by phone or online, but the counsellors are also available on site.

More would be welcome

What the survey on international students' situation during corona also shows is that new learning methods and the flexibility of many instructors are a significant plus. 'We still don't know about each individual student's experience through the survey. But by interacting with one another, the international students could of course help one another much better directly,' says Bendt of the International Office. 'At the beginning of the new semester we started our Welcome Weeks online, and we will focus more closely on networking among the students. Where it is permissable despite corona, we will also make in-person meetings between two people possible,' adds Teresa Schaubs.

Text: Anke Blacha