Student Press in Europe

Getting a job
At this year’s Polymesse, the annual contact fair of the ETH Zurich, students and graduates could get in touch with their future employers. Reason enough for the VAMP to take a detailled look about the companys interested in Mathematicians an Physiscists. Who are they and what do they expect from a future employee. This led to the ultimate question, if there are others companys except from consulting firms or banks interested in our readers as employee. And yes, there are.

Richard Hamilton
This years Wolfgang Pauli lectures about Geometrization, Flow by Ricci Curvature and Geometric were held by Richard Hamilton. The Pauli lecture is a special event where famous researches are invited to Zurich to talk about their contribution to the fields of Physcis, Mathematics and Biology. This year it was time again for Mathematics. Richard Hamilton explained how he used the idea of Flow by Ricci Curvature to lay the foundations for the proof of the Poincaré Conjecture. You got no clue, what all this means? So do even most of our students, that’s why the VAMP explained the basic concepts in this issue.
Link to the PDF-File: VAMP June 2006

No student apartments
The municipality of Lund does not build any apartments for students, even though the housing shortage has been huge since the mid 90’s. According to the head of the municipal housing company, the reason is that students make the neighbours complain.

Disgusting?
A chronicle writer in one of the larger tabloids in Sweden recently wrote that students from Lund are disgusting. We test her arguments and find that it in fact is she who is prejudiced…

Carnival
For three days, the whole of Lund was a big party. 300 000 people saw the carnival procession, visited the tents with themes like speed dating or polar bar, or just got drunk in the company of friends.

International:
- One fifth of the medical students in Denmark are Swedes, partly because the grading system makes it easier to get top grades in Sweden. Some political parties in Denmark have protested, but EU rules make it impossible to treat the students differently.
However, the Swedish students Lundagård has met in Denmark feel that the relationship between the Scandinavian students is brotherly.

Big differences in support for the students who fail
At some departments the student counsellors call the students who miss their exams to ask what is the matter – at others the failing students can disappear from university without anybody noticing. According to the Student Health these students often feel ashamed of themselves and very lonely.
But a new system may be on its way at Lund University. If you miss three exams, an e-mail will be sent automatically both to you and the student counsellor in order to help you sort the situation out.

The study allowance becomes an election issue
The Swedish government proposes a raise of the study allowance with 300 crowns (28 €), but the students are not satisfied. A large campaign run by the student organisations proposes a raise with at least 1 500 crowns (140 €).
Now a majority of the political parties propose raises of the study allowance, with the general election coming up in September.

Hold your breath
Lundagård dives deep into the world of sport. From a world boxing champion who studies in Lund, to the last team in the football league for non-professionals.

International:
- In France the students finally won the battle of the CPE-law. Our photographer was there.
- Swedish is a popular subject to study in Moscow, but few resources at the universities makes the teachers few and the language difficult to learn.

Summer Festivals
(on the cover) the hottest stars, the best places, the most powerful music - just come and enjoy!

Off golf
Golf stops to be an activity only for rich snobs. Its new fans enjoy playing it at old deserted factories or on city beaches. This sport has only one rule: the worse you play, the better an off golfer you are.

Disabled
They are young, talented and motivated, but employers do not hire them willingly. The only reason is their disability. A person in a wheelchair is still perceived as someone who ‘generates problems’. Is there any chance to change this unjust stereotype?

Studies in Afghanistan
After the fall of the Taliban regime, Afghan universities are again crowded: boys and girls study together, drink Coca Cola and are starting to wear western clothes. In the seventies the university in Kabul was one of the best in its region - it attracted foreign students from many countries. Is there a chance those times will come back?

Books
Milan Kundera - the best contemporary Czech writer lives in France and writes in French. But he did more for his homeland than anyone - because of his voice, many people from the West learnt about Central Europe and stopped perceiving Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary as ‘Russian republics’. Nowadays the best books by Kundera including ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ are not being published in Czech Republic. Many of them are read only by those who speak… Polish and can read them in this language. Why? Because Kundera does not want it or because the Czechs do not need him?

Music
Camille - a fresh new voice from France comes to Poland…

Plus:
Work&Travel: get experience and discover the States…
Kite surfing: a new exciting idea for your summer vacation…
World Press Photo: this competition mirrors our reality…
And many others…