Belgian exchange provides new perspectives: Recommends other students to apply

– The students from the Netherlands and Belgium have a more liberal view of drugs. We were the ones who were most clear that people who use drugs are criminals.

This is how social worker student Laura Heringa-Tønne describes her experience of meeting the attitudes of students from Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium, through the Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP) exchange program.

Countries take turns hosting theme-based programs. The trip that Laura Heringa-Tønne participated in was to Belgium, and had social work as its theme.

There they visited various institutions, including a youth prison.

Focused on helping

The prison staff told about the challenges faced by the prisoners, and drug abuse and poor upbringing were common. Once again, the students were surprised.

– They see drugs more as a disease than as a crime. That's interesting. In Norway, I have the impression that we see it more as a crime and not as a disease, says Heringa-Tønne.

Fellow student Sondre Wiken also noticed the way the officers treated the prisoners.

– There was a focus on understanding why things were the way they were, and not so much on the punishment. Because they were about getting them back into society, says Wiken

Children convicted of murder

But it is not just the view on drugs that is different in Belgium. While you have to be an adult to be imprisoned in Norway, children as young as 12 years are imprisoned in the small European country.

– The fact that there are such young people in prison made a big impression, says Malin Høgetveit Haugen.

– It looked brutal. The rooms were very small, says Wiken.

Several of the Norwegian students who come from foster care, social work and child welfare were shaken by this experience.

– I remember we were sitting and eating, and saw very young boys outside playing football. Then I thought; wow, are they in prison? Some of them had murder convictions, says Tønne.

Lots to learn about both countries

Heringa-Tønne says that she didn't know much about prisons and the rehabilitation of people in prison before the trip to Belgium.

– We were supposed to tell the other students about Norwegian conditions. That's why I've become more familiar with how we work with this group of people in Norway, she says.

Wiken feels that he has learned a lot in a different way, and with a different depth, than he gets from reading about new topics.

– For me, the attitude of the staff towards the young people in prison, and the way they address them as a bit of a friend, was something that made an impression.

I have gained greater motivation to learn more.

Sondre Wiken, Nord student

Increased desire to learn

The EU finances the exchange through Erasmus+. The goal of BIP is to offer shorter exchange stays, as a supplement to the longer stays. The stay itself is five days, and is prepared with digital meetings in advance.

The goal is to provide even more opportunities to gain experience and build networks in other countries.

For Wiken, it has increased his desire to learn.

– I have gained greater motivation to learn more, when I see how big the differences are in how different countries solve the same tasks. I have realized that we must not rely only on subject matter from Norway and think that is the answer, he says.

Heringa-Tønne returns with a similar experience.

– I think the trip has opened me up to thinking differently. What we learn is very useful and good, but there is much more that can be learned. There are many different understandings of the same topics, she says.

Recommend others to apply

The nursing students in Namsos have no doubt that they will recommend other students to apply for admission to the exchange program.

– It is a “Once in a Lifetime experience”. I would have regretted not going. We are left with knowledge that maybe others in the class do not have, and which is valuable to us, says Laura Heringa-Tønne.

– It is a short program. So if you regret it, you are back again in a few days, says Wiken.