Extra-Academic Programs

The students who will help organize a Global Concerns/Gulating conference will join the GC/Gulating Organization EAC for the period until the GC occurs. There is an EAC time slot devoted to this EAC so that nobody will have conflicts with other EACs when the whole group needs to meet. The time slot is 19:00 – 20:00 Wednesday.

Here is some basic information for the staff and student organizing group for a GC:

1. What should a GC be like?

An introduction to GC can be found by clicking here.

In addition, each GC conference should be well-prepared and of high quality in terms of not only content but also format. Each conference should be one of the highlights of our program for a school term, when all of us should deepen and widen our understanding of an issue.

Other parts of the College program should be encouraged to link their content to the GC around the time of the event (e.g. IB subject classes; ToK; Nordic Studies, World Today, Film, MUN).

2. What are the benefits of being a member of the GC organizing group?

By helping to organize such a conference, the organizing group should benefit from the content of the GC to a larger extent than those who just participate in the event itself. In addition, it is a very valuable skill-enhancing experience to organize a big conference event. A student should improve his/her communication, team work, and planning skills to a very large extent.

There are only two GC‘s each year and a student/staff member can participate in the organization of only ONE GC over two years (so that more people can have opportunities).

3. What are the tasks of the GC organizing group?

For students, please sign up to be part of the organizing group only if you will commit to it — think about your workload in the near future and PLAN ahead.

There should be around 50 students for each GC organization group so that tasks can be divided and shared. You will also work with around 5 members of staff so that there is plenty of staff support and guidance.

The responsibilities of the student members of the GC organizing group should include:

Under the supervision of staff members who will also sign up for this GC organization,

1. Design a structure and a schedule for the conference preparation — i.e. set specific deadlines for each stage, deciding who is responsible for what. If the organizing group is large (over 15 people), then the group may consider breaking into smaller units who are in charge of specific aspects of the program.
2. Decide how to and finally choose a specific topic for the very broad theme (i.e. Humanitarian, Nordic, Environmental) for the GC; The group should propose a few choices and have the college community vote to finalize a main topic;
3. Determine the outline of the program early and then the details;
4. Propose guest speakers / workshop leaders to invite and help the staff members to coordinate the invitation;
5. Invite students from other schools, if appropriate and our budget allows it;
6. Help manage the public relations for the conference, e.g. press coverage;
7. Designing and running workshops (if appropriate);
8. Help out with all details of the event, for example hosting our guests, making any special food (if appropriate), making seating arrangements, making booklets, etc.
9. Clean up and tidy up after the conference – to return all classrooms and other facilities to the original state!
10. Evaluate the program at the end and write a report for the eap.rcnuwc.no website