ISWiB 2014

Are you communicative? Are you outgiong? Are you young and interested in contemporary social problems? Are you motivated to make a change? Do you want to share your opinion and ideas for a better world? Are you willing to spend seven days with other young people from all over the globe and work with them on a variety of problems? Do you want to present your country, its culture and customs to other participants? Do you want to have an amazing and unforgettable summer of 2014? Are you ready for a life-time experience?

If your answer is yes, then you are the person we are looking for!

The 8th International Student Week in Belgrade (ISWiB) will be held from July 13th to 20th 2014, under the theme “Synergy for Change”. With more than 150 participants from all over the world, the festival represents one of the largest student conferences in Southeastern Europe.

This year, students can participate in one of 9 different workshops. Each workshop will analyze one crucial global problem, present not only in a specific country, but in every part of the world. This year, our mission is to increase awareness of those problems and, by actively participating in the workshops, offer possible solutions for solving.

You can participate in one of the workshops (please, have in mind that in the application form you will be asked to select top 3 workshops you would like to participate in):

• Big City Trouble                           →Problem: Urban (City) Problems
• I Can Do IT                                 →Problem: Youth Unemployment
• CSI: Case Study Investigation      →Problem: Corporate & Business Issues
• REdesigning Humanity                →Problem: Children without parental care
• Creative Lobbying                        →Problem: Anticorruption
• Sex (in)tolerance                          →Problem: Sex & Gender Issues
• Play Against the Hate                 →Problem: Hate Speech VS Free Speech
• Capture the Smile                        →Problem: Vulnerable Groups
• Bio-Hacking                                →Problem: Organic Food, GMO, Guerilla Gardening

Who can participate?

 

International Student Week in Belgrade targets all European students and those from other continents who are studying in Europe at the moment. All fields of study are welcome, since we will be dealing with different problems from different areas of science, culture and society. Recently graduated students are also encouraged to apply.

Participation fee

The participation fee for foreign students is 100 EUR and it includes accommodation (in a student dormitory), food (3 meals per day) and all workshop expenses.
For domestic students, the fee is 40 EUR and it includes food and all workshops expences.
Students currently studying in Serbia can be accommodated in the student dormitory as well (if they want to). The participation fee for those who want to stay in the dormitorty is 100 EUR. It includes accommodation and food as well as all workshop expenses.

Travelling to Belgrade

Travel costs of participants are NOT covered with the participation fee and ISWiB will not make any reimbursement of these costs. Participants are free to arange their route to Belgrade as they like and they will cover their own costs of travel tickets.

Language

The official language of ISWiB is English. You do not need any certificate stating your knowledge level of English, but you must be able to understand and speak in English during the workshops.

You can apply HERE.

Deadline for applications is April 1^st 2014 23:59 GMT.

Let us make a change, let us create synergy!

7 Better Ways to Prepare for Your Exam

This article assumes that your exam is less than a month way away, and gives you some great advice on how to handle the coming tests and what to do to make sure you do better. It is revision time, but a few of these tips may help to put things in perspective.

1 - Learn through the year and create easy reference notes

At the end of the day, this is what you should have been doing all year. If you have been sitting on ass for the last eleven months then there is very little you can achieve at this very last stage. Knowing that the game is nearly up and it is nearly time for scores is not a bad thing. If you have worked hard over the year, then now is when you get your rewarded for it. If you have sat around doing very little then this is where you get your just deserts.

Allow this information to both scare and relieve you. Know that at such a late stage the best you can do is raise your changes of a grade by half a grade. You are not going to learn all the material in a month, so feel free to be liberated by this information.

2 - Get plenty of sleep and eat well during the week before

Getting a bit of exercise is good too. Just do not overdo it and make yourself ill. You need plenty of sleep and good food because that is what is going to matter when it comes to your test. You are going to have to find a way of becoming more calm and relaxed and confident. Your attitude and your health are what are going to see you through.

3 - Practice tests as oppose to revising content

Tests are going to help you far more at this stage than any revision will. Sure, you can still do a bit of reading, but finding and doing as many tests as possible is better. When you do mark your paper yourself then you get to see where you are going right and wrong. When you do get something wrong it has a bigger impact on you. You research the answer and you remember it more thoroughly next time because it stands out to you.

You may also help your confidence by doing tests because you can see that at the very least you are going to pass the test, so all you have to do is keep doing tests. Revise the bits you get stuck on and bask in the feeling that you are going to pass your test and all will be fine.

4 - Read book chapters and make bullet point notes

If you want to hit the books then the last thing you want to do is skim read because it will fool you in to thinking you know the content. Instead you should read chapters and then write notes, but write bullet point notes. They cannot be long notes because it will take too long. Just a few bullet points per chapter is enough. You may then glance at your notes again as you finish for the night just to remind yourself of all what you have just read.

The bullet points do not even have to be descriptive. They just have to act as visual cues for you so that when you read the bullet points it reminds you of all the things you learned from that chapter.

5 - Use a stop watch so you can read and learn

This is a cute little trick where you set a clock to beep every fifteen minutes. You read for fifteen minutes and when the clock beeps you have to turn to the page you started with and state aloud all what you have just learned from your reading. You can use the text as a visual cue but you cannot start reading it again, it is just there as a cue to remind you what to talk about.

Speak aloud all of the things you have just learned from reading as if you had just heard it all at a lecture. Do this and the information will better sink in to your mind. You may also find yourself reciting things you didn’t even know you new.

6 - Turn off the radio and the TV

Just do this and stop arguing. There are literally thousands of students that are right now worrying about their exams and yet they are trying to read with the TV or music on and they claim it helps them. No it does not. What it does is provide you with noise because silent study is uncomfortable, but how do you think it will be in your exam? Added to which, there are no tests anywhere that say music and the TV doesn’t distract you (it just does).

7 - You have done the work so sit back and be confident

The work has been done through the year and you have set up a routine so that you get plenty of good food and sleep. A bit of exercise will help you too. All of this is going to help you feel better for when your test arrives. The people who are cramming late at night are not really doing themselves any favors. The best they can hope for is to raise their potential grade by a half, whilst at the same time their late nights and panic attacks are just putting more pressure on when it comes to the test time.

Come to terms with the fact that if you did the work then you will succeed. If you are able to come to terms with this, then you are going to have a far better exam, and you are going to have a better run-up to your exam. Gentle revision is okay, but worrying about it now is going to be counterproductive. Do a bit of casual reading when you get the change and re-enjoy your topics and you will be fine.

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How to Avoid Bogus Colleges and Their Worthless “Degrees”

In a world where technology evolves at a pace as rapid as it has for the last couple of decades, the importance of a good education cannot be overstated. Add to that our growing insistence upon instant gratification, not to mention the astronomical cost of a 4-year undergraduate degree, and the promise of obtaining a degree almost instantaneously, at little cost, and based solely upon your “life experiences” starts sounding quite attractive.

The downside to such “degrees” is that they are typically worthless as a springboard to any career that demands actual knowledge. Furthermore, claiming to hold a degree from one of these “degree mills” will likely be a black mark on the resume of anyone applying for a position with a reputable company. And while these faux degrees cost far less than does a real education, the cost versus benefit of getting one renders them no bargain at all. Fortunately, there are a few simple things you can look out for to avoid being taken for a ride by one of the degree mills. Let’s start by looking at some of the “red flags” that indicate that the college – and by extension, the degrees it offers – are bogus.

1) Guaranteed admission – What does it say about a college’s educational standards if the only criteria for admission is a credit card? Frankly, it says the same thing about the validity of any degrees they offer.

2)  Lack of valid accreditation – Legitimate colleges and universities must demonstrate a high level of academic standards in order to be granted accreditation by either the U. S. Department of Education (http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/) or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (http://www.chea.org/). If the college or university doesn’t have such accreditation, or is accredited by another official-sounding agency, you can safely assume that the college is bogus.

3)  No physical campus – This should be a no-brainer. All other issues aside, how much credence would you give to a university whose “campus” is little more than a phone bank office?

4)  Degrees are offered based solely upon your life experience– While many real universities will award some credits for documented professional experience, none will offer a degree without a significant classroom demonstration of your ability to learn. Some legitimate accredited universities do offer online classes, but the student must still perform study activity and pass examinations, and in the vast majority of cases, attend classes and pass on-site, professionally proctored exams.

5)  Degrees are awarded in a short period of time – If the college’s advertisement or web page guarantees that you will be awarded a degree within a few months, the college is bogus. How can they offer a valid degree when they have no knowledge of your ability to perform?

6)  Degrees are offered for a flat fee, based upon the level of the degree– Real universities charge according to the number of classes a student takes and the credits awarded for completion of those classes. Bogus universities charge an exorbitant price for a piece of worthless paper, and higher prices for supposedly “advanced” but equally worthless faux degrees.

7)  Degrees are awarded upon submission of the creative exercise of your choosing – The topic of a thesis or dissertation must be approved prior to being written in order to be considered for an advanced degree at an accredited college or university. Some diploma mills will accept pretty much anything that is submitted, and often don’t even bother reading or evaluating the thesis before assigning a passing grade.

8)  Little or no emphasis on faculty – Legitimate colleges and universities are rightfully proud of their esteemed faculty members, and willing (if not eager) to share faculty information with the public.

9)  Degrees are not acceptable as prerequisites for admission to graduate programs –If the degree being offered is not accepted by accredited universities’ graduate programs, or if the class credits awarded are not transferrable, the degree (and/or credits) are essentially worthless.

In some states, it is actually illegal to claim having been awarded a degree from an unaccredited college or university as a means of establishing your professional qualifications. Some diploma mills have gotten around this by structuring themselves as “esoteric, spiritual, or metaphysical” schools. Perhaps the degree might carry some weight if you’re marketing yourself as a psychic or spiritual advisor, but in reality, you’d probably be better served by spending your “education fund” on some high-end gypsy attire and a nice crystal ball.

This guest post is contributed by Rebecca Gray, who writes for Backgroundchecks.org. She welcomes your comments at her email id: GrayRebecca14@gmail.com.