Music students want better food

A new educational environment survey conducted at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH) shows that 45 per cent of the students are dissatisfied with the canteen. The survey was carried out in November last year, and about one third of the students participated.

– When you’ve had a meal in the canteen you usually end up feeling empty and with a funny sensation in your stomach. Also, it doesn’t take long until you are hungry again. When you spend ten to eleven hours at school every single day, it is important to eat healthy, Gudrun Faleide Fristad says. She sits on the student council at NMH.

Pro-Rector Ingrid Maria Hanken understands Fristad’s concern.

– A healthy diet is essential in order to concentrate on something as demanding as studying music, she says.

According to the survey, the students wish for more choice and variety, as well as a salad bar. Head of the student cafeterias, Alain Clérambault, replies that he hasn’t seen the survey yet, but that they will try to meet the students’ wishes in the best possible way.

– I would like to have salad bars in as many canteens as possible, and seeing that the students want them there means that we should do something about it.

The survey also shows that 40 per cent of the students say that they sometimes feel physical pain because of environmental factors at the academy, such as poor ventilation in the new building at the Academy of Music.

The Directorate of Public Construction and Property (Statsbygg) is still working on the building and we are cooperating with them. The work is demanding due to factors such as the need for sound insulation, Hanken informs.

Nevertheless, 20 per cent of the students said that they are spending more than 50 hours every week at the academy. Hanken relates that the academic leadership are well aware of the fact that their students are both active and competitive. Hanken is also very happy that 90 per cent of the students in the survey replied that they are «satisfied» or «very satisfied» of NMH.

– After the introduction of the Quality Reform, many educational establishments discussed how to follow-up their students, but here at the Academy of Music, we have always paid close attention to our students, she says.

Fristad believes that the students’ commitment to their studies is central to their well-being.

– The students spend a lot of time at school, and most of them are very passionate about their studies. Many spend as much as six or seven days here every week, which makes bonding easy, she says.