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A new approach to Nolle-P

20 August 2020

Elisabet Wahrby

The students have arrived! In small groups, keeping their distance. The student reception this year differs from everything that’s gone before. But despite restrictions and limitations, ambitions are still high and everyone is enjoying themselves.

Photographer: Magnus Johansson

“Keep your distance from others!” Mentors wearing colourful overalls instruct their groups of new students. Because they are starting to appear on campus.
LiU has a deserved reputation for arranging excellent student reception activities, where the student unions and others have created this tradition for many years. This year, however, the restrictions, such as the limit on group size, and the need to keep groups separate, have forced a rethink.

Photo credit Magnus JohanssonMentors Daniel and Minna Wendt (brother and sister) are second and third-year students, respectively, on the master’s programme in engineering biology. They wait in the apple orchard where they are organising a game of foot agility.
“The activities this year are different”, says Daniel Wendt. “The lunch-time competitions, for example, have been recorded, and are shown on screen. The same is true of the stage show, with more than a thousand mentors and new students.
“I hope that everybody understands that we must follow the LiU regulations”, says Minna Wendt. “We try to be outdoors as much as possible, and we’re extra careful that nobody feels left out or alone.”

Impressed by the reception activities

Photo credit Magnus JohanssonJosefine Dufva, a first-year on the master’s programme in engineering biology, is taking part in the foot game. This is her second day of Nolle-P, and she is highly impressed by the reception activities.
“I was expecting it to be stricter, but here everything is extremely well-planned. The mentors are great, and I really feel welcome. Indeed – it might be an advantage with smaller groups, since you can get to know each other better.”

Photo credit Magnus JohanssonMaximilian Sjöström can compare this year’s Nolle-P with last year’s. He took the foundation year in science and technology last year, and is now enrolled on the master’s programme in computer science and software engineering.
“This year’s quite different. Last year all the new students were mixed together, but now each class keeps to itself. Also, we’re divided into two groups and the activities are arranged in these. Maybe the group will develop a stronger feeling of unity in this way, when you know clearly who is in your class.”
He can also see that the restrictions have led to better logistics for the reception activities.
“The mentors have done an amazing job – in practice they’ve pretty much reinvented Nolle-P from scratch.”

(The reception period at Linköping University generally goes under the name “Nolle-P”.)

Photo credit Magnus Johansson

Translated by George Farrants

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