Orientation week
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Orientation week is the first week of the academic year at a university or other tertiary institution, and a variety of events are held to help orientate and welcome new students. It goes by a variety of names in different countries.
It is often accompanied by a wide range of social activities, including live music and other performance events, a large amount of drinking, sports challenges, stunts, and open-air markets.
Although usually described as a week, the length of this period varies widely from university to university and country to country, ranging from about three to ten or more days. The length of the week is often affected by each university's tradition as well as financial and physical constraints.
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[edit] Terminology
The first week of term is known as: Frosh (or frosh week) in some colleges and universities in the United States and Canada; Freshers' week in the United Kingdom and Orientation week or O-week in countries such as Australia and New Zealand. In Sweden, it is known as nollning (from nolla, "zero", in this case meaning zeroth-year student, i.e., before the first university year starts) or inspark (being "kicked in" to university life). Orientation week is the coming phrase in the United States.
In the United States first year students are called freshmen, and are usually referred collectively to as the frosh. In Canada, the term freshman is not used, and frosh is used in singular and plural form. In Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. first year students are known as Freshers or first years. Freshies is also an emerging term in New Zealand.
[edit] Orientation week around the world
[edit] Australia
In Australia, universities require students to arrive at university a week before classes actually start in order to gain course approval. This also allows students a chance to orientate themselves to student life without the pressure of lectures - hence the term Orientation week is used to describe this week of induction into university life.
In Australian universities, such as University of New South Wales and University of Sydney, the final night is usually celebrated with a large-scale event such as a famous band playing at an entertainment venue on campus. This is generally followed by continued partying and drinking, especially among students living in residential colleges.
The Adelaide University O-Week[1] runs from Monday to Thursday in the week before lectures begin. During O-Week sporting clubs and societies set up a variety of tented areas where clubs display their activities. The Adelaide University Union coordinates a variety of events centring around beer, bands and barbecues on the lawns near the Union complex. A major event for the week is the O-Ball (live entertainment and licensed areas) which takes place in the Cloisters (Union House). The O-Ball attracts many thousands of revellers, not all of whom are Adelaide University students.
In recent times Sports and Clubs have sought to distance themselves from the student union and student association controlled activities and have set themselves up on the Maths lawns.
[edit] Canada
In Canada, many of the traditions associated with Frosh are similar to those in the United States. The nature and length of orientation week varies considerable between Universities. For instance, Canada's capital, Ottawa, has two universities within its urban centre; the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, one with a designated orientation period of 2 days, and the other of 7 days.
[edit] Finland
Finland has imported many academic traditions from Sweden, including some of the nollning traditions. According to Finnish culture, drinking is heavier, and sauna-bathing is frequent.
[edit] New Zealand
As in Australia, in New Zealand students have a week to orientate themselves to university life before the start of formal classes. This orientation week is a time for many social events.
In New Zealand's main university towns such as Dunedin and Palmerston North (where students make up around one fifth of the population) orientation week leads a wide range of events. Many top overseas and local bands tour the country at this time, and the orientation tour is one of the highlights of the year's music calendar. The University of Otago in the Scottish-settled city of Dunedin traditionally holds a parody of the Highland Games called the Lowland Games, including such esoteric events as porridge wrestling.
Student pranks were once common during orientation week, but have fallen out of favour in recent years. Hazing is still, however, performed among halls of residence as an induction for new residents, though it is not generally known by this name and is usually called initiation.
Although officially designated as a week, in several New Zealand universities and polytechnics orientation week stretches to over ten days.
[edit] Sweden
Most Swedish universities have some kind of nollning. This is most extensive at the technical faculties and at the student nation communities of Uppsala and Lund. Since student union membership is mandatory in Sweden, the nollning is usually centrally organized from the student union.
At the old universities, these traditions have often turned civilized after a dark history of hazing. Today, many student unions have strict rules against inappropriate drunkenness, sexual harassment and other problems which might have occurred in the old days.
At the technical faculties, the people who organize the nollning play roles in a theatrical manner and often wear sunglasses and some form of weird clothes. Most senior students who are mentors during the nollning wear their student overalls or the b-frack (a worn tailcoat). This kind of well-organized nollning has developed at KTH and Chalmers and spread to the rest of the country. Nollning is often thought to be most advanced and organized at the Uppsala Institute of Technology at Uppsala University and Linköping Institute of Technology at Linköping University. Incidentially, Linköping is also the university that has the most widely spread use of student-overalls.
[edit] United Kingdom
As well as providing a chance to learn about the university, Fresher's week allows students to become familiar with the representatives of their Student Union and to get to know the city or town which is home to the university, often through some form of Pub crawl. Live music is also common, as are a number of organised social gatherings, designed to allow freshers to make new friends and to get to know others doing the same course.
Typically a Freshers' Fair for student clubs and societies is included as part of the activities to introduce new students to facilities on offer, typically outside their course of study, such as societies, clubs, sport, etc. The various societies and clubs available within the University have stalls and aim to entice freshers to join. Most campuses take the opportunity to promote safe sex practices to their students and sometimes offer leaflets on the subject and free condoms.
[edit] United States
Frosh is the traditional term for first year students arriving at school, the week is their informal introduction/inauguration to the institution. The first year students are led by fellow students from upper years over the course of the week through various events ranging from campus tours, games, competitions, and field trips. Despite the age limit, heavy drinking and binge drinking, are quite common during the week.
In many colleges, incoming freshman are made to perform activies in order to earn their freshman status (e.g. the wearing of beanies, singing of songs, group physical activies, etc.). These activies are often done to form a bond between the incoming freshman, their classmates, and the upper classmen.
Pulling pranks during the week is expected and almost encouraged. The majority of programs require their organizers to sign waivers stating they will not be under the influence of any substances over the course of the week as they are responsible for the well being of the students. Most programs have one final party or kegger on the final night to finish of the week of celebrating, in which the organizers join in.
Although it has been officially banned at many schools, hazing is not uncommon during the week. This can be anywhere from the organizers treating the first years students in a playfully discouraging manner to forcing them to endure rigorous trials.
The attitude of the events also depends on the school. Some schools view their week as an initiation or rite of passage while others view it as a time to build school spirit and pride. In towns with more than one university, there will typically be a school rivalry that's reflected in the events throughout the week.
