Attended student festival

In his opening remarks on 11 February, Crown Prince Haakon spoke about the relationship between health and dignity. Working in groups, the students continued to explore the topic, discussing the significance of dignity and sharing stories of dignity from their own lives.

In the plenary session that followed, students from Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, India, Morocco, the Palestinian territories, South Africa, Syria and Tunisia shared their stories about dignity from the stage. They described meetings with individuals that had left a lasting impression, and how their work to promote human rights has served to enhance their own dignity. The Crown Prince led the session together with Hanne Marstrand of the organisation MOT and Thomas Horne of Global Dignity Norway.

The Student Peace Prize

Duško Kostić from Croatia took the stage and told his story, describing what it was like to get the opportunity to study as an adult. Mr Kostić, a student in teacher education, is the Student Peace Prize Laureate for 2011.

Each year the prize is awarded on behalf of all students in Norway to a student or student organisation that has made a significant contribution to promoting peace, democracy and human rights. Mr Kostić received the prize for his efforts to improve the rights of the Roma through education.

ISFiT

Held every other year, the International Student Festival in Trondheim (ISFiT) is a highly popular event. This year’s participants were selected from a pool of over 4 300 applicants from all over the globe.

The 10-day festival was opened on 11 February and will conclude on 20 February. Somewhere between 350 and 400 volunteers are making sure that activities run smoothly, and special ISFiT hosts are housing the visiting students.

“I am really impressed by what ISFiT has managed to achieve since its launch 20 years ago,” said the Crown Prince. “It is the world’s largest student festival with a thematic focus.” Crown Princess Mette-Marit will arrive at ISFiT on 17 February, where she will speak in the Grand Hall of the Student Society in Trondheim about the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.