Student of MA in International Leisure and Tourism Studies Elena Starkova tells: I am working now! I am a tutor in my own school – Stenden University! Would you like to know how it happened to me? Then listen to my story.

I am a student in Leisure and Tourism Studies in Stenden University. From the beginning of my studying I was looking for a job. First of all, I applied for a job in all the employment agencies located in Leeuwarden.

But as an international student I am allowed to work only for 10 hours per week during the year or 3 months of 40 hours per week in summer. The employer also needs to apply for my working permit and the process of application and waiting for an answer can take up to a couple of months. So these conditions didn’t satisfy employers and they didn’t want to spend time on applying and waiting for my working permit.

But I didn’t loose the hope and was searching for my luck at school. I was asking the teachers, office managers and everybody whom I knew for an opportunity to work for school. And after a couple worthless months I was offered a job! And not just assisting the teachers with their research or organizing office work but to be a tutor! 

A tutor is the guide for bachelor students during the PBL sessions. PBL, or problem based learning, is such kind of a class that is held by students. The students read the text, analyze it, define the problem and set up learning goals to solve the problem. The tutor is guiding them during the lesson, correcting the mistakes and answering students’ questions. The tutor’s responsibilities also include assignment consultation and assignment grading. So, it is very interesting and responsible job! And I really enjoy it!