Meet Kirill Gassul, he’s a student buddy at the Student Success Centre.

Student Success… what does this mean Kirill? Meet Kirill in this video or read his interview.

What does student success mean to you? How would you define success? Which elements are important? When I passed all the exams and assignments from my first year and got my Propedeuse, I felt successful. Those things could be classified as a study success. So basically, success is when you have reached the desired result or even did better than expected. Whenever you start your studies, you’ll generally set some goals like getting your P and receive your diploma. If there are some obstacles on the way, we at the SSC help you to smoothen that out. We do this by organizing trainings, workshops, implementing some students' ideas. And we offer one-on-one meetings with our buddies to just chat with us, discuss any issues, or get a bit of advice. So, if reading this interview and you’ve suddenly got a desire to approach me, feel free to visit our Student Success Centre platform. What’s the reason why you wanted to become a student buddy? Well helping people makes you feel good. I’ve experienced some difficulties in my 1st year at Inholland and I can imagine during this whole pandemic, the struggles are even more real for the current first-year students. I feel like I have some experience and tips which could help them. Who wouldn't want tips and tricks about living and studying abroad before you actually move to the Netherlands? Describe the student success centre in one sentence or in short. Oh that’s easy: it’s a place where you as a student can drop by, be heard, and receive help from likeminded people like yourself. The threshold is low. As a student buddy, how do you gain trust? how do you take away perhaps loneliness? How to find a common ground? Well the student buddies are all second- and third-year students, so let’s say, talking to us is no different from talking to your mates. And how do you find the connection with a person? Through common interests and hobbies. Also, we know how it feels to be first-year students and I think that’s a great benefit. What were the things you struggled with as an international student? Making friends was a bit of a struggle. I was the guy in the back of the class staring at his phone and laptop… Eventually I learned to open up and socialize more with my classmates. Another thing was understanding the Dutch system: how to find accommodation, how to get insurances, how to pay taxes, etc. I think many international students recognize what I went through. Apart from those 2 things, I was sometimes struggling with the University assignments. Studying at the University is obviously very different from studying at high school. It takes time to get used to. My advice and kind of a solution for all these problems would be pretty simple – action and communication. To overcome the difficulties, you have to try a lot and talk to the right people whenever you experience struggles. That person could be me! Feel free to send me a message.