Hej, THS! Vad gör ni egentligen? #2 /Osqledaren

1. What is your biggest challenge right now?

2. What's the biggest divide you see within THS and student life at KTH?

3. Individual spicy question!

4. What can students ask you about?

Kårordförande | Union President, Cornelia Haag

ordf@ths.kth.se

1. Realizing that more than half of my time has passed and trying to plan my last months. It's hard to prioritise and I realise that I won't have time to do some of the things I wished to do.
2. THS has about 10 000 members, everyone with a different vision of what student life at KTH should look like and to combine all of them is a challange.
3. Do the chapters need THS? Sometimes. Our chapters are very independent and run strong organizations. However sometimes, when bad things happen or it's a question bigger than just one or two chapters, it's a big advantage to have a bigger organization that can give support and take over the issues that affect all students.
4. Basically everything. I probably won't have an answer to everything but I will know who you can ask if I'm not able to answer.

Vice kårordförande | Union Vice President, Karl Arthursson

vordf@ths.kth.se

1. I need to make the budget for next year! I am very excited but time seems to disappear. Soon my time as the Vice President of THS is over and there is still so much I want to do!
2. There are a lot of different opinions on what THS should do and what our role should be. I think that if we were better at communicating what we actually do, this would be a smaller problem, but communication is very hard! Especially when your target audience is so large and diverse.
3. When it comes to economy: Do the chapters know what they are doing? I think all chapters make an effort to try and keep their economy in good shape, but they are in very different situations. Some have lot of money and some have a lot of experience with very well developed structures. I think it is important to remember that we are all amateurs, doing this because we love student life, the most important thing is that we try and help each other out when we can!
4. THS economy, how KL works, the union board. You can also ask me who might have an answer to your question, and I can probably point you in the right direction.

Näringslivschef | Head of Business Relations, Erik Nordlöf

naringsliv@ths.kth.se

1. Two things. Firstly I'm dedicating a lot of resources to improving how fairs are conducted in Nymble, where the tricky part is balancing all of the competing interests. Secondly, I’m working hard to prepare for all of THS Future’s projects this spring.
2. I sometimes feel like there exists a lack of unity. We are all students at KTH, with a majority being THS members, but rarely do we identify as that. Having strong independent chapters is great in lots of ways, and I don’t at all want to take away from that. I do, however, envisage a future in which we also feel a strong connecting to the union as a whole.
3. How many career fair banquets have you gone to for free? Nothing is free, everything has to be paid for. For every profit in one thing, payment in some other thing. For every life, a death.
4. THS Future, Advice about business relations, fairs and events in Nymble

Chefredaktör för | Editor-in-chief for Osqledaren, Benjamin Javitz

osqledaren@ths.kth.se

1. Juggling the different parts of OL: balancing the printed magazine with our efforts to publish more and more web articles, working on the website in the background, building a team that will stay for the next year and working on investigations of THS and KTH - stay tuned to read about Nymble Restaurang, politics at THS, and more!
2. Everything we write about in this magazine comes down to this issue: open, direct and honest communication. THS lacks transparency and communication channels. The staff and the working students at THS lack respect for each other. A lot happens behind closed doors - do you know what THS actually does?
3. Is Osqledaren actually still relevant for anyone? I hope so, I really do. At the end of my year I want OL to be on a path to spicier investigations, fun, direct and honest reporting and the news channel that all students at KTH recognize. That takes more time than I expected, but we'll get there.
4. Publishing, writing, journalism, THS and OL history, and how to join Osqledaren or get your own articles (insändare) published! Also: anything that's wrong with THS

Head of THS International 2023, Luna Mansour

international@ths.kth.se

1. We are currently seeing a big turnover phase, where most of our experienced students are graduating. While this leaves me with a big challenge in terms of recruitement and onboarding, it also means that this is prime time to work on restructuring our operations to make them more sustainable!
2. If we zoom into international student life, I feel like the biggest divide is that KTH focuses on the recruitment of students more than their actual stay; while THS is more about the students' life during their studies. I've been witnessing some efforts from both sides to improve the conditions of housing, integration, and education; so I look forward to seeing tangible results that impact student life positively.
3. Is it acceptable for the Project Team to be burnt out after every International Reception? I will not deny that our operations have outgrown our structure: we currently cater for more students and events than our budget and structure can theoretically handle. However, the reality of the reception is more than what you see 'in theory'. I've been on both sides of the discussion, and the reality is, those who are involved on the ground often go above and beyond their task descriptions not always because they are expected to - but because they want to. A lot of the time, the project team members that are in Nymble aren't always there because they have their events to run; but because they want to help with other events, or simply mingle with their colleagues. The weeks of the reception might sometimes get overwhelming, but they are also super fun to work!
4. Internationalization and diversity, the student life of international students, the International Reception, THS MAIN (the Masters & International association), THS Sports, Friskvårdsbidrag (the sports grants for chapters and associations), as well the social and educational aspects of studying abroad.

Projektledare för | Project Manager for SNNC 2023, Gabriel Pinheiro

snnc@ths.kth.se

1. Onboarding and Recruitment. I have a Committee that comes from 3 different universities in Stockholm, and they all need to work together and set up an event that is quite huge. So the challenge becomes making them feel comfortable and welcome at THS. For this year, they are all part of our student life and will experience it from our side, so making sure they are welcome and feel like they belong is a challenge we will tackle this time around.
2. To me it's a lot about what being a student means. All of THS' projects and events are a way for people to relax and be social during their studies, which can sometimes be forgotten by KTH. It feels like a lot of the time, activities that are extracurricular, or for fun, get a bad reputation for just existing, but I see them as necessary to get people to hang around and relax, so they can actually perfom better at their studies and have motivation to put in study hours.
3. What's the theme for this year's Nobel Nightcap? Potatoes! We will narrate the journey of the potato through time and space, from planting to becoming fries. But we are also debating having Pants as a subtheme! So you will have a very immersive experience with potatoes and pants! Maybe even jeans to spice it up! You get to know the full theme on December 10, 2023 at 23:00.
4. Recruitment Events and chances, The Roles of Students' Nobel NightCap, Students’ Nobel NightCap, Ways to engage with people

Studiesocialt ansvarig | Head of Student Social Activities, Emil Blocksjö

studiesocialt@ths.kth.se

1. The Dekis move and to finish up on the serving permits for the chapters. The time schedule is tight and I have a lot of mail to catch up on. I'm very sorry for having to prioritize other matters!
2. I think the biggest divide right now is how different parts of KTH and THS value the student life at KTH differently. Some parts of KTH see it as a necessary part for Campus to feel alive and fun for the students, while some see it as an annoyance for their own work. THS locally (chapters and associations) and THS central value this highly and see the importance of student social activities for people to want to stay at KTH and finish their studies. This is something we need to work on when talking to KTH so we get the same common view on the matter.
3. Why are the spexes forced to move out of Dekis so fast all of a sudden? Weren't they supposed to get more time to move? KTH are in a hurry to follow the current environmental regulations and can't wait for the summer of 2024. The only suitable time to move to not be an annoyance for the spexes is to move during the summer. The Dekis move is currently being planned and the spexes and chapter presidents have gotten an opportunity to look at the new Dekis. I'm working together with Dekis responsible Kansy to make this work as pain free as possible.
4. General chapter questions, Premises, Chapter halls, Security, How to arrange events on Campus, Student life, Student culture, Spexes, Dekis, Sustainability and Pubs

Projektledare för | Project Manager for THS Armada, Leonard Hökby

armada@ths.kth.se

1. At time of writing, getting the group started. At time of reading? Nothing is a challenge anymore.
2. There seem to be different underlying assumptions and values about how centralized THS should be, about what is the core of THS: the chapters or THS central.
3. Where is your Project Group flying for their next teambuilding? Flying... if only Red Bull actually gave us wings!
4. Fairs, Armada, Project Management

Chef för utbildningsinflytande | Head of Educational Affairs, Filip Axelsson

utbildning@ths.kth.se

1. Finding time between the KTH-meetings to do the other tasks that I need to do. Influencing KTH to make the education better requires proactive work which is hard when you don't have enough time.
2. There are divides between how much different kinds of roles are valued, especially at the chapter level but also at THS central. I feel that the work of the study boards is undervalued in comparison to the important work that they do to improve the education for the students.
3. Who influences our education more in practice, Ordf or CFUs? Definitely the CFUs! The president of THS has a very important role at the leadership level at KTH and works with long-term strategic matters. But when it comes to the specific way that the education actually works, then the CFUs work more with KTH. Also the president has a lot of different responsibilities and is only one person. The CFUs work entirely with educational matters and are two people.
4. The different ways you as a student can affect KTH and make the education better for everyone. You can ask us what kinds of questions are current at KTH right now and how the education will work in the future. And there is plenty of juicy gossip as well!

Chef för utbildnings inflytande | Head of Educational Affairs, Maja Rosén

utbildning@ths.kth.se

1. The employees at KTH have worked longer than me so not only do I look over current meeting documents to speak for the students' interests but need to read up on what hahappened within the subject in question so far.
2. Within my area, educational student influence, we have a big division between Swedish speaking and non-Swedish speaking students where it is very difficult to take part in the discussions at KTH if you are not fluent in Swedish. This is a big problem since all students have a right to take part of information and decisions regarding their own education.
3. How many of your meetings could have been an email? KTH actually has very productive meetings with great discussions on many of the meetings I attend. With that being said my predecessors seem to have wisely deprioritized a few meetings we no longer attend.
4. Student influence, current hot topics within KTH, your rights as a student and of course the studienämnd are always welcome to ask for my advice or discuss their challenges with me!

Evenemangschef | Event Manager, David Schalin

event@ths.kth.se

1. Finding time between my strategic work that is meant to unload a lot of menial work for me, such as finishing up and solving the quirks of my new cash register system and other operative parts of my work that have to be done.
2. I think the biggest divide comes from a lack of communication. We at THS Central work a lot with our specific roles and do our own thing. But sometimes we forget to communicate that out to the rest of the students.
3. Are the new cash registers going to make it more bearable to stand in line at the next Tentapub? YES! Speed is the name of the game and these new cash registers are fast! Faster in there being less buttons to press and less time spent waiting for receipts to print slooooooowly. Of course there will be a learning curve slowing the workers in the first few minutes. But we're still looking at queues that will be moving faster, both inside the house and outside.
4. How to arrange events in Nymble that involve alcohol, renting event equipment (wardrobes, tents, etc.) & information about my subgroups NKM, RN and Platoon

Mottagningssamordnare | Reception Coordinator, Filippa Larsson

mottagning@ths.kth.se

1. To carefully think of the consequences of decisions, while time seems to move faster and faster with regards to reception planning.
2. I feel that there is a sense of lack of agency over THS within a lot of student groups at KTH. THS is seen as distant and difficult to influence, a capricious force to deal with best you can. Increased transparency and more channels for affecting the operations of THS Central could mitigate this perception.
3. Why do some chapters have bigger & better receptions than others? Chiefly two reasons: 1) outside market forces and 2) existing structure and pre-conditions. Some programmes are more attractive to companies and thus get more sponsorships, i.e. more money. A reception with better existing structures, methods for knowledge transfer and pre-conditions for the responsibles spends less time on learning the basics and re-inventing the wheel and more time on perfecting the details.
4. The reception: what it looks like currently, what it looks like at other universities and what I think it could look like!