back to the project overview

Welcome Day hosted by studierendenWERK BERLIN 2025 in Berlin

Awareness at the Welcome Day 

Awareness-team at a welcome event for international students

On October 16, 2025, we accompanied the Welcome Day of studierendenWERK BERLIN as the event’s awareness team. The Welcome Day took place at FREIRAUM in the Studentenhaus and was aimed particularly at international students who are new to Berlin and beginning their studies.

The event provided an open, low-threshold space for arriving, gathering information, and connecting with others. For people who are new to a city, an educational system, and often are confronted with a new language, a safe and supportive event framework is especially important.

Framework and character of the event

The Welcome Day combined information, encounters, and interactive activities. In addition to information booths presenting counseling and support services from studierendenWERK BERLIN, there were creative activities, games, a language café, and space for exchange and networking. The event was free of charge and intentionally designed to be open and accessible to as many students as possible.

In such a diverse setting, different cultural backgrounds, language levels, experiences, and needs come together. Awareness-work helps ensure that participants feel safe, find orientation, and receive support when needed.

Our role as an awareness-team

As the awareness-team, we were visible, approachable, and present throughout the entire Welcome Day. Our task was to ensure a discrimination-sensitive and supportive environment and to accompany participants whenever necessary.

We served as contact persons for individuals who felt uncomfortable, had questions regarding boundaries, discrimination, or safety, or were simply seeking orientation. In this context, awareness primarily meant listening, taking concerns seriously, offering support, and mediating when needed — without judging or relativizing experiences.

Our approach: power of definition, partiality and lived solidarity 

Our awareness-work is grounded in an anti-sexist, anti-discriminatory, and power-critical approach. Central principles for us are the concept “power of definition” and “partiality”: the perceptions and experiences of those affected are placed at the center and are not questioned.

Especially in the context of international students, awareness is also a matter of accessibility, language sensitivity, and cultural diversity. Our goal was to reduce barriers and support a space in which participation is possible.

To meet the needs of our target group as effectively as possible, we assembled a multiethnic and multilingual awareness team.

Awareness as part of welcome and educational formats

The Welcome Day demonstrated how essential awareness structures are in student-focused events. Awareness does not only become relevant in moments of crisis; it works preventively by creating trust, orientation, and a sense of safety.

As an awareness team, we contributed to making the Welcome Day a space where students could feel welcomed, build connections, and experience a positive start to their time in Berlin.

We thank studierendenWERK BERLIN for their trust and collaboration.