Manrezzo student association

Mirroring the student associations that exist in French universities, Manrezoo was started in 2016 as a group of students from France who came to study physiotherapy at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Manresa. Until last academic year, it operated on its own without any ties to the University. Now, eight years after its creation, the group and the University are working to formalise the relationship with an agreement that binds them. The intention is that, in the future, the group will regularise its legal status as an association, open up to students from other disciplines who study at Manresa and include people from other origins.

A framework for the integration of French students

More than half a thousand students at the Manresa Campus of the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC) are of French origin. The vast majority study the bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy. They come from all over the neighbouring country and most come alone, without knowing anyone. In 2016, a group of French students decided to organise activities to facilitate the integration of newcomers to the city and the University. The aim was to foster a relationship between different years of students, as is usual in French universities. Since there was no organised student group, they decided to organise themselves. In the first years, the group received new students by offering them a welcome breakfast at the doors of the main building. It was the most direct way to contact them before it launched its own social networks, which are currently the main way of communicating with students.

Integration activities and discounts

Over the years, Manrezoo's activity has been expanding. Currently, it organises parties, sports competitions, a bingo event and gatherings to watch rugby or football matches. One of the activities that stands out is Integration Week. This includes a series of events at the beginning of the academic year to welcome new students; a ski trip that is organised for the end of the year; and IKE, a weekend stay in Lloret de Mar that brings together around two hundred French people studying in Catalonia and is co-organised with other similar student associations from universities in Girona, Tortosa and Barcelona. Manrezoo is one of the entities involved in organising this activity, which consists of a series of sports races and competitions.

In addition, members of the association are entitled to discounts and exclusive promotions that Manrezoo establishes with restaurants and sports establishments in Manresa.

Guides accompanying the process

"People who come to study and are not from here need a meeting point,” explained Matteo Drayton. Manrezoo is designed to be this meeting point, and a support tool in the process. For this reason, when first-year students join the University, the organisation presents itself and organises activities so that the students, many of whom arrive alone and without knowing anyone, can socialise and get to know each other. All the activities that are organised, explained Melina Longagne, aim to encourage people to get to know each other to facilitate their integration. In her case, she stated: "When I arrived, I was alone in a flat and I didn't know anyone, and Manrezoo helped me integrate."

To support this integration process, Manrezoo organises a guide service for new students. A second-year student is responsible for supporting a first-year student in the integration process. According to Longagne, in the first days "you have a lot of questions about your studies, and it is very good to have someone who has been through the same situation, to support you and help you gain confidence when you are alone in a place that you don’t know that is far away from your family and friends.” Drayton adds that some of the support is related to the studies. "We tell them that if they do a little work every day, everything should be fine."

A hundred "contributors" each year

The organisational core of Manrezoo is made up of fourteen students, all in the second year of the bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy. They are people who have already gone through the welcome and integration process, and decided to dedicate some of their time to helping students who have just arrived in Manresa and the University.

Apart from this group of people, each of whom assumes a specific role within the organisation (treasury, discounts, sports activities, events and communication), there are the members, known as the association’s "contributors". They pay an annual fee to form part of the association so that they can access the benefits and discounts available for this community of students. Last year, the number of "contributors" was one hundred and twenty people. Fees range from ten euros for first-year students to two euros for fourth-year students.

Keep growing in proposals and students

The incorporation of new people into the organisation every academic year means that the proposals and activities vary. In fact, the team that is in charge of Manrezoo this academic year has decided that they will prepare a document with all the information on the activities they have organised to find out what worked and what did not, so that the people who take over in the next year know which activities really work and which are worth investing in.

Currently, Manrezoo only has students of French origin, but as Matteo Drayton explained, the aim is to incorporate native physiotherapy students as well. It would be ideal, he explains, if the association also expanded towards other studies, but they consider that at the moment they do not have the capacity to take on what would be required to achieve this.