For several years, the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo has welcomed large student groups: over 450 new students at the start of studies in August, divided into five study programmes. This is a demanding job involving many people and challenges with coordination of information. Over the past three years, we have worked systematically on various measures to promote a good learning environment for students throughout their first year. In this paper, we present a framework that has evolved through several years of work on semester startup and other measures during the first year of study. Using an evaluation form and interviews through several semesters, we have collected data for semester startup. We highlight in what way the measures contribute to (1) increased collaboration among students, (2) improving study progress and (3) reduced drop-out.