One of the missions of education is to train the citizens of tomorrow. How can we encourage civic engagement among young people in higher education?  Universities in North and Central America have been developing educational tools and resources in this direction for over 30 years. This is what is known as Service Learning, an educational approach whose central concepts are: serve, reflect, learn.

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Students serve society by engaging with a specific community. At the same time, they reflect on their experiences in a structured and critical way. In this way, they learn academically, civically and personally.  The international Uniservitate programme, which UNamur joined in 2021, aims to promote Service Learning in Catholic universities.  Sabine Henry, a professor in the Department of Geography, is the academic coordinator.

Getting involved and opening up to society

In French-speaking Belgium, for more than 30 years, NGOs have been active on university campuses, offering information and awareness-raising activities or involvement in projects relating to international solidarity, alongside their courses, and allowing them to be open to the society around them. These NGOs have chosen to form a consortium, Uni4Coop, of which FUCID, the UNamur NGO, is a member.  One of Uni4Coop's objectives is to increase the proportion of their activities integrated into the curriculum.

Maxime Giegas, FUCID's project officer for global citizenship and solidarity education, joined the Belgian delegation at the Uniservitate symposium to participate in the different workshops and conferences with people from all over the world. It was a very enriching moment with many exchanges on the good practices of this innovative pedagogy, with real added value.

At UNamur, Maxime supports professors in Service Learning through courses that allow a concrete societal commitment and a reflection on the personal, academic and civic itinerary of students.