On March 30-31 the partners of the Jean Monnet project Educate on European Topics at IB Schools met in Brussels for their first annual event. After months of preparations, students and teachers from UWC Maastricht, UWC Robert Bosch College, Gimnazija Bežigrad in Ljubljana and the British School of Milan joined UWC Adriatic and spent two exciting days in Brussels, meeting the representatives of major institutions that play a key role in shaping European and international policies.
The first event on the morning of March 30 was a simulation of the Council of the European Union, which took place at the Liaison Office of Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region that is home to UWC Adriatic and one of the main stakeholders of our College. The role of Chair was played by the Slovenian student Manca Erzen (representing Sweden, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council). In that role she introduced the crucial topic of the importance of refugee integration and education. Contributions were then made by all the other students who represented twenty-one EU member states. Students had studied in depth the positions of the various EU member states with regard to migration, as well as the main legislative dossiers on this subject currently under discussion. The debate, therefore, clearly highlighted the very different perspectives of EU Member states on matters relating to language acquisition, human rights violations and how to regulate the flow of immigrants arriving in Europe.
The topic of refugee integration and education was further explored in the afternoon at the European Parliament, where two representatives of the EU Commission outlined policies for the integration of refugees and foreigners in the EU and illustrated a case study about Ukrainian refugees. In the lively debate that followed students came up with thought-provoking questions, such as what lessons can be learned from the 2015-16 refugee crisis in order to deal as fairly and humanely as possible with the current situation.
Before going to the Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU to hear about diplomatic activity in general and the peculiarity of the negotiation within the EU, the group had the opportunity to visit to the pan-European media network EURACTIV. Students greatly appreciated this opportunity to grasp the nuances of reporting about European and international issues in a multi-lingual and multi-cultural perspective. At the Permanent Representation of Italy to the EU UWC students were delighted to find that one of the two counsellors they met is a UWC Waterford Kamhlaba alum (Counsellor Gianluca Brusco, Justice and Homa Affairs Coordinator).
The second day began with a panel discussion at the European Parliament about Citizenship and European Values with MEP Domènec Ruiz Devesa – Rapporteur on European Citizenship Education – whose report on this topic encouraged the EU Commission to launch the call for proposals that provided financial support for the Educate on European Topics at IB Schools project.
The afternoon held a special treat in store for our group which had the opportunity to visit the NATO headquarters in Brussels, where students eagerly asked NATO representatives many questions about the current agenda of the organisation, the motivations for NATO’s stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the admission of Finland as a member state, which was in the making at the time.
The last meeting on the trip’s agenda was with the advocacy group JEF – Young European Federalists. These two intense days provided students with an outstanding learning experience: on the one hand, they challenged themselves by debating one of the most pressing issues of our time inside the very institutions that are dealing with policy-making at a European and international level; on the other, they met many representatives of those institutions and engaged in meaningful discussions with the experts in the field who were very impressed by the students’ knowledge and performance. The participants have now returned to their respective schools, bringing back a lot of knowledge and plenty of enthusiasm that will continue to drive the project’s implementation forward.
Field trip participating schools
UWC Maastricht, UWC Robert Bosch College, UWC Adriatic, Gimnazija Bežigrad, The British School of Milan.
These schools were represented by 22 students from 20 different countries. The seven teachers included: Rektor Laurence Nodder (UWC RBC), Principal Mirko Mrcela (GIMB), the UWC Adriatic Deputy Head Academic Joanne de Koning, Deputy Head of Senior School at BSM Alex Green, Alba Lopez (BSM), Sylla Cousineau (UWC RBC), Senija Steta (UWC Adriatic) and Garrett O’Sullivan (UWC Maastricht).
Moreover, two representatives of the project subcontractor CesUE, Professor Fabio Masini and Professor Roberto Castaldi, also participated in the trip alongside Maria Chiara Billi (UWC Adriatic), Project Manager and organiser of the entire two-day programme.
UWC Adriatic students
Anuj Krishnan (Canada), Mihailo Vucetic (Serbia), Weronika Wozny (Poland), Simone Marsetic (Croatia), Violette Cogge (Belgium)
