Campus Tour at UNIKIN: making the university a space of civic responsibility
For one morning, students, lecturers and guests debated the role of young people in governance, public ethics and what it concretely means to be an enlightened citizen.
The auditorium starts filling at 8:30 am. The front rows are taken by law and political science students; at the back, a few lecturers and curious visitors from other faculties. The day opens without any formal speech: a question appears on the screen, and the room is invited to answer it.
A format built for disagreement
The Campus Tour does not work like a classic conference. It rests on three moments: a short introduction, a deliberately adversarial panel, then small-group workshops where each participant has to state and defend a position.
“We are not here to tell students what to think,” the facilitation team says. “We are here to create the conditions for useful disagreement.”
You cannot ask a country to be better than its citizens.
Three subjects came back again and again
- Individual responsibility. Should we wait for institutions to change, or start with our own behaviour?
- Public ethics. How can you refuse an entrenched practice without becoming socially marginal?
- Concrete commitment. What can a student really do, with few resources and many constraints?
From the room to action
By the end of the morning, some thirty students had signed up as volunteers of the movement within the institution. A local core group was formed, with a focal point in charge of coordinating upcoming activities on campus.
The next Campus Tour stop is planned in Lubumbashi. Universities wishing to host an edition can apply directly from the programme page.