Profound discussions come often from unexpected crowds — my impressions on teaching ‘non-media students’ in Belgium
It was with great excitement and expectation that I joined the VIVES University College International and Intercultural Week 2017 in Kortrijk, Belgium (27–30 March). As this year’s topic was Human Rights, I was invited to talk about human rights and the media and the role that journalists play in promoting or hindering human rights issues.
This branch of the KU Leuven association at Kortrijk Campus hosts several degrees in Applied Social Studies. My audience was mostly formed of Applied Psychology, Socio-Educational Care Work and Public Safety first-year students, local lecturers, and other guest lecturers that came from all over Europe for this international week. It was a challenging but rewarding task: to talk about journalism and news to non-specialty students. I had, however, something on my side: news are part of everyone’s lives, even when one is not noticing them.
The sessions resulted on a surprisingly interesting and enriching debate, filled with questions and examples coming from the students. I learnt a lot about Belgium media (where apparently there are no nasty tabloids!), and we had the chance to compare how different news are reported in different contexts.
Further, I had the chance to attend other guests’ sessions that, despite not being about the news, were about human rights in many other fields such as Law, Theology, Criminology, Photography, Social Assistance, Creative Arts… you name it. This has reminded me how the interchange of ideas, knowledge, differences and similarities is a such valuable experience.
(And Kortrijk, have you ever been? It is such a charming place!)
Find more about the VIVES international week here.
