Il mondo in USI: a successful first edition

The first edition of "Il mondo in USI: International Week" came to an end on Friday 27 October. The event gave the USI community the opportunity to explore the theme of internationality and honour the multicultural and international character of our university.

The week officially opened on Monday 23 October with the inauguration of the exhibition "Fragile flash I Unbreakable spirit" in collaboration with the Student Association for Ukraine and with the round table "Academic research and freedom of speech", moderated by Prof. Jean-Patrick Villeneuve, which saw the participation of Parwiz Mosamim, Sergii Tukaev and Ahmed Hussein Abdelrahman Adam, currently at USI through the Scholars at Risk (SAR) programme. SAR is an international network, and its mission is to protect female researchers who, due to particular situations in their countries, cannot carry out their research work safely.  

On Tuesday, the Human Rights Film Festival moved to USI, with the screening of the film "The Illusion of Abundance" in the West Campus Auditorium. The film tells the story of three women fighting to protect nature and their land from modern-day conquistadors and therefore provides an opportunity to reflect critically on the meaning of internationality in its broadest sense.

The "Wheel of Fortune" prize game, during which some 150 copies of the International Cookbook were distributed, enlivened the atrium of the Main Building on the West Campus during the lunch break on Wednesday, a day that ended with the event dedicated to China, organised by the Chinese Students and Scholars in Lugano. An evening during which participants were able to try their hand at various activities, including painting typical masks, writing with ideograms and making typical Chinese dumplings. Traditional clothes, board games and other curiosities were on hand for those interested.

Thursday was dedicated to student mobility. USI accepted the invitation of the national agency Movetia to host the Mobility Day, with the aim of raising students' awareness about the possibilities of studying or doing an internship away from home for a specific period. Information sessions held by the International Relations and Study Abroad Service and the Career Service and a meeting organised by the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) provided useful information for students and officially opened the promotion of exchanges for the academic year 2024-2025. The day ended with a Silent Party, to 'move' in a different way.

On Friday, the Academy of Architecture offered two information sessions for mobility programmes and an event dedicated to Japan, thanks to which it was possible to immerse oneself in the country's culture through the tasting of gastronomic specialities, accompanied by beers, saké and Japanese plum liqueur, and the viewing of short films created by Japanese exchange students from Kyoto.

In Lugano, on the other hand, the conference entitled "Epigenetics of Trauma: preventing the long-term effects of violence,war, and extreme events", organised by the Student Association for Ukraine, closed the week.

As a corollary to these events, for the entire week the work of the artist Han Sessions, which travelled around the campuses, was available to be coloured; the campus canteens included a dish with an international flavour on their menus every day, and the exhibition dedicated to the concept of motherhood violated by military conflict remained open to the public.

The International Relations and Study Abroad Service would like to thank all the members of the USI community who kindly made themselves available, thus contributing to the success of the event. Many thanks also go to all the students who participated: the event was attended by at least 300 people, who took part in the numerous activities offered.

We would also like to thank all the partners of the event: Dj Lond, Film Festival Diritti Umani, ilariasds_dj, eLab USI, Erasmus Student Network Lugano section, Han Sessions, Laboratorio di Lingue Moderne USI, Movetia, Scholars at Risk, Student Association for Ukraine, Careers Service, as well as the associations Student Association for Ukraine and Chinese Students and Scholars in Lugano.