Migrazione Exhibition - a retrospective

From 22 September to 18 October 2025, USI hosted the exhibition Migrazione at the BiblioAgorà (East Campus USI-SUPSI), featuring photographs by Darrin Zammit Lupi.

On the occasion of the International Migrants Day, established by the United Nations and celebrated every year on December 18th, we look back at this important initiative.

The exhibition was organized and promoted by the International Relations and Study Abroad Service in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Switzerland and the Swiss Customs Museum in Cantine di Gandria. The images by Darrin Zammit Lupi, internationally renowned photojournalist based in Malta, offered visitors a profound reflection on the many dimensions of human mobility. They depict major migratory movements of the past three decades—events that have shaped not only global history but also Switzerland’s social and cultural landscape—capturing both the hardships and the hopes linked to migration and portraying people not as passive victims, but as individuals of resilience, courage, and agency.

This initiative is fully aligned with USI’s mission as an international university committed to promoting inclusion, diversity, and academic freedom. With students and researchers from over one hundred countries, USI actively supports individuals from vulnerable backgrounds through initiatives such as the Scholars at Risk programme, of which it has been a member since 2016, and the InclUSIone programme, launched in the 2024/2025 academic year to facilitate access to higher education for individuals in the asylum sector. These projects, developed in synergy with cantonal and federal integration policies and in line with the goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (in particular Goals 4 and 10), strengthen USI’s role as a key actor in promoting equitable and inclusive education.

The inauguration of the exhibition took place on Monday, 22nd September 2025.

The evening opened with institutional greetings by Prof. Patrick Gagliardini, Pro-Rector for Research, who emphasized USI’s role as an open and inclusive institution, attentive to global dynamics. This was followed by the presentation of the InclUSIone and Scholars at Risk (SAR) programmes.

Prof. Jolanta Drzewiecka, Professor of Intercultural Communication at USI, opened the discussion by reflecting on current migration phenomena and the staggering figures of people in need of protection worldwide: according to the latest report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are currently approximately 42.5 million refugees in the world, while nearly 68 million people are internally displaced within their own countries, and the majority of these people (73%) are hosted in low- or middle-income countries. Prof. Drzewiecka then drew attention to the human face behind these statistics: “I am proud to be a professor at a university that has offered a safe place to at least some of these people,” she stated, recalling that education is a human right and a fundamental tool for social integration. She stressed that only societies “whose members feel valued, heard, and empowered to contribute […] are capable of facing the unprecedented challenges ahead of us.” She concluded by emphasizing that universities play a crucial role “in promoting inclusion but also in strengthening our understanding of the mechanisms of exclusion.”

Next, Parwiz Mosamim, a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Communication and Public Policy and the first Scholar at Risk hosted at USI, shared his experience at the University—from his arrival in 2021 to representing USI at the SAR Global Congress 2024. He highlighted the essential role of the SAR international network in safeguarding academic freedom and protecting at-risk scholars, while reminding the audience that academic freedom must never be taken for granted and must be continuously defended.

Finally, Filmon Mengstu Bezabh, a first-year Master’s student at USI, recounted his journey in the InclUSIone programme, which enables students in the asylum sector to attend courses as auditors in preparation for formal enrolment. After one semester in the programme, Filmon began his full-time Master’s studies and enthusiastically shared the educational and human value of this accompanying experience.

After the presentations, participants moved to the BiblioAgorà for the symbolic ribbon cutting.

The photographer, unable to attend in person, sent a video message to greet the audience and explain the meaning of his work, which places human dignity at its core and reminds us that, like the people portrayed in his photographs, we all “have hopes, fears, and dreams.”

The event concluded with remarks from the two main partners of the exhibition: Berta Fernández-Alfaro, Head of Mission for IOM Switzerland and Liechtenstein, who spoke about the organization’s commitment to migration management and public awareness, and the origins of the Migrazione exhibition project—created to celebrate 30 years of IOM’s work in Switzerland, and Sonja Burri, Deputy Director of the Swiss Customs Museum. The latter described the work of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security, under which the museum operates, and emphasized the importance of hosting the same exhibition in Gandria, noting that interest in exploring the topic of migration extends well beyond the academic sphere.

The evening concluded with a tour of the exhibition and a convivial aperitif, during which participants had the opportunity to meet the speakers and further discuss the themes presented.

This event represented an important opportunity to raise awareness about current and complex issues, strengthening the University’s role as a space for dialogue and information. Moreover, it has been a chance to renew collaboration between institutional partners and local actors who support people with experiences of forced migration in their path toward inclusion in our society. A cooperation that fully falls within USI’s ‘third mandate’, through which the University positions itself as a resource for the region, aiming to contribute to its development not only from an economic standpoint, but also from a social and cultural one.