Il mondo in USI

A series of events offered by the International Relations and Study Abroad Service, as part of the Internationalization at Home (I@Home) project, to promote multiculturalism, cultural diversity, critical thinking and inclusion within the context of university life.

USI is an international institution that welcomes people from over 100 countries and values the exchange of ideas and diversity. With this initiative (whose structure is still being defined), the Service aims to take a first step towards the operational implementation of the new Internationalization at Home (I@Home) project: as the name suggests, the idea is to bring the world into the university, offering everyone in the academic community the opportunity to have an international learning experience even "from home", with the following objectives:

• Raise awareness within the university community about the importance of an international and intercultural perspective
• Enrich campus life by fostering critical thinking, global citizenship, and employability skills
• Support integrating and including our international students and scholars while promoting cultural diversity
• Develop and enhance intercultural competencies for both personal and professional growth

The program offers different and complementary approaches (visual, theoretical, and practical), that take place on our Campuses and allow participants to explore the theme of integration and diversity from multiple perspectives, while developing or strengthening intercultural competencies. In particular, this includes integrating global perspectives into courses, promoting intercultural dialogue within the USI community (and beyond), offering instruction in multiple languages, collaborating in mixed groups or virtual projects, organizing film screenings with discussions, and curating exhibitions.

Some initiatives dedicated to Swiss culture are mainly intended for the international USI audience taking their first steps within the Swiss system; others offer useful insights to understand intercultural challenges and develop critical thinking and global responsibility and are addressed to the entire USI community; others are events open to the public. 

For example, the exhibition Migrazione and the screenings in collaboration with the Human Right Film Festival Lugano, both public events organized in collaboration with external partners, offer an opportunity to reflect on colonial history, global conflicts and their long-term consequences, current geopolitical and humanitarian crises, as well as on concepts such as identity and ethnic diversity, democracy, and freedom of expression. These events also serve as an important occasion to raise awareness among both internal and external audiences about key initiatives supported by the Service, such as InclUSIone and Scholars at Risk.

Current initiatives

Also on the calendar