INTERNATIONAL
International
Engagement From Barcelona to Galway
Arab World Tawasol Project
A service learning experience
Amman, London, Beirut and Galway Visits
Gemma Puig from the Universitat de Barcelona joined the CKI from September 2011 to February 2012 as part of her doctoral work. Here she reflects on knowledge she gained: “My experience in Galway has been exceptional. My aim was to gain and develop my knowledge about service learning. I was both impressed and interested to learn that an entity called the CKI committed to promote service learning existed at NUI Galway. My colleague from Argentina, Maria Nieves Tapia encouraged me to spend some time in Ireland and in particular at NUI Galway to learn about service learning within an Irish context. I am undertaking my Ph.D., at the Universitat de Barcelona. The aim of my doctoral studies is to understand the development of several service learning projects in Catalonia through the analysis of the satisfaction levels of all participants to bring some guidance to institutionalize these projects within higher education. Following a four-month engagement where I shadowed the team and undertook primary and secondary research, I can highlight three findings I learnt during my experience: Firstly I met lecturers who are very engaged with their service learning work and they make a difference through their subject areas with the community, while also enhancing the pursuit of academic content. Secondly, I realised that civic engagement is the necessary framework to develop quality service-learning modules and also to build a twoway reciprocal relationship with community partners. Finally, the last and the most important, I was given the opportunity to share knowledge with CKI team, not trying to find the right answers but creating the right questions.” Gemma Puig, GREDI, Grup de Recerca en Educació Intercultural, Universitat de Barcelona. 7
CKI Magazine 2011-2012 www.nuigalwaycki.ie
In 2009, the CKI at NUI Galway entered into a nine partner higher education collaboration to embed civic engagement and service learning in Jordan and Lebanon in a project that was funded by the European Union programme, Tempus. The project, entitled Tawasol, (Tawasol means engagement and interaction in Arabic) is in its final year of funding and can boast of many significant achievements, including the growth of service learning within the curriculum and the development of centres for civic engagement and service learning in the partner institutions. Lorraine McIlrath, Tawasol lead at NUI Galway, has travelled extensively through Jordan and Lebanon offering training and her experience of civic engagement in Ireland. This project is of particular significance given the recent Arab Spring and its manifold changes. The ultimate goal of Tawasol is to give higher education students an experience within community that facilitates them to become engaged and active democratic citizens. In September 2012, NUI Galway will welcome twenty students from the five partner universities in Jordan and Lebanon for a two-week long study tour in which they will develop an understanding of the CKI and engage in peer-to peer-learning with NUI Galway students. To mark the end of the EU funded period, the Tawasol project will host a major international conference by the Dead Sea in Jordan in November 2012 and those wishing to attend and offer presentations should contact Lorraine McIlrath lorraine.mcilrath@nuigalway.ie