Congratulations to the first undergraduates of the CIVICA European engage track

The certificate presentation ceremony of the first cohort of students that went through the CIVICA engage track took place on Monday, 17 October 2022. An European version of Sciences Po's Civic Learning Programme, the track offered to these students has been build around the concept of citizen engagement and complemented their Bachelor experience at the Undergraduate College.

Difference is strength

The Executive Director of the Undergraduate College, Quitterie Gadret, congratulated warmly Sciences Po's first CIVICA 2022 undergraduate cohort. A strong supporter of the European project, an early Erasmus student, she believes that allowing students from all over Europe to work together is of the utmost importance. Difference can then be seen as strength and not threat. To mention the values of CIVICA, she quotes Romain Gary, “Europe always had the best and most beautiful universities in the world. It's where our most beautiful ideas were born, those who inspired our greatest work: the concepts of freedom, human dignity, fraternity.” (Éducation européenne, 1945).

Seven of the nine students, from five of the seven campuses of Sciences Po, were able to discuss their parallel and yet different paths among peers and with the campuses directors, as well as the CIVICA team. Among the many words chosen by the students to describe the programme, the recurring themes were : discovery, freedom, civic engagement, community, cooperation… quite an accurate description of this pan-european alliance.

A key European cooperation

Aurélien Krejbich, Executive Director of CIVICA, was also eager to address his congratulations to those Sciences Po's students, that are true pioneers. Their curiosity, their drive represent the true spirit of Sciences Po and CIVICA. They are part of making the European University of social sciences a reality. He thanked them for giving the opportunity to CIVICA's staff to surprise them, even if this new form of cooperation is almost an impossible crazy task. Creating the teaching formats, building the inter-university cooperation, managing with the logistics at an European level… it was a complex but rewarding challenge. The European Union renewed its support towards CIVICA in July 2022 for a period of four new years.

The director explained to the students that CIVICA student tracks are multilevel: opportunities at the Master and also Doctorate level will rise. This new phase of CIVICA will also reinforce student participation in government bodies.

Let's hope this first wave of students will act as ambassador towards its peers and will claim loud and clear the message of solidarity and cooperation that is so dear to the alliance.

MORE INFORMATION:

• The Undergraduate College of Sciences Po
• The CIVICA engage track
• Civica Engage Track : Experiencing European Civic Engagement
• The Civic Learning Programme