“For the University” journal – triggering students’ critical thinking (2015)

This project aims at raising students’ consciousness about the structural problems of the university realm and their codetermination with the Albanian social formation in general. For raising student consciousness in our point of view, it is determinant the publishing of a biweeklyjournal whose main concern would be the exposition and analysing of students’ studying and living conditions.The journal will be freely distributed among students and university communities. This needs the constitution of a permanent editorial board whose day to day work would comprise: gathering information; making interviews;investigate on how and what the faculty budget is spent for;translation of analytic and critical articles on worldwide education system; studying the economical, legal, political and ideological factors which influence students’ conditions; calling for articles, especially among students, and editing them etc. Implicitly, the studying of the students’ labour conditions and the latter influences on their studying capacities and performance needs a more comprehensive approach. Therefore,thorough investigation with interviews and questionnaires with focus groups would be needed. The direct interviews and filling of questionnaires will also allow us to get the students’ vivid perspective on their condition as well as establish close contact with them, who are the exclusive target group and the main beneficiary of this project, and, hopefully, foster students’ cooperation with “For the University” movement in our common future struggles.

Main activities:

• A permanent editorial board of students’ journalists will be established (composed by three persons).
• Capacity building trainings will be held for the editorial board during the first month.
• Focus groups with students about their main studying and social issues will be held on each public university in Albania.
• Interviews and questionnaires will be arranged about the students’ perspective on the most important political and social issues they consider influential about their future as students, employees and citizens.
• Public assemblies with students, professors and representative of decision-making structures of public universities will be organised for providing students the opportunity to address their issues and collectively look for better solutions.
• A regional conference will be held on higher education’s reforms in our country and wider in the region among students, professors and activists to unify the struggle or emancipatory public education by consolidating a communication platform.

The publication of data and analysis gathered in the field, study investigations within higher education institutions, focus groups, interviews and public assemblies, anda number of talks from independent student organizations from the Balkan region dealing with similar issues, will help to introduce the issue to a wider public and constitute a definite step towards students’ empowerment, and ultimately to their self-organization as a tool of resistance against harmful governmental policies.