Democracy Week: Higher Education and Preserving Democracy

Scholars from the University of Agder (UiA) share their perspectives on the link between higher education and democracy.

This event will be hosted by Rufo Garcia and Lisa Fredsvik, two students from UiA. The content of the discussion was developed in cooperation with a group of students from UiA and other FORTHEM alliance universities.

Line up for the event:

Maryna Rabinovitch: The audience will get updated on the situation of higher education institutions in Ukraine. How are they operating during wartime, the challenges that are created for the institutions and the future of higher education in Ukraine.

Atsede Fantahun Aregay: Will speak about access to higher education, especially in Ethiopia. She will reflect on the connection between education and democratic values in society.

Majid Mgamis: Will share experiences from his career as a professor and reflect on the restrictions to his academic freedom. The audience will get insight into the struggles of academics in conservative societies.

Joseph Salomonsen: Will speak about the islamization of the universities under the islamic republic in Iran, in addition to discussing the narratives of modernity vs reactionism. 

Event Plan:

-16:00-16:40 First session

During the first session, Rufo will have a one-on-one dialogue with Maryna and Atsede respectively, each conversation is followed by a Q&A with the audience.

-16:40-16:45 Break

-16:45- 18:00 Second session

During the second session, Lisa will host a conversation with Majid and Joseph. It will be followed by an open discussion.

General information:

This event is one of two events that UiA is organising on behalf of the FORTHEM alliance of which it is a member. The events are part of the Democracy Week 2023, which runs alongside the European Conference on Democracy and Human Rights in Kristiansand. The event is co-organized with the Democracy@UiA working group, which runs activities related to the UiA interdisciplinary priority area "Democracy and Active Citizenship".

This event is open to everyone. It will be held in English and will include a Q&A session at the end of each session.

This is event will be live streamed, if you are participating physically or online, we ask you to please register your attendance.  https://nettskjema.no/a/333658

The link for live streaming: www.uia.no/live/event/educationanddemocracy