SuXr – Students for refugees project
SuXr, which reads “super”, stands for "students for refugees".
The project, which started in the academic year 2015/2016 and is now in its sixth edition, aims to raise awareness among the student community on the issue of forced migration, facilitating networking between students and volunteer organizations through a learning by doing approach.
The project is part of the actions that the University of Trento is implementing, in collaboration with Cinformi and the Autonomous Province of Trento, within the wider "Asylum seekers to University project" (Studenti richiedenti asilo in Università).
All students of UniTrento are welcome to participate.
The project's contact person is Professor Donata Borgonovo Re
donata.borgonovo [at] unitn.it, suxr [at] unitn.it.
Project's details
The participants take part in a series of training events and then start volunteering at one or more local organizations (ATAS Onlus, Centro Astalli Trento, Associazione ARAS, Associazione La Foresta, Il gioco degli specchi, Libera La Parola, Centro di educazione alla Pace – Rovereto, etc).
Volunteers can offer various services, including:
- basic computer lessons;
- visits to the region;
- Italian classes and conversation, tandem language programmes;
- legal assistance;
- job guidance;
- awareness raising initiatives in schools;
- organization of cultural events.
Training will take place from February to April 2021, in the form of 8 online meetings of about 2 hours each.
The meetings focus on training in the first part, while the second part is used by organizations and volunteers to tell about their experience. In the last meeting, that took place on 2 April 2021, the participants had the opportunity to discuss with the organizations that host volunteers. Credits are not awarded for participation in this last meeting.
To participate please register while places are still available.
All students of the University of Trento are welcome to participate.
All events take place online. The participants are required to register for each event.
For more information, see the documents in the Download section.
To learn more about SuXr training events read "Studenti e studentesse per i rifugiati", an article that was published on 4 November 2019 in UniTrentoMag.
Award of credits
Students who take part in the series of training events (attending at least 60% of the classes) and participate as volunteers (with at least 75 hours) receive 3 CFUs (credits).
In particular, the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences awards internship credits; the Department of Sociology and Social Research and the Faculty of Law award learning credits (free choice), while the other departments award extra credits.
For more information on the type of credits awarded in your programme of study please contact the Student Services of your Department, Centre or School.
The courses - computer literacy and basic computer skills - cover different subjects, including: main hardware components of a computer system, basic functions of an operating system, use of the most common software applications. The programme takes into account students' needs (comparing computers and smartphones, for those who do not have a computer) and stimulates students’ thinking, encouraging self-learning abilities.
The University of Trento promotes the courses and invites its students to collaborate as teachers and tutors or as organizers.
CusCus is a theoretical and practical training course aimed at promoting integration and socialization in a multidisciplinary perspective, which combines a passion for food, digital technologies and entrepreneurship. The University of Trento supports the CusCus project by making its computer laboratories available for the TED1 (Basic Digital Technologies) and TED2 (Graphic Communication Techniques) courses.
Prove tecniche di umanità (March 2019)
A training programme in four meetings for the student community and civil society, to encourage reflection and active citizenship, raise awareness and react to hate speech and racist behavior. In the download section at the bottom of the page you can find the overview, presented at the last meeting, of the inclusion projects implemented by the University and at local level.
Aquila Basket (2016-2018)
Within SuXr–University students for refugees, the University of Trento participated as partner in two projects promoted and organized by Aquila Basket - "Basketball: a World in a Word" (2017) and "BasketbALL TOGETHER" (2018). They both were based on the idea that sport can play a key role for the integration and well-being of asylum seekers and migrants.
L'italiano e le altre lingue dei rifugiati: seminario linguistico per corso di Laurea Magistrale (2016/2017)
A seminar on second-language (L2) acquisition offered in the academic year 2016-2017 to students of the master's degrees in Philology and literary criticism and Euro-American literatures, translation and literary criticism at the Department of Humanities. The seminar gave students the opportunity to learn about language diversity, the role of motivation in language learning, and the different processes involved in second and third language acquisition, from relationships with Italian learners who arrived to Trento as asylum seekers and migrants.
Wikipedia4Refugees (2017)
A training course for a group of highly educated asylum seekers to improve their IT skills through the active use of Wikipedia. The goal of the project, in particular, was to translate some entries of The Free Encyclopedia (e.g., on rules of international law on matters of refugees protection, geography, local culture, citizenship education) from Italian into different mother tongues, which for the most part were African and Asian languages. For more information visit the project’s page
"Migranti, la sfida dell'incontro" (Exhibition, 17-28 October 2016)
A moving exhibition on the Italian reception system based on pictures, data and testimonies: the University of Trento was among the first institutions to host it. See the events programme for the exhibition.