The 42nd UPV/EHU Summer Courses (UIK) seeking to awaken curiosity with their offering for a diverse audience, with a special focus on young people

 

• We have prepared a special selection to encourage young people in take part in the seat of knowledge, bring their input and enjoy the UPV/EHU Summer Courses
• The successful Learn to Teach and Prest Gara [We are Ready] programmes will be run again, in conjunction with the Basque Government, with the aim of incorporating innovation and language transmission in education
• The Journey of Life special programme, sponsored by the Irizar cooperative, will transport us to the world of José Miguel de Barandiarán, among others
• Art and culture will have a special space. The course by the ballet dancers Igor Yebra and Lucía Lacarra, and the monograph on the work of the artist Anjel Lertxundi are just some of those offered at the UIK

The Basque Government's Minister for Education, Jokin Bildarratz, the Irizar Personnel Director, Koldo Telleria, the Vice-Chancellor of the UPV/EHU Gipuzkoa Campus, Agustin Erkizia, and the Academic Director of the UPV/EHU Summer Courses (UIK), Itziar Alkorta, were at the Miramar Palace in San Sebastián this morning to present the content of several specific programmes of the 42nd edition of the courses.

This year, in particular, we have prepared a special selection  to encourage young people up to 25 years old in take part in the seat of knowledge, bring their input and enjoy the Summer Courses. There will also be reduced fees when enrolling and they will only have to pay €25 per course if they sign up before 31 May.

There will an interesting range of 152 courses aimed at a very diverse audience from June to September. As well as the summer courses, the Summer Courses Foundation (UIK) organises online courses, workshops, Donostia Sustainability Forum initiatives and other courses.

The 42nd edition will address nine fundamental challenges: the social economy; youth in the limelight; spotlight on human rights; the future of education and language; quality of life; culture and art; sustainability; digitalisation and artificial intelligence.

Agustin Erkizia, Vice-Chancellor of the Gipuzkoa Campus of the UPV/EHU, stressed that “this year's UPV/EHU summers courses continue to offer a unique opportunity to reflect on the different challenges facing today's society. Therefore, in addition to selecting the appropriate themes, we have brought on board different people to pool their expertise and experience in each area regarding the proper format.

Thanks to the UPV/EHU summer courses, we can observe such a diverse and complex reality in a special way, by creating a particular engagement between those people in the different places and spaces where the courses are taught.  I would recommend taking part in the summer courses to connect or to continue connected to today's world, because each person will have the opportunity to find their place".

Collaborative special programmes

The representatives of these institutions have today unveiled the programmes developed together with the Basque Government's Department of Education and in collaboration with Irizar. Collaboration is one of the main values of the UIK and, therefore, the UIK academic director, Itziar Alkorta, acknowledged and thanked the Basque Government's Department of Education and the Irizar cooperative for the fruitful track record in knowledge dissemination with both institutions. 

Educational innovation development programme

Since 1993, the Basque Government's Education Department and the UIK have been jointly designing and developing the offering for the teachers of the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC).

As the Basque Government's Minister for Education, Jokin Bildarratz, explained, thanks to this partnership, both institutions work together to integrate innovation in education.

The “Learn to Teach” and “Prest_Gara” programmes are part of that collaboration.

The department accredits courses in keeping with its main strategies (summer courses, online courses) so that non-university teaching staff can refresh their skills. Those activities are included in the "Learn to Teach" programme. There is a discount for teachers to enrol in those courses. This year, there will be 20 in-person courses available during the summer. Furthermore, 8 online courses have been run between January and June, and there will be more in October.

At the same time, 12 activities of the accredited courses have been included in the “Prest_Gara” offering. Twenty places are offered on each course within this programme.

As regards innovation, the courses will include one on Artificial Intelligence and Ethics: An Artificial Intelligence Ethics Study Plan for Students (only in Basque) to be held on 26 and 27 June. This theme is very much in fashion and on which we should keep a careful eye, while adapting to the benefits and risks of the new tools. 

Language transmission is another theme at the forefront; and in that regard, the Atypical Language Development in Bilingual Children: Diagnosis and Intervention course will be run on 15 and 16 September.

"The Jouney of Life", sponsored by Irizar

As the Irizar Personnel Director, Koldo Telleria, pointed out, Irizar has been taking part in the UPV/EHU Summer Courses for 18 years now and sponsors The Journey of Life special programme.

This year's  “The Journey of Life”  will consider programmes to prevent school bullying, an important theme both for children and adolescents, and it will transport us to the world of José Miguel de Barandiarán.

Childhood and adolescence are important stages in the journey of life. Therefore, the spotlight will be on the different existing programmes to address school bullying at those ages and on the influence of the new technologies in the  Aggressive Behaviour in Childhood and Adolescence: from Tantrums to Bullying course given by the directors Eider Pascual and Aitziber Azurmendi on 13 and 14 July.

On 7 and 8 September, the  José Miguel de Barandiarán's Contribution to Archaeology, Ethnography and Basque Mythology summer course (only in Basque), run by Jose Antonio Mujika, will be held. We will learn about Barandiarán’s main lines of research - archaeology, ethnography/cultural anthropology and mythology - during his life. The course will be held in Ataun and there will be a field-trip to the Aralar Mountains to learn more about Barandiarán's rural research.

TopaGune, fostering active encounters among citizens

The TopaGune [Meeting Point] programme will continue this year. It was first run in 2020 and was set up with Gipuzkoa Provincial Council's Governance Department to foster active encounters among citizens to encourage them to take active steps in social and political engagement.

Four TopaGune encounters will be held this year:

Voices of Experience: Participation, Self-Determination and Empowerment to Transit towards Social Inclusion. It will be run by Irati Fraile and Francisco Javier Leturia on 17 July. On 18 July, Leturia will lead the  Transition towards Inclusion: Models and Approaches to Foster Participation, Self-Determination and Empowerment course.

The aim of these two courses includes driving and facilitating reflection on the right to participation and self-determination of the users of social services, along with the importance of empowerment of the social inclusion and personal development processes.

On 6 and 7 September, the summer course entitled  Sexualities in Terms of Women, seeks to approach sexualities from a positive and enriching perspective, and from their value for cultivation; with sexuality being taken as a dynamic and evolutionary process in the development of the woman, and, therefore, analysing the characteristics of sexuality in all life transitions. María Dolores Calle and Mª Lourdes Pérez run this course.

On 11 and 12 September, the Community Action Course from Margins and Absences course, run by Igor Ahedo and Andere Ormazabal will be last of this edition's TopaGune encounters. The aim of the course is to consider the challenges and opportunities of community action driven both by institutions and by the associative network when setting up a social infrastructure.

In addition to the TopaGune programme, different methodologies will be used in more than twenty summer courses to foster the engagement of all the participants by delving further into the different participation models.

Extensive range of courses for young people

Apart from the specific programmes, the UPV/EHU Summer Courses (UIK) will cover a large variety of themes.  All the information is published on the UIK website and the enrolment will remain open until the start date of each course.

For example, the UIK academic director, Itziar Alkorta, today highlighted a series of courses particularly aimed at young people, and which include surfing, music and sustainability. This edition will have several themes of interest for young people.

The Surfing and its Health Benefits course, run by Itsaso Gaztañaga, will be held on 13 and 14 July. It will focus on the health benefits of surfing, bringing together the surfing "youth" community and sharing know-how, along with encouraging people to take up surfing. 

Continuing with the courses on offer for young people, Musika bizi: Music Experiences will be run on 7 and 8 September. Run by Marina Landa and Ion Andoni del Amo, the idea is to ask many questions about music and for the participants to reflect on and discuss how to combine and enrich their views on music. The speakers will include academic musicians and journalists.

 Getting the Environmental Message across with and to Young People , the course organised by the Association of Environmental Information Journalists (APIA) and the Basque Government's Environmental Management Agency (Ihobe), will be held on the same date (7 & 8 September). Different topics will be considered: what drives young people and the channels they use; how we can face the climate crisis and other environmental challenges; good environmental practices through the social media… The course will be eminently practical and also includes a sea trip and several workshops (TikTok, podcasting and films).

On the 3 and 4 July, there will be the opportunity to learn first-hand about the career of two internationally renowned artists from the Basque Country, Lucía Lacarra and Igor Yebra. The aim is to experience dance personally through two of its big names.    It is a motivation course, an experiential room where the participants can discover the skills and aptitudes needed to triumph in the professional world of dance. 

The Lucía Lacarra and Igor Yebra, the Know-How of the Basque Ballet Stars summer course is run by Iratxe De Arantzibia.

Along with the Summer Course, the ballet dancer Yebra will run a 90-minute masterclass at the Rentería Dance Centre, from 5.00 to 6.30 p.m. on 3 July. Ten places have been reserved for the participants on the course or their direct family members to take part in the masterclass, for just €10. Participants in the masterclass will need an advanced level of dance and be over 12 years old. On 9 June, the participants will be drawn from among all those on the Summer Course who have applied.

Anjel Lertxundi, Author and Work will be discussed in the Miramar Palace on 28 and 29 June. The course aims to turn the spotlight on a great name of Basque literature and his work, with two main goals: to get to know the work of Anjel Lertxundi by highlighting its wealth and quality; and to stress the great interest of Lertxundi's literature as a subject for research, opening up the way for new research fields.  It has been organised under the aegis of Beatriz Zabalondo and Alexander Gurrutxaga, and with the collaboration of Zarautz Town Council. On 20 June, the writer Anjel Lertxundi will receive the medal for culture merit from Zarautz Town Council.

The war in Ukraine has called into question international treaties and highlighted the crisis of democracy. On the first two days of June the Democracy and Governance: How to Address the Crisis of Democracy? course will be held. We will discuss the challenges that the public administration is facing in the crisis of democracy and we will delve into the concept of collaborative governance, taken to be a space for the public institutions to debate and a strategy to strengthen democratic action. In addition to Gipuzkoa Provincial Council's Etorkizuna Eraikiz [Constructing the Future], we will have the opportunity to learn about other collaborative governance strategies.

Opening of the Summer Courses

The opening ceremony of th 42nd UPV/EHU Summer Courses will be held at the Miramar Palace in Donostia/San Sebastián at 5.00 p.m. on 13 June.   Constanza Tobio Soler, Professor of Sociology, will then give a keynote speech entitled "Science Discovers Women".

Enrolment and acknowledgements

This 42nd edition would not be possible without the support and confidence of the Organising Committee of the UPV/EHU Summer Courses and the backing of the Donostia Sustainability Forum; we would like to express our gratitude to the BBVA Foundation, the Basque Government, Gipuzkoa Provincial Council and San Sebastián City Council. We would also like to thank the partner entities of the cycles and each summer course, who have helped us to turn this exciting project into reality. We would also thank the management, speakers and students of the Summer Courses who make up our community, and who inspire us to forge ahead in this new stage on which we are embarking.

Enrolment is open until the start date of the activity. There is something for everyone: the academic world, researchers, professionals, public institutions, students and society in general.

Registration is easy using the  www.uik.eus portal.