UniDistance Suisse lance l’université pour les enfants

How does a university work? And what do researchers actually do? The «KidsUniversity», the new pro-gramme launched by UniDistance Suisse, is aimed specifically at inquisitive children and enables them to discuss scientific topics with real university professors. Several events are planned at the Valais media centre in Sion on topical issues that are appropriate for the target group. The first event, «Chil-dren against violence», which took place yesterday, was a complete success.

The world of science fascinates children and raises many questions, for example: What do researchers do in their laboratory? The «KidsUniversity» programme was created to answer these and many other questions in a way that is understandable and fun for children. The new programme, which was launched by UniDistance Suisse in October 2024, offers workshops, meetings with professors and the discovery of illustrative and excit-ing topics that will awaken children's curiosity.

Driven by the success of the German-language «KinderUni», which was launched in 2023, the UniDistance Suisse has developed a French-language programme in collaboration with the Valais Media Library in Sion. The aim of the «KidsUniversity» is to familiarise children and young people with the world of a university edu-cational institution. Through the work of the institute's researchers, they can discover topics that are unfamiliar to them, but still appeal to them, in a way that is easily accessible to them. «With this programme, we want to introduce children to the world of universities and get them interested in potential new professions and re-search topics. If this first French-language edition is successful, we hope to be able to offer a richer programme in the future,» explains Vanessa Hugo, Head of Services and Alumni at UniDistance Suisse. «We receive a lot of positive feedback from the children and parents. One participant in one of our German-language workshops said enthusiastically that she now wants to study law!» she adds.

The topics of the «KidsUniversity» are not only intended to arouse children's curiosity, but also to sensitise them to current problems. The first workshop entitled «Children against violence - understanding and reacting» focussed on violence in various forms that children are confronted with in their everyday lives, be it through bul-lying at school or in social networks. A teaching team from UniDistance Suisse, consisting of the specialist teacher for criminal law Thierry Godel and his teaching and research assistant Morgane Délèze, conveyed the topic in a playful way using drawings and games. What happens when a child bumps into a classmate? What are the consequences of liking an offensive post on social networks? Does juvenile criminal law already apply in such cases? Is all violence a criminal offence? «One of UniDistance Suisse's main tasks is to pass on its knowledge to society. By addressing this important and sensitive topic of violence, it sensitises children to the various dangers and criminal consequences of an act of violence, regardless of its form,» says Vanessa Hugo.

With almost a dozen participants at the first French-language event at the Valais Media Library in Sion, UniDis-tance Suisse is looking forward with confidence to the two upcoming events, which will take place on 22 Janu-ary and 26 March 2025. In the workshop «But where does the cocoa in Swiss chocolate come from?», led by Dr Linda Ratschiller, historian and lecturer at UniDistance Suisse, the children will learn how history, particu-larly colonialism, influences one of their favourite products, chocolate. In the next contribution, «What is my brain for?», psychology professors Pamela Banta Lavenex and Géraldine Coppin explain that it is thanks to the brain that we can remember our first names and that this organ controls all our behaviours, such as happiness or sadness.

Discover the KidsUniversity

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^{(in French only)}