Sampaio spoke at the launch of My Land is Beautiful – Stories of Syrian Students in Portugal, a set of 30 testimonials from higher education students who traveled on scholarships to study at Portuguese universities to avoid the war in Syria. which has been going on for over 10 years.
“The second decade of this century has been marked by growing turmoil at the global level, a general degradation of international relations and a regression of democracies,” said the former Portuguese head of state who heads the Global Platform Association of Syrian Students. (APPLE).
In an audience with the Institute for National Defense (IDN) in Lisbon, Sampaio, president from 1996 to 2006, believed that failure was “visible” in the “strengthening” of authoritarian regimes, in the “growing power” of populism and the “accumulation of various faults” in democratic mechanisms. …
“They are slowly adapting to the challenges posed by profound transformations at all levels, from economy to work, through climate change, public health, digital communications and social organization in general,” he said.
The President of APGES also drew attention to the problem of migration, “especially forced”, which is one of the most pressing problems, mainly due to the number and duration of ongoing conflicts, as well as due to “growing insecurity” and “growing inequality of opportunity” throughout the world.
“Young people are one of the groups hardest hit by humanitarian emergencies, especially as access to education continues to be seen as an unnecessary luxury in this crisis environment. In times of war, threats and insecurity, access to higher education, on the other hand, is a tool of protection, a vector of resilience and the true value of asylum that allows us to nurture hope for the future, ”he continued.
By creating a “bridge” to the plight of Syrian students attending higher education in Portugal, Sampaio stressed that APGES, by investing in university education in humanitarian emergencies, has sought to bring substance to initiatives that have been developed since 2014.
“Modestly, but this is what we at APGES tried to do with the Fellowships and Emergencies program, initially targeted at Syrian students, but now open to any student from conflict-affected countries,” he explained.
More than 650 scholarships have been awarded annually since 2014, and 135 Syrian fellows already hold advanced degrees, masters or doctorates, the vast majority in Portugal, as well as in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, France, Germany, Canada, and the United States.
According to project coordinator Helena Barroco, about 300 Syrian students have been admitted to Portugal: 135 are completing the course, 130 are already employed and only five are looking for work.
The “Little Book of Stories,” as Jorge Sampaio himself calls in the foreword to the work, printed by Âncora Editora, which published it with Norprint – A Casa do Livro, free of charge, collects first-person testimonies from some of the recipients of the Emergency Fellowship program, and also reports on how APGES has developed this initiative over the years.
The 139-page book My Land is Beautiful – Stories of Syrian Students in Portugal has a threefold goal of telling the story of the initiative and sharing students’ personal stories, mobilizing more support and encouraging more engagement. initiatives and integration can arise.
APGES has a diverse group of partners and partners to fund scholarships, including government, civil society organizations, the academic community, the private sector, foundations and even individuals, and today also generates additional income from the sale of a book at a price of five euros.
The book presents two short preliminary reading notes emphasizing that the titles of most of the stories correspond to well-known songs, so “no translation has been chosen, the reader is encouraged to try to link each chapter with melodies” for reason.
On the other hand, texts written by students, as well as references to them, are identified only with their own names, “which could have been changed for obvious reasons.”
Portugal’s Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs Francisco André and for Science, Technology and Higher Education João Sobrinho Teixeira, as well as former Público journalist Francisca Gorjau Henriques, who recently retired from journalism to devote herself to journalism, also participated in the initiative and presented the book today.
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