IHECS welcomes 18 trainees from 6 different partner countries!
Since 2018, Académie de Recherche et d’Enseignement Supérieur (ARES) (the Academy of Research and Higher Education) has supported a programme that welcomes trainees from development cooperation partner countries. The trainees come from Senegal, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Morocco and Vietnam.
IHECS is proud to welcome these 18 trainees, young graduates or experienced professionals. They chose IHECS to improve their individual skills in communication and journalism. Journalists, doctoral students, teachers or young graduates, they all come to participate in one of our Masters in communication and journalism to seek the specific skills that will allow them to carry out their personal projects. A rich exchange for all parties lasting three to four months.
The trainees joining us have a wealth of experience and a perspective that they sometimes agree to share with us. Whether it be events held in amphitheatres, seminar proposals, monitoring of media briefs or participation in IHECS media (Fluid radio and Mammouth media). Essential, precious opportunities not to be missed, which allow us to gain a different outlook on the world.
Mid-September was a pivotal period during which the trainees arrived in Brussels and the week of orientation organised by the International Exchanges Office set the tone for their entire stay. The activities laid on aimed to introduce them to Brussels and to forge a bond between them and the team supporting them. Our trainees also had the opportunity to explore Brussels via the Les Zinneguides association.
Les Zinneguides is an association that offers visitors a view of the city from the perspective of its residents. Visits to neighbourhoods do not focus on its monuments or its official history. The guides, "culture transmitters", live in the neighbourhood, and they work during the visit to create intercultural links through meetings with traders, families and entities there. By way of their own personal history, each guide provides a lens through which to view immigration within their neighbourhood in an attempt to deconstruct clichés through interactions between the group and the residents. What is particularly interesting in terms of our group which recently arrived in Belgium is the sharing of experience, perspective and integration in Brussels. Following an inaugural event in Marolles and Matongé, we have been welcomed with open arms this year by Midi-Goujon and Saint-Josse!
Internally, this year’s breakfast organised by the International Exchanges Office was a resounding success. The coming together over pastries and fruit juices to the accompaniment of soft music lent an atmosphere of exchange and cooperation between the teaching teams and the trainees. Finally, a session was held in which first impressions of the Brussels experience, based on the principles of continuing education, encouraged participants to engage in discussion and, we hope, strengthen connections through empathy.
Today the trainees have embarked on the various courses they have selected. The International Exchanges Office is keeping a close eye on them so it can help them where needed and interact with them during this mobility adventure.
