MEVIT4620 – Scholars at Risk (SAR) Student Advocacy Seminar
Course description
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
Scholars at Risk (SAR) Student Advocacy Seminars provide university students with the opportunity to develop skills in campaigning for human rights through direct engagement on behalf of threatened members of the global higher education community. This course is provided in cooperation with the International SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project and Scholars in Prison Project in New York.
Arranged and supervised by local faculty in partnership with SAR, each semester we take on the case of one or more scholars facing unjust restrictions, prosecution, or imprisonment. Students will be assigned in groups and given the case of an individual scholar currently incarcerated because of their academic work and political engagement. Throughout the term the groups will work to create advocacy to gain visibility and political and public engagement for these cases.
This experiential program is tailored to the specific group of students who sign up. Students can expect to gain a deeper understanding of the value of the academic freedom they enjoy and the risks scholars and students around the world face in the pursuit of knowledge. In addition, the course is designed to give students a foundation in:
- Human rights research, standards, and mechanisms
- Understanding of modern, hybrid media systems, their constraints and affordances as well as their relationship to modern advocacy-work
- Organizing and advocacy
- Persuasive writing
- Leadership and teamwork skills
- Practical organizational skills
Students can expect to organize awareness-raising advocacy initiatives, create campaigns and policy impact strategies, develop reports, partner with seminars at other campuses and students in other countries, and have the chance to put their advocacy skills into practice at SAR’s Student Advocacy Days. Each of these stages being a component in developing the advocacy intervention.
Learning outcome
Campaigns for human rights, such as Academic Freedom, increasingly involve the actions of diverse actors such as states, multi-lateral organisations, social movements, NGOs and community groups. How and when these actors practically advocate for particular issues and causes, has in general received limited reflection.
Obvious cases in point are how and why certain human rights issues and campaigns are prioritized over others, by whom, and to what end and what effect such campaigns have. Better critical multi-disciplinary experience and assessment of human rights campaigns can enhance awareness of these challenges especially in addressing the problematic issue of what creates change and the diversity of impact in human rights interventions.
Against this background this course will help students develop a practical understanding of advocacy and strategic communication work, particularly within the human rights field. Student led advocacy intervention during teaching time seek to enhance the link between practical work, theory and critical reflection. Upon completion of this course, students will have acquired the following.
Knowledge:
- Good knowledge of key issues in human rights campaigning.
- Understanding of the complex field of international advocacy work.
- Knowledge and experience of academic freedom.
- Good knowledge of the ethical issues and challenges that arise in human rights campaigning.?
- Knowledge about human rights actor’s work, exemplified by good knowledge of one specific human rights actor’s practice (advocacy intervention related to academic freedom)
- Knowledge of the communicative tools and tactics at the disposal of human rights practitioners
Skills:
- Ability to identify and analyse key issues in the practice of human rights.
- Analyse and identify ethical issues that arise in the work of human rights practitioners.?
- Know the main actors and how they each contribute to human rights in practice.?
- Be able to critically evaluate the policy, practice and literature produced by the various actors within human rights practice.
- Ability to analyse the relevant actors in an international human right campaign
- Ability to design and execute appropriate communicative strategies for influencing relevant actors
- Research skills
- Ability to evaluate information
- Develop networking
- Organising and Planning
- Leadership and Team building skills
- Practical experience with organizing public events
- Evaluating impact of work
General competence:
- Be able to perform relevant human rights campaign work in government institutions, academia, companies, and organisations relating to human rights.?
- Understanding the processes involved in information and communication campaigns
- Be able to understand and analyse the effect of communication campaigns
- Have an understanding of the main interests and concerns relating to the practice of human rights, and an understanding of the evolution of the practice of human rights.
- Developing specific skills attractive to employers.
Admission to the course
Please Note: In this course we work on the cases of real human beings that are currently in prison, and some of which might be at risk of execution. Thus, we require that all students who would like to take the course submit a 1-page motivation letter. The letter should state why the student would like to take this course, and their commitment to the work.
Please upload your motivation letter here by latest 1 September
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester?register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for?in Studentweb.
Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures.
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with MEVIT3620 – Scholars at Risk (SAR) Student Advocacy Seminar.
Teaching
Introductory lectures address themes including the what, why, and how of different types of human rights advocacy. Dilemmas in practices are examined by looking critically at actors and organisations and to develop understanding of ‘impact’ in human rights work. Students will then organise student-led workshops with each one representing a different stage of an advocacy campaign based upon selection of one case provided by Scholars at Risk.
The course will be taught by local course leaders, as well as guest lecturers specializing in fields relevant for the students work.
Compulsory activity:?
- An individual reflection report, 5-10 pages. The aim is to use course readings when describing and reflecting upon and contextualizing the advocacy experience.
In order to take the exam in this course, the compulsory activity must be approved.?
Read more about compulsory activities
Examination
This course has a group examination with two parts:?
- Group work assignment of a final advocacy report?
- Group work assignment on providing an public impact assessment report (2-4 pages or in multimedia format) based on the experience of the group. This report will be shared with Scholars at Risk International.
A group exam that is passed may not be resubmitted in revised form.
If you?withdraw from the exam?after the deadline, this will be counted as an examination attempt.
Language of examination
You must submit your group exam in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about?the grading system.
Resit an examination
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.