Presentation of the annual programme with new focal points: In a press conference, the Liechtenstein Children’s University team presented details of its 2012 programme and provided information on new focal points and partnerships.
Presentation of the annual programme with new focal points: In a press conference, the Liechtenstein Children’s University team presented details of its 2012 programme and provided information on new focal points and partnerships.
Since 2005, university lecturers and external experts have already held 28 lectures on topics from the fields of architecture and business economics, which they had adapted to be suitable for children, and thus have solved many riddles. Since 2007, a lecture programme has also been offered to the persons accompanying the children. This year, the Children’s University team decided that both the speaker from the Children’s University and the speaker from BEPO (Children’s University side programme) should speak on the same topic on the same day. “The aim is to encourage a subsequent exchange of thoughts and ideas between generations,” says Simone Brandenberg, Project Manager of the Children’s University since October 2011.
Combination of Children’s University and BEPO
In order to arouse and encourage the children’s natural spirit of research, the lectures of the Children’s University and BEPO address complex topics and prompt the audience to think things through. The opportunity to encourage discussions between parents and children will be seized by Dr. Bernd Schenk and Theresa Schmiedel from the Institute of Information Systems on the first lecture day on 11 April 2012. The current topic “Purchases on the Internet/online business” is derived from university-level teaching and has been adapted to make it more comprehensible, in an effort to engage the specific target groups. According to Dr. Bernd Schenk, the Internet has turned the whole world into one large shopping centre. “With BEPO, we also aim to sensitize the parents to the cultural aspects of this development. This way, to some extent, the Children’s University becomes a family university,” he explains.
Cooperation with external partners
For the 2012 programme, the Liechtenstein Children’s University has forged links with the LED Liechtenstein Development Service, Terre des Hommes, the OSKJ Ombudsman Office for Children and Adolescents, the Department for Foreign Affairs as well as the Liechtenstein Volksblatt. Through the assistance of various partners, the lectures of the Children’s University and BEPO also have the potential to reach sections of the population that would not usually be exposed to the field of university research. In the lecture entitled “Can you hear me?” on 6 June 2012, Dr. Stephan Berchtold, the Academic Director of the Bachelor’s degree programme in Business Administration, will inform parents about their children’s different types of communication. This classic parent–child topic is also being addressed by the Parent Child Forum in Liechtenstein, which will be offering an in-depth workshop on 19 June 2012. Jutta Hoop, a member of the Parent Child Forum, appreciates the university’s position as a location for encounters, whose cafeteria and library are not the only areas accessible to the public: “With this cooperation, the Parent Child Forum would like to provide interested parties with access to this location at the centre of Liechtenstein – and vice versa.”
Carbon-neutral printing and easier registration
Together with its printing partner Lampert Druckzentrum AG, the Liechtenstein Children’s University has arranged for its lecture brochures, posters and other print media to be produced in a carbon-neutral process through the myclimate CO2-compensation programme. In 2012, the Children’s University is supporting a project in India that is promoting the production of briquettes made from renewable biomass, and more efficient cookers in schools and hospitals. Furthermore, this year young students will receive an enrolment number for their study period at the Children’s University. In future, they will thus be able to register for each lecture with a single click of the mouse. The complete 2012 Children’s University annual programme and information regarding registration are available at www.kinder-uni.li.
Topics of the 2012 Children’s University
Wednesday, 11 April 2012: Internet
Wednesday, 6 June 2012: Overview
Wednesday, 5 September 2012: Children’s rights
Wednesday, 28 November 2012: Dialects
Further information and registration: www.kinder-uni.li