Student World Assembly would like to extend its warmest welcome to our newest chapters recently established in Sudan, Mozambique, Nigeria, Canada, Bangladesh and Kenya. Each SWA chapter brings us closer to our ultimate goal of global democracy.

As SWA expands, more and more students are given the opportunity to participate and learn about democratic processes. Through active international student involvement, the world is that much closer to achieving the objective of global democracy. Through education and student mobilization, future leadership is created to champion this vital objective. A student chapter provides its members with a forum where they can practice democracy directly, then translating this learning experience by taking action on both a local and global level.

Each student chapter engenders its commitment to global democracy, serving as a building block for this cause. In order to get our members better acquainted with the new additions to the SWA family, some background information on the new chapters is provided below:

Ahfad University for Women (Omdurman, Sudan)
Ahfad University for Women was initially established in 1907 as not only the first private school in Sudan, but also as a school for women. Since 1907, the Ahfad school and now the Ahfad University for Women has served a leader in providing quality education for women, in strengthening the roles of women in national and rural development, in seeking equality for women in all facets of Sudanese society, and reaching out to other African societies to empower women as agents of change.

Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, Nigeria
Lagos State University, founded in 1983, is considered to be the top state university in Nigeria with faculties in Engineering, Law and Medicine. In fact, its Law and Engineering departments are deemed to be some of the best in all of Nigeria.

The University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria
The University of Benin, founded in 1970, has solid achievements and an ever expanding national and international reputation built upon a sense of enterprise, resourcefulness, creativity, innovativeness, astute diplomacy, patriotism, excellence and service. It has become a bastion of learning with a potentially great future. It is not surprising that a former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria once remarked that the University of Benin has been transformed from UNIBEN to UNIBEST.

Maseno University College, Kenya
Having been in existence for less than 10 years, Maseno University College has established 25 undergraduate and post graduate programs. The new programs creteed address the real needs of society. The university has grown tremendously in a short period and currently has a little under 3,000 attending students.

Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya
Moi University was established as the second University in Kenya. Moi University was established to initially focus on science and technology. Since then, the University has grown exponentially from the initial one faculty in 1984, to 8 Faculties, 4 Schools, and 1 Institute in 2004.

University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
University of Dhaka was established in 1921. At present, approximately 30,000 students are enrolled in this university being taught by almost 1,300 teachers. The University of Dhaka is dedicated to the advancement of learning and is committed to promoting research in all fields of knowledge. New research projects are undertaken every year. Six half-yearly English journals and one ten-monthly Bengali journal are published regularly by six faculties. Ten more research journals are published by individual departments.

University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Founded in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canada's largest and most distinguished university. Consistently ranked Canada's top research-intensive university, the University of Toronto offers teaching programs in 17 academic divisions. Along with the diversity of a world-class university, the University of Toronto also offers the intimate scale of small college life. The university is composed of 7 colleges, each with a distinctive feel and sense of community. It has more than 340 student clubs and organizations on all three campuses.

Mount Everest Academy- Mozambique
Mount Everest Academy is SWA’s first chapter in Mozambique, and we encourage its members to share more information about the school and the country with the rest of the membership.

After reading about the new SWA chapters, the Managing Team encourages each SWA member that does not currently have a chapter at their school or university to commence the process of establishing one. Please contact Rachael Cornick, Chapter Activities Coordinator, to receive a Chapter Start-Up Kit and guidance on the startup process at rachael@studentworldassembly.org.

Dear SWA Members:

Welcome to another academic semester! We trust that all of you are all settled in and ready to begin a new and exciting academic year!

In order to better facilitate the Discussion Forum, SWA has designated three (3) Discussion Forum Moderators among the International Research and Communications Team. Your Moderators are Alina Vrejoiu, Tim Hearin and Lessie Branch. Additionally, the Moderators have designed a set of guidelines for the effective management of the Discussion Forum. Educate, participate and take action is the method through which SWA promotes global democracy, one student at a time.

To that end, accompanying each Pressing Global Issue is a wealth of resources in the form of hyperlinks that present a range of viewpoints available on the homepage of SWA titled Resources. SWA’s current pressing global issue involves the power of corporations, their impact on natural resources and how to hold them accountable for their actions.

We encourage SWA members to become active in the other discussion forums as well, to exercise the right to vote and have their voice heard. Since we operate in a virtual forum, we invite you to peruse the site and “see” your Moderators and the rest of the team responsible for running the day-to-day operations of SWA

Again, welcome to SWA! We look forward to the continued spirited engagement on the pressing global issues that matter most to the membership with the continued goal of positive and democratic change.

Sincerely,

Alina Vrejoiu, Tim Hearin & Lessie Branch
International Research and Communications Team

Click here to read the guidlines for discussion forum moderation...