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Please note that some of the items below are only available to current scholars and fellows on award in the UK. If you are a current award holder and would like access to these items, please contact your award administrator at the Commission for the username and password. 
News for current Scholars and Fellows:
The U8
What is the U8? It’s a worldwide student-run organisation which aims to build a global partnership for development, in line with Millennium Development Goal 8. The name the U8 also makes an ironic reference to the G8, which by its very nature is exclusive and does not include those who are affected by the outcomes of its decisions. The U8 is a world-wide, inclusive and unbounded platform for students interested in matters of development.
Well that’s all well and good, but what does that mean in practical terms?
As a student at any university, activities are divided into two separate yet interlinking arenas. At a local level U8 groups are encouraged to raise awareness through talks, films, music - any way they can imagine to reach out to a wider student audience. With successes already, such as the Warwick International Development Summit, they are also encouraged to create spaces for students to discuss development issues and to learn more through discussion groups and magazine publications. In Morelos University, Mexico, students go out into the local communities learning first hand about the issues in their region, while in Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, India, they run weekly discussion forums for students. With just over 40 university groups involved in 6 continents, including 17 Universities affiliated to the ACU, it’s a hub teeming with energy and ideas.
At a global level things start to get even more exciting. Students are encouraged to undertake research on a particular issue with their peers around the world in order to understand different perspectives, with academic and professional supervisors ensuring they tackle the main debates and build their analyses on a credible evidence base. Members of staff of the ACU have already expressed an interest in supervising U8 research, and the Africa Unit is closely working with the U8 on investigating building up research and management capacity between more and less industrialised countries, especially related to the UK and Africa. These analyses are then fed back to policymakers and the press, for students to engage and have a say in the often mysterious policy process. These recommendations and proposals for change are then combined in a magazine, aiming to inspire fellow students to get involved in the global conversations, as well as to influence the policy debates, attempting to bridge the often vast divides between research and policy.
Students are also encouraged to participate in the monthly discussions on different topics and currently students from around the world are discussing locally in their university groups and globally on the online forums: “What is development?”
In an interconnected world, where the effects of carbon emissions can affect seemingly isolated communities, to intellectual property rights that often, controversially, bring independent communities together, we can no longer ignore the externalities of our actions. The people who are affected by policy and practice should have a say in the very decisions that involve them.
At the U8 we provide spaces, virtual and real, for students to learn more, to challenge themselves and others and to impact upon policy where they have something tangible, possible and important to say. It is hoped that creating truly global conversations and discussions will bring global solidarity and partnership for development.
From The Guardian to The Hindu, from Ethiopian state TV to the BBC World Service, the U8 is quickly spreading the word that there are issues that we all need to be aware of, and providing students wherever and whatever they study with a platform not just for awareness and learning, but for action.
For more information please visit www.u8development.com.
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