ABSTRACT
The Ponto de Partida — Experiências Educativas IN | The Starting Point — Educational Experiences IN (INclusive, IN[non]formal and Inspiring), like other similar university projects, most likely resulted from something as simple as a Kantian impetus stemming from goodwill and a sense of duty — an informal conversation in a university hallway between a professor and an African student. Professor — “Is it true that African students at our university face greater difficulties and challenges than other students?” Student — “Oh Professor, you cannot imagine how much greater. In particular, students from Guinea-Bissau face difficulties you cannot even imagine.” The professor may then respond with, “We must do something to change this situation.” To that, the student replies, “We absolutely must!” The professor, eager to address this issue, states, “Let’s schedule a meeting with the African students. I would like to hear what they have to say, get to know their experiences here and see what we can do from now onwards.” Then finally replies — “Yes, let’s do it!”
Guided by the assumption of the dignity of the human person (Kant 2010) from a cosmopolitan perspective (Appiah, 2006; Becker, 2016), in little over two years, this simple act of goodwill imbued with a sense of duty gave rise to a methodology for the development of the human potential in a multicultural context which aims to educate students to be the best version of themselves, regardless of whether in the job market, as political citizens or as human beings. Through this methodology, we have demonstrated that educational experiences in “cosmopolitan places” are transformative in the sense that they promote soft skills (such as empathy, creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, and communication) which are in themselves essential for building a culture of tolerance and peace.
