UNIV Conference in Congo Kinshasa.

The first UNIV conference in Congo Kinshasa was held on November 8, 2008. It was a dream come true for them as they have been wanting to participate from Congo in the UNIV conferences for several years now.

The conference took place at Tangwa Centre Culturel, a centre for professional, social and cultural formation for University students. It was attended by 20 students from 3 Universities in Kinshasa, and the conference was given by Professor Lepira, Nephrologist and Professor at the University of Kinshasa.

The conference provided a much needed forum to discuss the current state of the university in Congo, a country which is in the process of rebuilding itself after the series of wars which have ravaged it, and continue doing so. The university education has suffered a gradual process of decadence due to all this instability.



Prof. Lepira spoke about the urgent need for the University to regain its true role in society: service to society. Any knowledge which does not need to progress and grow within society is egoistic and unfruitful. He encouraged the students to seek to develop themselves humanly and socially, as well as intellectually, during their years in the University, so as to be of greater service to society. He stressed that every university student has to play the role of a protagonist and can never be satisfied with being a mere spectator. He concluded by reminding all those present that in the midst of all the cultural and ethnic diversity in society, we all have a common role: the country’s progress. This single motive is sufficient for promoting unity in diversity, and the university has the primordial role of promoting this.

Dr. Ese Diejomaoh also talked about her experience working on the Univ International Scientific Committee at Rome and participating in the 2008 conference. It was a very enriching experience, especially due to the exchange of ideas with students from other universities around the world. This experience helped her to broaden her horizons, and to consider new approaches to life’s challenges. She insisted that this exchange was equally enriching on the national level and encouraged the students to create forums for positive inter-change of ideas.


As a result of the lively discussions at the conference, several girls committed themselves to start up focus group discussions at the university, and other such activities which can promote dialogue and social responsibility within the University environment. It is a ray of hope to see that the future of this beautiful country depends largely on the current-day university students, who are taking up the task squarely. There will continue to be weekly meetings for UNIV held in small groups, and finally, the National Conference in February of next year. Congo hopes to participate in the International Conference in Rome some day soon.

Practical Suggestions and Ideas to Prepare a Presentation for the 2009 UNIV Congress

It is not hard to prepare a presentation for the 2009 UNIV Congress, especially when you see it as an opportunity to put your talents and ideas to good use by suggesting and/or carrying out an initiative for the improvement and progress of our society.

First, you need to propose a topic or present a question related to this year’s theme, Universitas. Knowledge Without Limits. Once you have an objective, then you can choose a specific focus and methodology. These initial choices will mostly depend on who your team is and where your interests lie. From the combination of these three elements—objective, methodology and team members—there arise many opportunities for a presentation: it could be something abstract or practical, something very focused or more general, seen from the perspective of a particular field or having a multidisciplinary angle, something theoretical or the concrete result of an experiment, etc. We encourage you to work as a team, giving due emphasis to dialogue and coming to a common understanding between each of your team member’s ideas when it comes down to writing and presenting your paper.

With the hope that many UNIV participants will be able to share their thoughts and experiences during the Congress in Rome, this year we will include as part of the congress a number of roundtable discussions, bringing together participants who have pursued similar topics and share common interests. The papers and presentations you prepare will be presented within the framework of these roundtables, which will allow for follow-up and discussion. This roundtable setting will also allow for a greater number of papers to be selected for presentation during the Congress in Rome. Our hope is to create grounds for dialogue and exchange among university students coming from varied circumstances and experiences to allow for a true university environment-- one that is optimistic, creative and full of initiative.

With these things in mind, we suggest the following for your presentations:

1. Make sure your project arises from a concrete reality, for example, something you’ve noticed in your university or in the university in general. It is good to include each one’s personal reflections and how they contrast with those of the rest of the team. Make sure your topic is not purely theoretical (i.e. far from the reality we experience on a day-to-day basis), although at the same time, it is helpful to have recourse to some bibliography that helps you solidify your ideas, as well as to seek advice and guidance from other individuals who have experience and knowledge on the subject.

2. Approach your topic in a positive, constructive way, not limiting yourself to giving a diagnosis or putting down some aspect of your university, but proposing suggestions or sharing experiences of how to improve and move forward.

3. The content of your topic should have a good foundation, which will be reflected in a systematic development of your topic, as well as in a good analysis of your results. If your paper describes an activity that took place over a certain period of time, it would be best to discuss it in a chronological, systematic manner: starting with the initial ideas and questions presented, to the way the activity evolved and was carried out, and finally to the conclusions and deductions that came from it.

4. The quality and intellectual rigor of your work should be reflected in the tone of respect characteristic to any international congress in which students participate from diverse cultural and social backgrounds. It is good to keep in mind that you will be presenting to a wide-ranging audience-- not to specialists on your topic or field—in order to avoid using colloquial phrases or other jargon that not everyone might understand.

Formal Criteria for Presentations…

a) Papers:

1) Papers may be presented in Italian, English or Spanish

2) We suggest the following outline for your papers:
• Introduction (pose the initial question or problem)
• Methodology (for example: a bibliographic search, survey analysis, etc.)
• Results (analyze your results)
• Conclusion (looking at the results you’ve obtained, what do they tell us? How does this relate to and/or answer the initial question posed?)
• Proposal (What do we propose, in light of this study, that could have a positive impact on our society?)
• Bibliography (bibliographical references for any work cited or used for research in your study)

3) Papers should be submitted either in printed format (by mail) or in electronic format (by email) and should not exceed 10 standard sized pages (A4; 8 ½ x 11 in.)

4) Along with your paper you should submit an abstract or summary of no more than 10 lines, in which you outline your paper briefly and clearly, summarizing your 5 points: Introduction, Methodology, Results, Conclusion and Proposal.

5) If your paper is selected to be presented during the Congress, you will need to submit a summarized version of the same that does not exceed 3 standard size pages. If you will present your paper using a PowerPoint presentation, it should not exceed 20 slides. Each presentation will be allotted 10 minutes.

6) It is very important to cite any references or quotes used in your presentation, providing complete and formal bibliographical citation, with the same format maintained throughout. Samples of bibliographical citations are as follows:

i) Books:
GLENDON, M. A., A Nation Under Lawyers: How the Crisis in the Legal Profession is Transforming American Society, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994, p. 40.
SPAEMANN, R., Ética: cuestiones fundamentales, Pamplona: EUNSA, 1987, p.113.

ii) Articles:
BENSON, I., “Notes Towards a (Re)Definition of the ‘Secular’” in U.B.C. Law Review, 2000 (33), pp. 519-528.
YEPES, R., “Los sentidos del acto en Aristóteles” en Anuario Filosófico, 1992 (25), pp. 493- 512.

iii) Magisterial Documents of the Church:
Vatican Council II, Apost. Const. Gaudium et Spes, 22.
John Paul II, Enc. Evangelium Vitae, 17.

iv) Internet: Follow the same indications given for a book, article, or Magisterial Document, placing the website at the end in the following manner:
Available at: http://www/....

b) Videos:

1) Each presentation during the Congress will be limited to 10 minutes.

2) If you are submitting a video, it should be accompanied by a written text explaining the following:
• Objective
• Content
• Conclusion

3) The image and sound should be of good quality

c) Poster:

1) Posters may be presented in Italian, English or Spanish.

2) A poster is a way of presenting your work in an academic way, and its content is in no way less valuable than that of a paper. It is good to think over the key components of a poster, as they are not the same as those of a paper or a video. A poster should not have an excess of information, but just the right amount to transmit a concrete message attractively. Everything in your poster says something, so it is important to think about how and where to place things (including the size, color and symbolism) in light of what you want to transmit.

3) The content of your poster should be submitted electronically (via email or mailing a disk). If your poster is chosen to be presented at the Congress, you should submit the final version electronically and bring the printed version with you.

4) Along with your poster, you should submit an abstract or summary of no more than 10 lines, in which you outline your topic briefly and clearly, summarizing your 5 points: Introduction, Methodology, Results, Conclusion and Proposal.

5) Dimensions: height: 49.5 in. (100 cm.); width: 27.5 in (70 cm.)

6) Your poster should include a title, the names of those who prepared it, the name of your University, city and country. All text should be legible from 6 feet (2 meters) away.

7) You should provide a complete and well-cited bibliography (see sample citations above)