Port Louis — The municipality of Port-Louis will be welcoming a new type of students twice a week. The free-of-charge 'popular' university was launched yesterday for all those who wish to develop their culture and critical skills.

Joseph Cardella's fA bit of storyiA bit of storyrst lecture on philosophy inaugurated the series of courses until June 2008 at the municipality of Port-Louis.

A totally new concept of university education has appeared in Mauritius. The first popular university was launched yesterday by the Lord Mayor of Port-Louis, Reza Issack, in the presence of the minister of Local Administrations, James Burty David. This initiative by philosophy teacher Joseph Cardella is an original concept aiming at democratising culture free of charge and opening knowledge to the highest number of people according to a concept created by the Dane Grundvig (see inset).

After leading "cafés-philo" in Mauritius - where people of different horizons are brought to reflect and discuss on issues and themes chosen in advance - for one year, Joseph Cardella realised the "interest of participants in a type of knowledge that the café philo can't develop. In fact, it is people's thirst for knowledge that prompted such an initiative".

The popular university is very different from traditional universities for various reasons. It is not structured with exams and diplomas at the end of each course but it is rather a space for exchanges aimed at offering everyone the possibility of improving their knowledge in various fields.

However, Joseph Cardella warns: "The popular university does not mean that the traditional university is too difficult and that ours will be easy for everyone. Not at all! The ten lecturers will aim at popularising knowledge, at making concepts that may be difficult to understand more comprehensible for a large public."

This is why he has chosen well-known personalities with a rich career of lecturers in their fields. Véronique Garrioch will teach literature, Vijaya Teelock will be responsible for history courses, science and technology courses will be delivered by Dhanjay Jhurry, cinema by David Constantin and journalism by Laurent Dubourg. Salim Khodabaccus will deliver art history courses while Jean-Bernard Sadien and Natasha Chakowa-Cardella will be in charge of psychology and Ibrahim Koodoruth will bring sociological concepts within everyone's reach. As for philosophy, the head of the project, Joseph Cardella, will deliver the lectures.

The courses, held at the municipality of Port-Louis, should be completed in June next year. Each of the nine lectures will be held once a month between 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm - which means that the municipality will welcome students about twice a week. The first hour will be devoted to the lecture and the second will be more interactive with questions and reactions from participants.

One of the major differences between this and any other traditional university is that the courses do not lead to exams.

One of the major differences between this and any other traditional university is that the courses do not lead to exams. Likewise, those attending the course will receive no diplomas. As explained by Joseph Cardella, "the popular university consists in opening knowledge to everyone, democratising culture and developing the thinking and critical skills. It does not deliver any diplomas but offers fulfilling training". In fact, these courses may not appear very useful from a purely economic or social point of view but "feeding reflection through knowledge actually makes a large contribution to society and to the economy of the country".

The objective of the courses is to try and shed light on contemporary national and international issues. "Lecturers want to provide a key for the comprehension of world realities. One example could be to try and provide a better understanding of the complex and controversial history of Mauritius for instance," Joseph Cardella comments.

The "delicate and important profession of journalism", the meaning of science today and the way it tackles current problems are other examples of what this new university could offer. "Philosophy is often considered as obscure and difficult. We shall try to make it more accessible", adds the philosophy lecturer.

In fact, this university is open to everyone interested in knowledge and sharing. "It is for all those who have enquiring minds and would like to know more", the innovator explains. No preliminary diploma or certificate is required to attend the courses. Therefore people of all ages are expected at the municipality of Port-Louis: pupils, students, professionals or retired people. "The word popular simply means that it is open to everyone", sums up Joseph Cardella.

A bit of story

The origins of the concept

The first one who had the idea of bringing knowledge within the majority's reach was Danish Lutheran pastor Grundvig (1783-1872). The first popular universities in France appeared in the context of the Dreyfus case. In view of the passionate debates that were held then and the anti-Semitic wave at that time, popular universities want to bring a more humanist vision of society.

But then, it is only in 2002 that the French philosopher Michel Onfray got the concept back on rails with the popular university of Caen. Since then, many other towns like Lyon, Grenoble, Montpellier or Toulouse have followed suit - just as other countries like Switzerland, Belgium, Germany and Austria.