Pan African Peace University, PPU, which has started with its first course in fall of 2010, is dedicated to provide quality education to all students, regardless of their gender and their financial, social or ethnic background. Student participation and self initiated activities play a central role at PPU inside and outside the classroom. The specific features of our learning environment and the structures of our academic programs help our students to develop a strong sense of responsability for their own learning and for the problems of their communities.
In the weekly school assembly and in various workgroups students and staff discuss PPU’s development and shape its future.

Across its departments PPU focusses on questions of :

peace and reconsiliation
gender discrimination and equality
education for all
human scale economy
agricultural development and ecology
sustainability and cultural identity.

Most of our classes involve field research and active participation in projects, which address the needs and problems of the local population and of our country in general. By organizing national and international conferences and other special events we provide additional networking and learning opportunities for our students, for regional administrators and NGOs as well as the general public.

The whish to be in touch with people around the globe and the scarcity of our means has prompted PPU to develop a system of volunteer teachers and experts, who work with individual PPU students or with our administration either from their home or workplace in Europe, India or some other part of the world by mail and video conferencing, or spend a few weeks or months as teachers and researchers in Uvira giving all PPU members a chance to get into direct and personal contact with them. Our academic advisor helps the volunteer teachers to adapt their courses to our needs and our ways of operating.

Over time we hope to develop formal exchange programs with universities and simular projects around the globe, giving interested people an opportunity to be part of our community and participate in our work and our life for a while. Likewise we hope that our students can spend some time in other parts of the world, so that globalisation isn’t any longer a privilege of the rich but is an enriching and inspiring possibility for all of us!