First-year ‘UniSocietat’ students from the headquarters of Gandia, Quart de Poblet, Massamagrell, Cullera, L'Eliana and Ontinyent participated, las friday 17 may, on a guided visit around the main places of interest within the capital of La Vall d’Albaida and attended a conference by the full-university professor of Moral Philosophy, Adela Cortina Orts, who talked about the principles of ethics.
For the third year in a row, the Office of the Vice Principal for Territorial Projection and Participation of the Universitat de València has organised a meeting between the ‘UniSocietat’ students in collaboration with the six city councils which host the programme: Gandia, Quart de Poblet, Massamagrell, Cullera, L'Eliana and Ontinyent.
The first of the meetings took place in the town of Gandia for the 2012-2013 school year with 150 students in the two existing headquarters from back then; the second one took place in Sagunto during the 2013-2014 school year with 350 students from five headquarters. During the 2014-2015 school-year, Ontinyent has hosted the most multitudinous meeting up to now, counting with the participation of 450 first-year students of ‘UniSocietat’ in the headquarters of Gandia, Quart de Poblet, Massamagrell, Cullera, and L'Eliana and the three courses of Ontinyent.
The students, divided into groups, have participated in guided routes around the most emblematic places of the city such as the medieval neighbourhood of La Vila, the Church and its bell tower, the Palace of la Vila and the valencian textile and Fester museums- dedicated to Moors and Christians-. The UniSocietat students do not leave Ontinyent without getting to know its gastronomic heritage, as there has been a meal organised in a traditional restaurant in the region. Additionally, students had the opportunity of buying Ontinyent embutido (Spanish cured dry pork sausages).
Along with the students there were representatives from different institutions and technical staff from the participating town councils. Additionally, Jorge Rodríguez, mayor of Ontinyent, and Jorge Hermosilla, Vice-Principal for Territorial Projection and Participation, have welcomed students and encourage them to continue their training in ‘UniSocietat’.
The meeting has counted with a conference by Adela Cortina Orts, full-university professor of Moral Philosophy, who defended the need of minimum ethics in a plural society. ‘The form of moral pluralism consists on coexistence between different ethics, as long as there is dialogue among them and are able to share at least a minimum set of justice values (equality, solidarity, human rights, freedom, etc.)’, explained the teacher from the Universitat de Valencia, and added: ‘We all have to share these minimums, because, if not, the members of a society do not have anything in common and can never construct anything together’.
The Vice-Principal Jorge Hermosilla declared that this initiative is aimed at gaining active participation among all the members of ‘UniSocietat’ so that they can enrich each other and, she highlighted that’ this meeting is aimed at promoting confraternity between students from different localities, as well as promoting collective learning based on dialogue and group reflection and, mainly, enjoying and learning on Valencian territory’.
