Exchange to Change January 2018 E2C January 2018 web | Page 10

10 AT I O B In the meantime... Kick-off weekend Another academic year has begun! This year IOB welcomes 72 students from 30 different nationalities. Again we are very lucky to have kind of mini–global classroom to learn from each other’s experiences. And as every year, this academic year was also ‘kicked off’ by the ‘kick off weekend’. The weekend is meant to give the students an opportunity to get to know each other better and get a taste of Belgium. On Saturday teambuilding activities were organized, which culminated in the (in)famous ‘één tegen allen’, a game where students as a group need to complete 50 challenges within the hour. Singing, dance battles, flipping around the table, moonwalking, are just some of the challenges the students aced. Later that evening the IOB quiz tested everyone’s knowledge of the world and IOB matters. The night ended with a real IOB- party. The next day the students were treated to a guided tour through Europe’s capital. There are worse ways to spend a weekend … E xchange to change J anuary 2018 Debating Development Every Tuesday in October and November, Debating development served up a lively debate between two experts on a ‘hot’ development topic. This year’s debates gravitated around the issue of natural resources. Several leading experts in this field such as prof. Hany Besada (Diamond Development Initiative), Harry Verhoeven (Georgetown and Oxford University), Prof. Gavin Hilson (University of Surrey), Manfred Santen (Greenpeace Germany), Prof. Bram Büscher (University of Wageningen), Prof. Ian Taylor (University of St. Andrews) presented their views on the topic. After the keynote the debate with the discussant and audience was moderated by an IOB professor. The debates attracted a big audience of more than 320 people, among them not only students, but also university staff and interested outsiders.