Educar en Derechos Humanos en la Universidad Nacional de Lanús. Percepciones del estudiantado.

Abstract

This paper analyses a particular experience of Human Rights Education (HRE): the transversal and compulsory course called "Seminar on Justice and Human Rights" (SDH) offered to all undergraduate and graduate students at the National University of Lanús (Buenos Aires, Argentina). The analysis consists of getting to know a university teaching space on human rights from the students' perspective. This type of research covers a dimension that is little known in research in the field of Human Rights Education. The technique used is a semi-open self-administered survey that is carried out once the SDH has concluded. A total of 1317 surveys were processed from 2019 to 2022. The analysis corresponds to descriptive statistics, where calculations of grouping, central tendency and bivariate analysis of percentage difference were carried out. Of the 11 variables that the survey covers, one in particular was analysed, which corresponds to the students' perception of the relationship between human rights and their university career. To enrich the enquiry, the data were cross-checked with other variables of interest. One of the main conclusions we can observe is that there are two groups of students: one that perceives a close relationship between their career and HR, since 9 out of 10 of them link HR to their career (within this group, 7 find a direct relationship). On the other hand, a group that has an accentuated variability in the answers. The article ends with some recommendations to the teaching staff regarding the treatment of HRE and higher education in terms of their more general links and with special attention to the groupings found.