Online - Students and ‘Rest of the World’ Increase Traffic, Chatter Over Less Developed States as U8 Summit Nears

Coventry, United Kingdom, January 31, 2007 --(PR.com)-- A consortium of students from universities around the world have tapped into online blogs and forums to tackle issues such as conflict, poverty, migration, health and the environment.

In fact, the 26 member universities from developed and less developed countries are not the only ones visiting or engaging on the newly launched U8 website, founded solely by students.

Since launching at the end of November 2006, the u8 website: www.u8development.org.uk attracted over 60 countries. The top ten are as follows: UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Bulgaria, India, United States, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, and Nepal.

“It is incredible to see the traffic generated to the website as we are truly becoming more global and inclusive in our discussion,” said U8 Co-President James Clarke.

In the past 7 days, the website has received 1,115 visits, 38.21% of which were from new visitors. Reports also indicate there have been visits from 38 different countries over the past 7 days from Peru to Mongolia, Canada to Cameroon, Tajikistan to Mexico. 

Visitors to the site have come from computers employing 21 different languages, including English, Dutch, Chinese, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Polish, French and Italian. 

The most popular forum was Conflict Intervention where there's been lots of healthy discussion. The Environment and Role of the State forums were next most visited. 

The U8 officials hope to offer a separate section for professionals as well as a multilingual site. “The more we learn about who comes to the site and why, the more we'll be able to give them the tools they need to participate,” says webmaster Sam Duerden. 

As one aim of the U8 is to foster shared learning and inclusiveness, the U8 wants the opinions of everyone to contribute to its 10 outcome papers. 

Following the U8 Summit, March 9-11, delegates from member universities from around the world will consolidate research and present issues raised to key policy-makers, researchers, and practitioners.

Already, meetings are taking place such as in the House of Commons with the Globalisation and Global Poverty group, set up by David Cameron, where members of the U8 Exec have called for a regulation of the gap year industry, arguing that development is usually not part of their agenda. The issue is being opened up to the forums to get views from both developed and developing countries.

A position paper from the U8 will be officially submitted to the Conservative Party this week before the release of the Party’s consultation paper in Mid-2007. Meetings are also taking place with the Ethiopian government.

“Students from developing and developed countries are asking ‘What can we do to help?’” explained Clarke. “We hope that the meetings with government officials of all political views will continue to allow students to inform policy, and allow for changes needed.”

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The U8 is non-partisan student network, connecting students from universities in developing and developed countries that seeks to bridge the gap between research and policy. Unlike the G8, membership is not limited to rich countries, but to all countries in the more and less developed world. Founded in August 2005, the U8 held its first Summit at Cambridge in March 2006, when it also initiated dialogue with development professionals and policy makers. Its next summit is set for 9-11 March 2006 at the University of Warwick.