The experience of the UAB delegates at the 46th CEP-PIE congress in Mallorca

In early November, two UAB students from the Faculty of Psychology attended the 46^th congress of the CEP-PIE, the Psychology Student Collective, in Mallorca. Here they report on what they learned and the experience of sharing three action-filled days with students from all around the country, where they discussed matters repated to their studies.

Marc’s experience.
In my view, the congress in Mallorca has not only helped me, to understand the present state of educational and clinical psychology, but also to understand the situation and management of other universities where Psychology is taught. This meeting with other psychology students from different universities has enabled me to take a more critical view of the UAB management system and, at the same time, to learn about ideas that I believe could generate very positive results if they were to be applied to the UAB and its faculties.

I also enjoyed this experience in Mallorca because I had the chance to represent my university and my classmates, and also to explain how the UAB works and its position on topics like the importance that is given to social, clinical or educational psychology.

Finally, the one thing I would like to highlight from this meeting in Mallorca, apart from new friendships with members of the collective and the good memories I have made, was the exceptional dynamic of the debates. There were never two people speaking at the same time, everyone paid attention to what others had to say and speaking times were respected. At university, I have been part of many groups where different topics have constantly been discussed and never before had I seen such order and respect as I saw in Mallorca.

Clàudia’s experience.
First, the congress gave us information about locations, offered explanations and ran role-play games to help us understand the issues that the collective manages and what it intends to achieve. They then explained to us the finger rules, signs used to ask for speaking time, to ask questions or to take part in the debate with respect. The collective is divided into commissions, and each of these is in charge of a different area. For example, the health commission takes care of issues related to health psychology and the EFPSA commission is responsible for  representing the collective in Europe. They told us about the student institutions involved with CEP-PIE and which of those we were directly involved with. During our time s in Mallorca we talked about the present state of Psychology, both in the clinical and the educational areas, because the collective, as a representative of all psychology students, believes that there are things that need to be regulated better and that we should try to improve.

From my experience, this congress was very rewarding. All the members of the collective were very respectful, both in and outside the meetings, and the start and finish times were very strictly observed in order to allow time for all activities. All the members of the collective are clearly involved in it because of their passion for psychology and desire to improve its situation. I would like to say that the coordination board organized everything very well and professionally, because everything was clearly structured and any doubts we had were immediately resolved. These are the collectives that can take Psychology forward with the help of those who are interested in it: the students.

Finally, we would like to thank the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Francisco Tirado (vice-dean of the Faculty of Psychology) and Ana Valencia (coordinator of Community Involvement) for the opportunity to represent our university and our classmates in this meeting, as there were others that could not attend the congress because their universities did not allow them to go.