In atentia tinerilor ieseni! Inscrieri la Festivalul Studentilor Francofoni "Créatifs ensemble"
Agentia Universitara a Francofoniei în Europa Centrala si Orientala anunta prelungirea termenului de depunere a candidaturilor, pâna la data de 31 martie 2019, pentru cea de-a VIII-a editie a Festivalului Studentilor Francofoni "Créatifs ensemble". Evenimentul va avea loc în perioada 1 - 5 iulie, la Plovdiv, Bulgaria, oras ales capitala europeana a culturii în 2019, si este organizat în parteneriat cu Institutul Francez din Bulgaria si Universitatea de Medicina din Plovdiv.
"Sub motto-ul «Créatifs ensemble», evenimentul va reuni participanti care vor avea ocazia sa aleaga unul dintre cele cinci ateliere de creatie (circ/ spectacol, crearea jocurilor video, arta urbana, graffiti, cântece si dansuri francofone), rezultatele fiind prezentate la gala de închidere a festivalului. Pentru a participa la festival, candidatii trebuie sa îndeplineasca urmatoarele conditii: sa cunoasca Limba Franceza scris si vorbit, sa fie înscrisi la un program de licenta sau master într-o institutie membra a Agentiei Universitare a Francofoniei (AUF) si sa aiba peste 18 ani la data de 30 iunie 2019", au transmis reprezentantii Universitatii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" (UAIC) din Iasi. Ca în fiecare an, sunt asigurate costurile legate de transport, cazare si masa. Mai multe informatii sunt publicate pe site-ul Agentiei Universitare a Francofoniei: https://www.auf.org.
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Defrişările din Grădina Botanică: nu pentru a se construi vile, ci coordonate de conducere
Conducerea Grădinii Botanice explică faptul că defrişările semnalate de cititori au fost necesare.
Reprezentanţii Grădiniii Botanice „Anastasie Fătu“ au explicat pentru „Ziarul de Iaşi“ contextul fotografiilor apărute vineri şi difuzate inclusiv de publicaţia noastră, cu privire la o posibilă defrişare care ar fi avut loc pe terenul grădinii.
Aceştia au precizat că nu este vorba de un teren care a fost pierdut şi de faptul că un proprietar privat îşi construieşte acolo o proprietate imobiliară, ci a fost o acţiune coordonată de către conducerea Grădinii, începută din 2013 şi finalizată în 2017, de tăiere a câtorva sute de molizi care se îmbolnăviseră şi riscau să contamineze şi alţi copaci din zona respectivă.
„Acţiunea de plantare a copacilor respectivi, din sectorul grădinii botanice, a fost realizată tot de personalul grădinii în urmă cu circa 60-70 de ani. De altfel, fotografiile de arhivă ne arată faptul că toată coasta respectivă, unde se află şi terenul în cauză, era populată doar de arbuşti când a fost amenajată grădina. După ce am obţinut toate avizele necesare, pentru care avem şi documente justificative, am început o operaţiune de replantare a sectorului respectiv, tot cu conifere“, a declarat prof.dr. Cătălin Tănase, directorul Grădinii Botanice.
El a precizat că lucrările respective au fost făcute chiar dacă terenul se află în litigiu şi există riscul ca el să fie pierdut în instanţă, fiindcă s-a dorit reamenajarea zonei respective. Nu toate coniferele plantate s-au şi prins, însă, urmând a fi reluat procesul de replantare până când toată zona va fi plantată corespunzător.
La nivelul anului 2016, „Ziarul de Iaşi“ prezenta o imagine de ansamblu asupra situaţiei terenurilor din Grădina Botanică, în care era precizat faptul că, din suprafaţa totală de 88 de hectare, alte 10 hectare fuseseră pierdute definitiv în diferite procese, iar, între timp, universitatea a intabulat aproximativ 22 de hectare, o suprafaţă care nu era afectată de litigii.
Publicație : Ziarul de Iași
Ziua Internaţională a Poeziei, aniversată şi la Iaşi: recital dedicat lui Emil Brumaru
Elevii de la Colegiul de Artă „Octav Băncilă“ vor susţine mâine un spectacol pe versuri de Emil Brumaru. Manifestarea culturală va avea loc de la ora 16, la Muzeul „Mihai Eminescu“, spectacolul-lectură fiind intitulat „Hobbiţii lui Julien Ospitalierul“.
Programul este pregătit de elevii clasei „Arta actorului“, coordonaţi de Erica Moldovan şi Cătălin-Mihai Ştefan, fiind dedicat atât poetului Emil Brumaru, cât şi Zilei Internaţionale a Poeziei, demersul având drept scop susţinerea creaţiei poetice, dar şi „stabilirea unui dialog între poezie şi alte genuri ale creaţiei, editarea şi promovarea poeziei ca artă deschisă oamenilor“.
Manifestarea culturală este organizată în colaborare cu Muzeul Naţional al Literaturii Române Iaşi. Ziua Internaţională a Poeziei este sărbătorită în fiecare an pe data de 21 martie şi este declarată de UNESCO, începând din anul 1999, „drept o recunoaştere a faptului că oamenii de litere şi de cultură, poeţii şi scriitorii din întreaga lume şi-au adus o contribuţie remarcabilă la îmbogăţirea culturii şi spiritualităţii universale“.
Publicație : Ziarul de Iași
No-deal Brexit could mean £130m hit to research budgets
Universities say vital projects are ‘days from stalling’ as EU grants could be lost
EU funding has supported life-saving breakthroughs in fields such as tackling pancreatic cancer. Photograph: Alamy
Universities have raised the alarm about the potential loss of hundreds of millions of pounds worth of EU grants from the UK in the case of a no-deal Brexit.
They warned that life-changing research “could be days away from stalling” and urged the government to set up contingency plans to protect UK access to research funding.
Researchers who have submitted applications for the latest round of funding from the European Research Council (ERC) say they are still in the dark about what will happen to their submissions in the case of no deal.
Candidates are due to find out by 8 April whether they have been awarded ERC advanced grants, and the next round for applications opens on 21 May. The government has not yet explained how it will ensure current applications are funded if the UK leaves without a deal.
The UK was the most successful country in the last round, with 66 applicants securing €155m (£130m) in funding, but Universities UK, which represents 138 higher education institutions, has warned that current ERC applications could be left in limbo.
It is also concerned that UK-based researchers could be prevented from applying for fellowships funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, which enable UK academics to work with overseas researchers; this would cost universities £1.1bn in research funding. The next round of fellowships opens for applications next month
In addition to the immediate pressure of current applications, universities say there is still no clarity on what system will be put in place to replace ERC funding if Britain leaves the UK without a deal.
The Universities UK president, Prof Dame Janet Beer, said: “Researchers at UK universities doing life-changing work remain in the dark over what will happen to their current ERC applications or where they will go in future for funding if there is no-deal.
“Without clarity very soon vital research could be disrupted, which would be hugely damaging to people’s lives. The UK also risks losing some of our brightest minds to other countries if they don’t know how their research will be progressed.”
Since the ERC was established in 2007, it has funded substantial grants to UK researchers who have gone on to make vital breakthroughs in areas such as tackling pancreatic cancer, repair and regeneration following a heart attack, and improving the lifespan of liquid batteries.
The Russell Group of research-based universities warned that the UK could be about to lose some of its competitive edge on science and research. Joanna Burton, the group’s senior policy analyst, said: “A no-deal Brexit could mean our access to the ERC grants and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions will end with immediate effect.
“We need the government to set out contingency measures, ready for immediate implementation, so that research funding and collaboration opportunities do not face a damaging cliff-edge.”
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has been contacted for comment.
Publicație The Guardian
The Brexit failings cast a long shadow on universities’ relationship with Europe
Deep political division suggests that post-Brexit negotiations around research collaboration and talent mobility with the EU will drag on, says Chris Husbands
I was in Germany when Theresa May’s “meaningful vote” on Brexit took place last week: I had been asked by the German government to evaluate the University of Cologne as part of the country’s universities of excellence programme.
I was a member of a multinational review team, which meant that late into the evenings of our work I was being asked to explain, if I possibly could, what has happened to my nation and its government.
As parliamentary vote followed parliamentary vote, it proved almost impossible to do. I’d hoped that if I put off writing this blog, things would be a little clearer: but as I sit down to write it, that has turned out not to be the case.
I said to my international colleagues that, no matter which way you voted in the 2016 European Union referendum, the months (now years) since have been a catastrophic failure of politics, diplomacy and statecraft.
Our political system, which has proved remarkably adaptable to changing circumstances, has failed repeatedly. Government has failed to deliver a stable policy. In a parliamentary democracy, weak governments are kept focused by effective opposition. But the opposition has been ineffective. Parliamentary procedures have failed us. Less than two weeks before the government’s scheduled exit date, our future remains desperately unclear.
Our evaluation panel in Germany was chaired by a former senior executive for IBM. “Explain to me,” she said, “what has gone wrong in your country?” I’m not sure I did this very well.
Brexit has thrown into stark relief deep divisions about political authority, cultural diversity, economic priorities and views of the world. There are always disagreements about politics and policy, but look into any of the debates about Brexit and you find something deeply disturbing: not vigorous disagreement but raw hatred; not diversity of view but bare fury; not energetic exchanges but malevolent venom, all amplified in the echo chambers of social media.
Whatever happens next, there is a huge amount to be fixed, and fixing it is going to take enormous collective effort.
Beyond the minutiae of the arguments about the backstop, hard borders, tariff-free trade, common regulatory frameworks and the like, the entire Brexit argument has exposed the inadequacies of the UK’s political structures to deal with profound fractures in our society.
The fissures are apparent at too many levels of society: between the still-prosperous South East and the left-behind provinces; between the views of the world in Westminster and the quite different approaches in devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and mayoral authorities including Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield; not simply between but within the Conservative and Labour parties, each of which has essentially ceased to function.
And, important for my university and all universities, a deep divide has been revealed between universities and their communities: universities have thrived on globalisation, on international contacts, on diversity and change; many of the nation’s “left behind” communities have not received the full benefits. There is deep disagreement about the sort of nation we are and want to be. Even if, this week, the Prime Minister secures a parliamentary majority for her deal, it solves little. A new round of arguments will begin immediately about our long-term relationship with the European Union, and with so little consensus, they will drag on for months or years to come.
In the short term, the university has undertaken a detailed analysis of the potential implications of Brexit and, in so far as we are able, have taken actions to minimise the uncertainty for students and staff.
We know that our current research projects, and all projects submitted up to the date of departure from the EU, are underwritten by government in the event of a no-deal Brexit. We welcome last month’s decision by the European Parliament to continue to fund UK Erasmus participation in 2019/20. And we are doing all we can to make the university a welcoming and supportive environment for our EU staff and students, whose presence here is so important to us and helps to make us the community we are.
The deeper challenges and the deeper unknowns are longer-term. The UK government, responding to pressure from universities, has indicated that it would like to continue to participate in EU programmes of research – but with no agreement on the future relationship, that participation is unclear and cannot be assumed.
The longer-term future for programmes of staff and student mobility cannot be taken for granted. I wish it were otherwise. Our strategic relationship with La Trobe University in Australia was not conceived as a Brexit mitigation scheme, but some commentators have seen it as a way of building a post-Brexit international perspective into our thinking.
As a UK citizen and as a vice-chancellor, I am profoundly disturbed by Brexit. Sitting in a coffee shop in Cologne to write this, I’m looking across at a table of young Germans – currently my fellow citizens – and I want a connected, European future for them and all our young people.
Whatever happens next, universities need to do more to articulate the benefits of international cooperation; not simply building and sustaining international networks, but explaining and carrying their benefits to the unconvinced. Everything about the last three years of noisy political argument tells me that that is going to be hard work.
Publicație The Times
US universities resisting reform in wake of admissions scandal
Public mesmerised by arrests for cheating to gain elite enrolment, but major reforms seen unlikely
The Great US College Admissions Scandal has produced shock, anger, anxiety, jealousy, jokes, laughter, titillation, arrests, firings, moralising and more.
But will it produce major change? The betting right now appears to be on: “No.”
There have been suggestions, from the small – one US senator wants to end tax breaks for academic donations aimed at bolstering applicants – to the profound – one leading expert has suggested that colleges hold a lottery among any candidates meeting a minimum threshold.
But in the immediate aftermath of the FBI’s big bust, universities were largely sticking to the narrative that any blame rests solely with those formally charged in the case, that the system generally works well, and that any possible policy responses will be limited.
“I suspect, two years from now, things will be different,” said Terry Hartle, the senior vice-president for government and public affairs at the American Council on Education. “I’m not sure it will be transformative.”
It is not just his prediction, but his hope. “What I worry about is that events like this have an outsized impact,” Dr Hartle said. “The public trusts colleges and universities to do the right thing.”
Based on early signs from both Congress and the White House, he may not have too much to fear. A full two days after the scandal broke, education secretary Betsy DeVos finally issued a statement saying that her department would check if any existing regulations were violated. She made no suggestion that the regulations themselves may be inadequate.
Such tranquillity stands in contrast to the sustained angry reaction among the wider public, where the scandal has held front-page news status for days, stoking demands for action to confront an apparent audacity of financial privilege that many said they long expected but could not prove. Some rejected applicants are suing.
Fifty people have been charged with paying, receiving, arranging or participating in bribery aimed at securing admission to leading universities over the past eight years. The operation allegedly helped 33 students falsify sporting and academic credentials.
The potential for serious public pressure on colleges may be getting diluted by the scandal’s numerous alleged components – cheating on admissions tests, cheating by sports coaches, falsely claiming a disability – that may make it hard to know where to start.
The celebrity factor is also squeezing out sober attention. A leading subject of breathless coverage is Olivia Jade Giannulli, the YouTube celebrity and 19-year-old daughter of television actress Lori Loughlin, one of the parents charged with paying bribes for admission to the University of Southern California.
Leading sector agencies have shown no haste to make changes. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which oversees university sports, and the College Board and Act (formerly American College Testing), which oversee the main entrance examinations, all issued statements saying that they would review the FBI case seeking evidence of policy violations, but made no reference to changing the policies themselves.
“Maybe I’m being a bit cynical,” said Douglas Webber, an associate professor of economics at Temple University, who suggested a lottery system for admissions, “but honestly I don’t feel like much is going to change.”
Publicație The Times
Academics fight Birmingham’s plan to cut time for research
College of Arts and Law tells scholars to spend more time on grant applications as quality-related funding dwindles
Taking steps: ‘for too long education has played Cinderella, but…must [now] receive just as much attention as research, and arguably more’
Plans by a Russell Group institution to cut the basic amount of time that academics spend on “unfunded research” have been branded a “betrayal” of the research-intensive university ideal.
Under proposals circulated at the University of Birmingham, academics in its College of Arts and Law would see the time allocated to research reduced from a third to a quarter as part of potential changes to workload models from September.
Meanwhile, the college would increase time allocations for grant submission and other research-related activities, such as editing journals, as it aims to double its annual grant awards by 2026.
Other alternative proposals under consideration include making study leave and promotion dependent on grant acquisition.
In a letter to staff, the college’s head Michael Whitby explains that “no other Russell Group institution is taking such steps”, but “inaction…is not an option for us” as “significant recruitment of new staff now needs to be balanced by commensurate increases in income”.
“We urgently need to increase our grant income and reflect how we manage the growing level of ‘unfunded’ research time,” says Professor Whitby, a pro vice-chancellor for learning and teaching.
He highlights the impact of the teaching excellence framework as a reason for the proposed change, stating that “for too long education has played Cinderella, but…must [now] receive just as much attention as research, and arguably more”.
Professor Whitby also observes that, given that just 6 per cent of the college’s income came from quality-related (QR) research funding and that the Office for Students was making “increasingly loud noises about cross-subsidies”, it was “difficult to see how the current level of cross-subsidy from education to facilitate unfunded research can be sustained”.
However, a spokesman for Birmingham’s University and College Union branch said that the plan to remove a quarter of the research time available to staff represented an attack on the “three-legged model” of academia, in which lecturers split their time equally between teaching, research and administration.
“It’s a blow to the cornerstone of the research-intensive university,” he said, adding that staff “already struggle to keep our teaching and admin workload down to two-thirds of our working time, and most of us work well over our paid hours in order to keep up”.
Many academics feared that the plans would “ultimately lead to a two-stream system in which only some academics are given time to do research”, he continued.
“How can we continue to call ourselves a research-intensive university if this is our strategic direction of travel?” he asked, calling the plans a “betrayal of the ambitions of a research-led institution”.
However, Professor Whitby’s letter suggests that established workload allocations in Russell Group universities were increasingly untenable given the erosion of QR funding in recent years.
The college now receives QR funding for each research-active colleague that covers “about 17 per cent of the full employment costs of a lecturer at the bottom of the scale”, the letter says. In 2010, the equivalent salary coverage was 26 per cent.
A Birmingham spokesman said that the university aimed “to support a vibrant research culture within the College of Arts and Law but to do that in a context of a continuing decline in QR allocations we need to ensure that a greater proportion of research activity is supported by grants”.
“The current proposals, which are still subject to discussion and change, will still ensure that, once a sabbatical term of leave is factored in, over one-third of time remains allocated to research, with more of this funded by the university than by QR,” he said.
Publicație The Times
US computer science graduates outperform global rivals in tests
Cross-national study compared final-year undergraduates in US, India, China and Russia
Final-year computer science students in US universities appear to have much higher skill levels in the subject than their counterparts in China, India and Russia, a cross-national study has suggested.
Results from a standard test of computing skills taken by hundreds of students in each country showed that on average those from the US got higher marks than learners in the other countries.
The study, involving scholars from all four nations, also suggests that the effect cannot be explained by the US tending to have more international students.
Meanwhile, the test scores also showed a moderately higher result for male students than female undergraduates in their final year of courses.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, tested students on comparable computer science courses in each country on range of fundamental concepts and knowledge related to the subject.
According to the results, the differences in average score between the students in China, India and Russia were small, but the US students showed “much higher levels of [computer science] skills”.
Results for students deemed to be on “elite programmes” in China, India and Russia were higher but were still lower than the overall average for the US. Students on elite US programmes achieved the highest scores by a significant margin.
The paper says that the “substantial advantage” enjoyed by US computer science students “is not driven by the presence of international students” as it found no significant difference in the scores when allowing for their presence in the sample.
Co-author Prashant Loyalka, an assistant professor in Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, said that he was surprised by the results, especially when school achievement data indicated that US students “likely had significantly lower levels of math[s] and science achievement scores at the start of college”.
Meanwhile, the paper also found that there were “consistent but moderate differences” in the results between male and female students. Across all the countries, men achieved higher scores on average, although the paper notes that the gender gaps were “generally smaller” than the skill gaps between countries and types of institution.
“The gender gap in skills does indicate that more effort is needed to attract higher-achieving female students into [computer science] and ensure that they have equal opportunities to receive a quality education,” it adds.
Publicație The Times
L’université d’Aix-Marseille en deuil après le meurtre d’une de ses étudiantes
Transférée à l’hôpital de la Timone dimanche soir, la jeune fille avait été poignardée près d’une entrée de métro. L‘enquête est toujours en cours pour retrouver le coupable et un temps de recueillement est prévu ce mardi à l’université d’Aix-Marseille.
Elle avait 21 ans. Hier soir, vers 21h45, une étudiante aixoise a été mortellement poignardée aux abords du métro La Timone, en plein cœur de Marseille selon les informations du quotidien La Provence. Des passants ont donné l’alerte et les marins-pompiers ont pris en charge la jeune fille en arrêt cardio-respiratoire. Ils l’ont transportée aux urgences de l’hôpital la Timone, à deux pas de la scène du drame dans le 10ème arrondissement. Elle est décédée une heure plus tard de ses blessures au thorax.
L’agresseur aurait voulu lui voler son portable, a confié à la Provence une source proche de l’enquête. «Aucune piste n’est privilégiée», a déclaré le procureur de la République de Marseille, Xavier Tarabeux, précisant que le téléphone de l’étudiante n’avait pas été retrouvé sur elle. L’auteur du meurtre a pris la fuite et n’est toujours pas identifié, a par ailleurs informé le procureur. La police judiciaire de Marseille poursuit actuellement une enquête.
Le président de l’université Aix-Marseille, Yvon Berland, a présenté dans un communiqué lundi après-midi ses «plus sincères condoléances» à la famille de la victime et à ses proches, ainsi que son «soutien et sa solidarité à l’ensemble des étudiants et des personnels d’université». La jeune fille était en deuxième année de licence à la faculté Arts, lettres, langues et sciences humaines sur le campus d’Aix-en-Provence. À la demande d’Yvon Berland, un moment de recueillement est prévu demain, à midi, sur l’ensemble des sites universitaires.
Mercredi 13 mars, un garçon de 18 ans a reçu des coups de poignard de trois hommes voulant lui dérober son téléphone portable, dans le 13 ème arrondissement de Marseille. Blessé à la hanche, il est toujours en vie. Ces événements ne sont pas sans rappeler le meurtre de Jérémie Labrouste, un étudiant vosgien décédé en août 2013. Il avait été poignardé près de la gare Saint Charles à Marseille, par un individu voulant lui prendre sa montre.
Publicație Le Figaro
Università, sbloccati i tirocini obbligatori per l'esame di Stato dei medici
Il Miur ha emanato una circolare per superare lo stallo dovuto ai ritardi nell’attuazione della riforma approvata l’anno scorso dal Governo Gentiloni. La pratica potrà cominciare dal 10 aprile, il termine per presentare le domande è il 29 marzo
Il ministro Bussetti lo aveva annunciato in mattinata e ora c'è la conferma: il migliaio circa di aspiranti medici che speravano di poter sostenere l'esame di Stato al più presto per entrare nelle scuole di specializzazione potranno accedere ai tirocini. Il ministro dell’Istruzione è intervenuto per superare lo stallo dovuto ai ritardi nell’attuazione della riforma dell’esame di Stato approvata l’anno scorso dal Governo Gentiloni.
Nel pomeriggio di oggi è stata inviata alle Università la circolare che sblocca i tirocini trimestrali obbligatori per sostenere l'Esame di Stato di abilitazione all'esercizio della professione di medico-chirurgo per l'anno 2019. La data di inizio dei tirocini, per la prima sessione utile, è fissata al 10 aprile 2019, informa il Miur. La domanda di ammissione deve essere presentata entro e non oltre il 29 marzo 2019. Al tirocinio trimestrale organizzato dall'Ateneo potranno essere ammessi solo coloro i quali siano in possesso del titolo di studio conseguito presso il medesimo Ateneo.
Nei mesi scorsi la richiesta di un intervento del Miur era stata caldeggiata dalle associazioni dei giovani medici. Si era infatti creato uno stallo amministrativo con l’emanazione del decreto 58, approvato a maggio del 2018 durante il governo Gentiloni, che regolamenta le nuove modalità di svolgimento degli Esami di Stato di abilitazione all’esercizio della professione medico-chirurgica. Il decreto prevede infatti l’anticipazione del tirocinio formativo post-lauream agli ultimi due anni del corso di studi. Resta poi una prova d’esame scritta a risposta multipla con database delle domande non noto (diversamente da come avveniva con l’esame di stato fino ad ora in vigore, prima del nuovo regolamento).
Gli aspiranti medici avevano chiesto uno slittamento di entrata in vigore delle nuove regole per evitare disparità di trattamento fra le diverse sessioni di laurea dell’anno accademico in corso.
Publicație : La Repubblica
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