Editie exploziva in Studioul BZI LIVE despre domeniul care ne influenteaza viata de zi cu zi – Politicul cu universitarul Anton Carpinschi de la Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza din Iasi
Marti, 12 februarie 2019, incepand cu ora 15.00, in lumina reflectoarelor Studioului BZI LIVE a fost invitata una dintre figurile academice de marca ale Universitatii Alexandru Ioan Cuza – UAIC din Iasi • Este vorba de prof. univ. dr. Emeritus Anton Carpinschi – Facultatea de Filosofie si Stiinte Social – Politice • Alaturi de domnia sa au fost dialogate si abordate o serie de tematici pe o zona de INTERES si ACTUALITATE pentru toti ROMANII anume POLITOLOGIA si Stiintele Social – Politice • Pe de alta parte, despre lucrarile acestuia SAU realitati universitare au fost alte elemente avute in vedere • Emisiunea completa cu acesta poate fi urmarita AICI:
Pe 12 februarie 2019, incepand cu ora 15.00, in lumina reflectoarelor Studioului BZI LIVE a fost invitata una dintre figurile academice de marca ale Universitatii Alexandru Ioan Cuza (UAIC) din Iasi. Este vorba de prof. univ. dr. Emeritus Anton Carpinschi – Facultatea de Filosofie si Stiinte Social – Politice. Alaturi de domnia sa au fost dialogate si abordate o serie de tematici pe o zona de INTERES si ACTUALITATE pentru toti ROMANII anume POLITOLOGIA si Stiintele Social – Politice.
Pe de alta parte, despre lucrarile acestuia SAU realitati universitare au fost alte elemente avute in vedere. De scos in prim-plan faptul ca universitarul Carpinschi a oferit o serie de elemente, de la teorie la practica, despre realitatile din viata politica autohtona, despre subrezirea statului de drept, a democratiei respectiv a necesitatii resetarii clasei politice si a investitiilor in educatie. Membru în asociatii stiintifice internationale de prestigiu precum Asociatia Sociologilor de Limba Franceza (AISLF), membru al în colegiul stiintitic al unor reviste recunoscute de Consiliul National al Cercetarii Stiintifice din Invatamantul Superior (CNCSIS) precum „Perspective politice”, „Polis”, „Sfera Politicii” acesta este si laureat al Premiului „Mircea Florian” al Academiei Române pentru cartea „Cultura recunoasterii si securitatea umana” – 2012.
Domeniile de cercetare ale universitarului sunt Filosofia si teoria politica, ideologii politice, organizatii internationale. Dincolo de toate acestea, editia BZI LIVE a fost pigmentata de analize pertinente si avizate ce tin de evolutia partidelor politice, din ultimele decenii, atat autohtone dar si in context european, cultura poltica sau ideologii.
Emisiunea completa cu acesta poate fi urmarita AICI:
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Concernul Arçelik-Beko-Arctic vrea să deschidă un mare centru de cercetare la Iaşi
Pe lista scurtă a acestei mari firme pentru un centru de cercetare au rămas, în final, Iaşul şi Timişoara. Ieri, o delegaţie turcă a tatonat Universitatea Tehnică. În unul din aceste două oraşe se va deschide al doilea centru de cercetare în electrocasnice, ca mărime, după cel din Turcia.
Reprezentanţii Politehnicii ieşene s-au întâlnit ieri cu reprezentanţii unei mari companii din Turcia, deţinătoarea mărcii Arctic, aceştia prezentând Iaşul ca o posibilă destinaţie pentru extinderea companiei.
Delegaţia formată din reprezentanţii grupului Arçelik, unul dintre cele mai importante concernuri de industrie din Turcia, care deţine şi marca Beko, doreşte să deschidă în România un birou de cercetare-dezvoltare, specializat la început pe software development şi IT. În acest context au purtat deja discuţii în toate centrele universitare din ţară, pe lista scurtă aflându-se însă în prezent doar Iaşul şi Timişoara.
La discuţia de la Iaşi au participat din partea TUIASI prof.dr.ing. Dan Caşcaval, rectorul Politehnicii ieşene, alături de reprezentanţii celor trei facultăţi cu specializări IT, prof.dr.ing. Vasile Manta, decanul Facultăţii de Automatică şi Calculatoare, prof.dr.ing. Marinel Temneanu, decanul Facultăţii de Inginerie Electrică, Energetică şi Informatică Aplicată, şi prof.dr.ing. Dan Marius Dobrea, de la Facultatea de Electronică, Telecomunicaţii şi Tehnologia Informaţiei.
Din partea grupului Arçelik au participat patru persoane, membri din conducerea Departamentului de cercetare-dezvoltare al concernului, printre care şi Mehmet Burak Demitaş, project manager, şi Onur Dinçer, Research and Development group manager.
„Ne bucură faptul că Iaşul este pe lista scurtă a celor de la Arçelik pentru realizarea acestui birou de cercetare-dezvoltare. În discuţiile purtate cu reprezentanţii companiei ne-am exprimat deschiderea pentru o colaborare completă cu aceştia, pe toate palierele, de la cel local, prin resursa de absolvenţi pe care o oferă universitatea, până la accesarea împreună a diverselor finanţări europene cu proiecte comune sau realizarea de teze de doctorat în parteneriat pe domenii punctuale, de interes pentru aceştia“, a declarat rectorul Dan Caşcaval.
Reprezentanţii companiei turceşti au menţionat faptul că biroul de cercetare pe care îl vor deschide în România va fi al doilea cel mai mare al concernului, după cel existent în Turcia, şi că vor să profite de strânsa relaţie cu mediul universitar, cu cel al industriei locale, şi să se folosească de resursa umană generată universităţile ieşene.
Compania Arçelik va decide în aproximativ o lună dacă vor deschide biroul de cercetare-dezvoltare la Iaşi sau la Timişoara, iar într-o primă fază, până în luna iunie, vor decide profilul de angajaţi pe care doresc să îl recruteze. Procedurile de deschidere ar urma finalizate până la finalul acestui an.
Publicație : Ziarul de Iași și Bună Ziua Iași
A fost inventat Robotul Păianjen. Cum funcţionează şi care este rolul său
Studenţii de la o facultate din Mexic au inventat un robot care arată ca un păianjen, acesta putând fi folosit pentru a localiza persoanele prinse sub dărâmături în cazul unor calamităţi naturale. Robotul poate fi controlat prin Android şi are senzori de sunet, temperatură şi distanţă.
Robotul-Păianjen a fost dezvoltat de studenţii de la Institutul Politehnic Naţional din Mexico City cu scopul de a ajuta la salvarea persoanelor prinse sub dărâmături în cazul unor calamităţi, cum ar fi cutremurele, de altfel dese în Mexic.
Robotul este dotat cu senzori de sunet, temperatură şi de distanţă până la persoana aflată captivă.
Piesele din care este realizat robotul au fost fabricate din polimer, cu ajutorul unei imprimante 3D, dispozitivul fiind foarte uşor şi rezistent. Acesta funcţionează prin Bluetooth şi este controlat prin sistemul de operare Android. Acesta este construit în aşa fel încât să fie protejat împotriva scurtcircuitelor.
Având în vedere că Mexicul este una dintre cele mai active zone seismice din lume, aici având loc unele dintre cele mai puternice cutremure înregistrate în istorie, un astfel de dispozitiv este mai mult decât necesar, după cum motivează cercetătorii de la facultatea din Mexic.
Publicație : Adevărul
Female students sue Yale University fraternities attended by Brett Kavanaugh, George Bush and other US political figures
Three women students have sued Yale University and nine all-male fraternities, which they claim foster a culture of sexual harassment.
In a class action lawsuit filed in a federal court in Connecticut, the women demanded the university, founded in 1701, ban student groups that seek to refuse women members. It also called for women to be greater involved in the management of such groups.
“Yale is a microcosm of the ongoing epidemic of sexual harassment and assault at all-male 0fraternities,” says the lawsuit.
For decades, social science research has warned that fraternities perpetuate and normalise forms of gender discrimination and sexual violence. Studies have found that fraternity brothers commit sexual assault at three times the rate of other male college students.”
Fraternities and sororities play a huge role in the student life of many Americans who attend higher education, providing an instant network of friends, and a vast network of contacts to make use of after graduation. The most “prestigious” student groups can be very discriminating in who they admit.
Thousands of Hindu devotees take dips at Sangam, the confluence of three sacred rivers the Yamuna, the Ganges and the mythical Saraswati, on Mauni Amavsya or the new moon day, the most auspicious day during the Kumbh Mela or the Pitcher Festival, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh state, India. The Kumbh Mela is a series of ritual baths by Hindu sadhus, or holy men, and other pilgrims at Sangam that dates back to at least medieval times. Pilgrims bathe in the river believing it cleanses them of their sins and ends their process of reincarnation. The event, which UNESCO added to its list of intangible human heritage in 2017, is the largest congregation of pilgrims on earth. Some 150 million people are expected to attend this year’s Kumbh, which runs through early March
AP
The Opal Tower at Sydney Olympic Park, Australia. Residents of the tower have been told to leave for a second time in four days to enable the company and investigators to conduct a ‘comprehensive investigation’ into a crack on the tenth floor of the building. Emergency services were called on the afternoon of the 24 December after residents of the building had heard cracking sounds throughout the morning
EPA
A participant in a Santa Claus costume jumps into the water during the 109th edition of the ‘Copa Nadal’ (Christmas Cup) swimming competition in Barcelona’s Port Vell. The traditional 200-meter Christmas swimming race gathered more than 300 participants on Barcelona’s old harbour
AFP/Getty
The three women – Anna McNeil, Eliana Singer, Ry Walker – said that sororities did not have the same social cachet, or professional benefits, as fraternities.
“It’s not only breeding a very toxic sexual culture but also is giving undue economic and professional benefits to the male fraternity members,” Ms Walker, 20, who is studying astrophysics and African-American studies, told the Associated Press.
The lawsuit says: “The fraternities offer Yale men social and economic opportunities that are denied to the plaintiffs and all of Yale’s female and non-binary students. In addition to controlling many of Yale’s social gatherings, fraternity brothers have access to a vast, nationwide alumni network, which often results in coveted job opportunities.”
It adds: “Indeed, Yale’s fraternity alumni include powerful business and political leaders, such as former presidents George HW Bush and George W Bush, and current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh – all alumni of Yale’s chapter of defendant Delta Kappa Epsilon.”
A Yale spokesman, Tom Conroy, said he had no comment on the lawsuit. However, he referred media to a message shared last month by Yale College Dean Marvin Chun who described a review of allegations of a sexually hostile climate at the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and efforts to bring about more social opportunities for students.
“I condemn the culture described in these accounts; it runs counter to our community’s values of making everyone feel welcome, respected, and safe. I also offer some plain advice about events like these: don’t go to them,” he said.
A lawyer for the nine fraternities, Joan Gilbride, told the New York Times the three students’ accusations were baseless.
To help prevent sexual misconduct, the lawsuit asks a judge to order that co-ed “sober monitors” be appointed for each off-campus event.
The defendants include the local and national chapters of fraternities including Alpha Delta Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi, Chi Psi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, the Leo fraternity, Sigma Chi Theta Upsilon, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Zeta Psi.
Publicație : The Independent
Vice-chancellors paid £500,000 or more at six universities in England
First survey of senior staff pay also shows nearly half of vice-chancellors paid over £300,000
Six universities in England paid their vice-chancellors £500,000 or more in salary, bonuses and benefits last year, while nearly half of all VCs received more than £300,000, according to the higher education regulator’s first survey of senior staff pay.
The Open University, London Business School and the University of East London topped the table for leaders’ remuneration, with the OU paying out £718,000 in 2017-18, including compensation for loss of office, to its departed vice-chancellor Peter Horrocks.
The figures from the Office for Students (OfS) watchdog suggest that calls for pay restraint have had little effect. Average pay for top staff – not including benefits, such as accommodation and pension pots, given to many vice-chancellors – rose by 3.5% in a year, from £245,000 to £253,000.
Below the most senior level, more than 60% of universities increased the number of staff paid £100,000 and above in 2017-18. Overall, there was a 15% rise in staff in the £100,000-plus pay band.
Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, said it was wrong that vice-chancellors’ pay was growing while frontline staff faced real-terms pay cuts and students had mounting debts.
“This is just another result of the Tories’ failed free-market experiment in higher education. There is no sign that the government will take serious action to tackle the endemic inequality in our universities,” Rayner said.
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Dominic Shellard, the vice-chancellor of De Montfort University in Leicester, received the highest pay rise in England last year, the report revealed. De Montfort had announced on Monday that Shellard was leaving his role, in unexplained circumstances, having last year awarded him a 22% increase, taking his total pay to £358,000.
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The University and College Union said the continued rise in pay showed the new universities regulator, launched in England last year, was a “paper tiger” that had failed to halt the increase in wealth being transferred to senior management.
“The OfS fails to ask why some vice-chancellors are still picking up double-digit pay rises and doesn’t even look at their expenses or other benefits in kind. This report sends a message that those who accept such largesse have nothing to fear from the new regulator,” said Matt Waddup, UCU’s head of policy.
Waddup noted that Nicola Dandridge, the OfS’s chief executive, told MPs last year that universities would have to justify executive pay above £150,000. But, he noted, only four out of 133 institutions paid their vice-chancellors less than £150,000.
“With this lightweight report the OfS has shown itself to be a paper tiger incapable of stopping the pay and perks scandals that have plagued universities,” Waddup said.
Dandridge defended the regulator’s approach. “It is not for the Office for Students to set a vice-chancellor’s pay. We understand that running a university is a significant and complex task, and it is right that those who excel in their roles should be well rewarded,” she said.
“Despite this, where pay is out of kilter, or salary increases at the top outstrip pay awards to other staff, vice-chancellors should be prepared to answer tough questions from their staff, student bodies and the public.”
Damian Hinds, the education secretary, said 45% of income for universities in England came from public funding, “so they are rightly subject to public scrutiny”.
He said the regulator may need to take action. “We have given the OfS powers to take action if universities do not do this and we expect them to be used where necessary.”
It is a sensitive time for the institutions involved, as they face a potential financial hit. A review of tertiary education funding is expected to suggest cutting annual undergraduate tuition fees in England from £9,250 to less than £7,000 a student.
If carried out, without substantial replacement funding from the Treasury, the sector would lose a substantial portion of the income that many rely upon after years of rapid expansion.
The Guardian reported last week that Reading University’s debts has risen to nearly 100% of its annual income, following two years of operating deficits totalling more than £40m, including £27m lost on a joint venture in Malaysia.
Publicație : The Guardian
Mental health: the students who helped themselves when help was too slow coming
With conventional services overstretched, teenagers in the Cumbria coastal town of Maryport teamed up to assist their peers
Last year, Molly Robinson, 15, was struggling to cope with the symptoms caused by an undiagnosed health condition. The unexplained pain, plus the worry about what was wrong, caused her to feel increasingly anxious and distressed. She plucked up the courage to seek help. And what happened? “I was put on a waiting list.”
Over the next three months things just got worse until she began to feel “completely overwhelmed”. “Everything snowballed,” says Molly. At crisis point, she couldn’t cope with going to school. “It took that for anyone to take things seriously,” she adds.
Frustrated by the waiting times for mental health services, Robinson talked to some friends she had met while local people were protesting to save beds at their cottage hospital. They decided to form a group, We Will, to campaign for more understanding and skilled support for young people suffering mental ill health.
In a community centre on the Ewanrigg estate in Maryport one Thursday afternoon, seven well-informed young people explain why they have worked so hard over the past year to improve their own and their community’s skills in supporting people with mental health problems.
Fishing boats in the harbour at Maryport, Cumbria. Photograph: Colin McPherson/The Guardian
The causes sound familiar. All cite the seemingly constant requirement to do well in exams, and the intense, addictive buzz of social media as pressures that older generations never had to deal with. “It’s very different being a teenager now,” says Chloe Wilson, 17. “Especially parents; they want their child to be fine. They’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s just hormones’.”
Hanah Pantling, 18, agrees. “The older generation say ‘suck it up’. We’re told to just get on with it. Especially lads round here – they’ve got that rugby attitude: can’t shed a tear, just man up.”
Jasmine Dean, 17, tells of the shock of hearing a friend talk about suicide. Saying she’s “angry” at the delays some young people have to endure when trying to get support for mental health problems, Dean asks: “How is being in crisis with a mental health issue any different from being in crisis with a physical issue?”
“People don’t want to stare it in the face – the lack of resources to help this generation,” says 17-year-old Billy Robinson. He isn’t just relying on anecdotal evidence: the We Will group has done its research. Over a year ago, the government issued a green paper proposing to put £300m into extra mental health provision in schools – but the new support envisaged will not be available until an unspecified time in the 2020s. Meanwhile, while children’s suicide rates are up 67% since 2010, a quarter of those referred for help are denied treatment. Despite the need, according to the Care Quality Commission, 23% of child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs) are rated “inadequate” or “requires improvement”.
The group of teens knew they would need help to plan and organise their campaign, so a year ago they approached Kate Whitmarsh, development worker at the community group Ewanrigg Big Local, which has a mandate to grow grassroots initiatives proposed by anyone resident in the area.
“It’s tough growing up here on the western edge of Cumbria,” says Whitmarsh. “This isn’t the affluent Lake District: lots of young people live in rural deprivation.” Child poverty rates are high, she says, public services are stretched, health stats are shocking and work prospects are limited.
Whitmarsh has encouraged the We Will teenagers to get trained up in the skills required to offer their peer group emotional support without feeling scared or overwhelmed, themselves. She has mentored them as they embarked on lobbying their MP, making their own eloquent film, persuading Maryport businesses to display mental health awareness posters, doing media interviews – and finally, plucking up the courage to approach their schools’ senior leadership teams to take action.
At Cockermouth school the next morning, Tom Roberts, 18, explains how – championed by school governor Alan Rankin, who works in human resources at Sellafield, – three of them met their school leaders armed with almost 20 ideas. The students hoped the school top brass might agree to a few of their suggestions. “But they said, ‘If you want, you can do all of them’,” Roberts recalls with a laugh. “Then we had to make it happen!”
Assistant head Steve Milledge grins at him. “You taught us a lot about how to do this with a really student-centred approach,” he says.
One of the results of the students’ campaign is that 80 pupils and staff at Cockermouth school have completed a mental health first aid course. Participants are trained to listen and acknowledge that someone is in emotional pain, but – crucially for teenagers who may feel panicked – they are helped to grasp that they are not personally responsible for fixing anyone’s problems.
While Ewanrigg Big Local has funded this training at Cockermouth and other secondaries in the area, Milledge says the next step is for his school to train its own trainer, and offer the course to governors and parents. This will be a significant investment at a time when school budgets are stretched to breaking point. How can Cockermouth school afford it?
“My argument is: how can we afford not to?” says Milledge. “Thresholds for Camhs are getting higher. There’s been an increase in the number of children talking about suicide. Without a counsellor, there are children who wouldn’t be able to be in school. A culture of listening and being listened to is really important in people feeling well and healthy.”
Jo Hampson, a counsellor employed by Cockermouth school, says the need is urgent. Even when children are referred to Camhs, she says, nothing happens. “It’s dreadful, appalling. When I started here children’s services had two workers supporting families. At one point the mental health team could be seen within 48 hours. Now, we’ve got children who would once have been emergency cases waiting for months. Family workers don’t exist any more. Children’s services?” She shrugs. “You might as well talk to the wall.”
UK pupils to join global strike over climate change crisis
Camhs in west Cumbria says it meets its targets for seeing young people in crisis within 48 hours “and often on the day”. In line with the national picture, it has seen an increase in referrals and demand for services that has impacted on waiting times – 230 children are currently on the waiting list.
The We Will teens know they can’t fix the national gap in mental health services for their age group, but they are using their knowledge, energy and fury to highlight the urgency of the need.
They want Maryport to be designated a mental health first aid town, with local employers encouraging their staff to do mental health first aid training, and all schools to have a governor responsible for mental wellbeing and a programme of mental health first aid training for older pupils and key staff. Teacher training is also in their sights. “We think it should include training about young people’s mental health,” says We Will member Lucy Steel, 15.
Billy Robinson points to the recent call by the children’s commissioner for England, Anne Longford, for the government to fund a counsellor in every school. This, he urges, should be adopted without delay. “Every year you wait,” he says, “thousands of young people will suffer.”
Publicație : The Guardian
Probe after Coventry students wear anti-Semitic T-shirts
A student union has suspended the activities of a sports club after two people were pictured wearing anti-Semitic T-shirts on a night out.
The pair, from Coventry University, wore tops branded with a Swastika and other racist scrawled slogans.
The university said they would be taking disciplinary action following their probe.
Its student union said it would not tolerate hate crime, while the Jewish students union said it was „dismayed”.
Pictures of the men were circulated on social media after they were snapped on a society’s night out at a nightclub in Coventry.
The written T-shirt gatherings are popular among student life, but some events have been criticised for providing a platform for „hate speech.”
Tochukwu Ajare, president of Coventry University Student Union (CUSU), said: „We were made aware of images on social media of two of our students wearing T-shirts with anti-Semitic and other offensive imagery and writing on them.
„We understand these pictures were taken during a social event at a CUSU-affiliated sports club.
„We have immediately suspended the club while we look into the matter. We do not tolerate anti-Semitism or any form of hate crime.
„We will fully support the university in any disciplinary action it may take.”
A Coventry University spokesman said: „We are deeply concerned about this matter. We are investigating and we will take disciplinary action against any student of the university who is involved.”
The university would not confirm which sports club had been suspended.
The Union of Jewish Students said universities need to do more to combat anti-Semitism.
Publicație : BBCNews
Some university chiefs paid 13 times more than staff
Some university vice-chancellors are being paid as much as 13 times the median pay of their staff, the university regulator has revealed.
The Office for Students data also shows 62% of universities in England raised the number of staff paid over £100,000, between 2016-17 and 2017-18.
The government says the OfS can require universities to justify high pay.
But the University and College Union said its „lightweight” report exposed the regulator as a „paper tiger”.
The universities with the greatest increases in vice-chancellor pay were:
- De Montfort University – from £286,000 to £350,000
- Bishop Grosseteste University – from £158,000 to £188,000
- The University of West London – from £266,000 to £306,000
- The University of Essex – from £257,000 to £289,000
- Anglia Ruskin University Higher Education Corporation
OfS chief executive Nicola Dandridge said: „It is good to see signs of pay restraint at some universities, with some vice-chancellors refusing a salary increase.
„A number of governing bodies have reduced the basic pay of their vice-chancellor, though we acknowledge that it can be difficult to revisit contractual obligations while a vice-chancellor is in post.
„We expect to see further progress next year.”
‘Greater transparency’
But the University and College Union said the regulator had failed to keep its promise of requiring universities to justify annual salaries above £150,000.
The report showed only four institutions out of 133 paid their vice-chancellor under £150,000 (in total remuneration) but contained no details about the justification for those awards, the union said.
And it failed to look at the „excessive and arbitrary rises still enjoyed by some vice-chancellors” or tackle the expenses and other benefits in kind that have „plagued universities in recent years”.
In its conclusion, the report says: „Publishing information about remuneration and compensation for loss of office ensures this information is in the public domain.
„Where this is a matter of public interest, transparency will help providers’ remuneration committees and governing bodies to benchmark more effectively.”
Education Secretary Damian Hinds said: „We set up the Office for Students to look out for students’ interests and it is absolutely right that the OfS demands greater transparency from universities by requiring them to justify the pay and benefits of their vice-chancellors.
„We have given the OfS powers to take action if universities do not do this and we expect them to be used where necessary.”
He added: „Of course salaries need to be competitive – but high pay must be justified by high performance on objectives such as widening participation for disadvantaged groups, low dropout rates, growing export earnings and pioneering innovative research.”
Publicație : BBCNews
Critical thinkers honed in the liberal arts are in sharp demand
The 21st-century labour market will increasingly want well-rounded freethinkers – the very thing that courses such as Western civilisation develop, says Daniel Hutto
In a recent blog post on Times Higher Education, Tom Worthington asked, “Can a degree in Western civilisation prepare students for jobs for 21st-century jobs?” He suggests that students would be better off taking a course in digital technologies. Worthington has not actually seen the curriculum for our course, and it is not difficult to read his article as a broadside against the relevance of the humanities.
We at the University of Wollongong have just made public the curriculum for our bachelor of arts in Western civilisation. Our course will take students on a chronologically ordered adventure through the great periods and epochs of intellectual and artistic change in the West. The great works to be examined include not only those from the literary and philosophical canon, but also, for example, religious and scientific texts.
Students will cultivate open, critical minds along the way. A major ambition of the degree is to instil a spirit of uninhibited enquiry in all our students and to equip them to reason about and evaluate possible answers to some of the most difficult and abiding questions. In each of their subjects, they will learn how to think, not what to think.
Students will also be taught how they should conduct themselves in open-minded, well-reasoned and civil conversation with others in their efforts to rationally address the questions raised by the great works that they will critically examine together. Not only will this degree cultivate these social virtues, it will crucially enable students to become intelligent, sensitive readers of not just the great works but also the stories of others. In an era awash with “fake news”, we believe that such skills are more vital than ever.
Right from the course’s start, students will be introduced to non-Western and under-represented voices. They will consider examples of how the ideas, artworks and practices of non-Western cultures and civilisations have influenced and might overlap with those of their Western counterparts. Despite its focus on Western thought, our version of the BA in Western civilisation initiates well-placed, high-quality conversations with non-Western traditions throughout.
All in all, the degree aims to provide a balanced and forward-looking, new-style liberal arts programme – one fit for the needs of a multicultural 21st century. Graduates will be well-rounded freethinkers. They will be erudite and articulate, creative and critical. They will appreciate and value virtuous, civil and productive conversation.
What are the employment prospects for such graduates? Pace Worthington, in a word: excellent. There is a demonstrated demand in Australia and globally for graduates who can think critically and creatively and possess excellent social skills.
A 2016 report, The New Basics – Foundation for Young Australians, reveals that demand for critical thinking skills in new graduates has risen by 158 per cent in recent years. This finding is based on an analysis of 4.2 million online job postings from 6,000 sources. Graduates of Wollongong’s BA will be future-proofed, as compared with those preparing for many traditional vocations.
Additionally, in 2017, Deloitte Australia analysed the needs of the Australian workforce and businesses. It reported findings that highlight a serious market gap in non-technical soft skills. Deloitte “forecasts that soft skill-intensive occupations will account for two-thirds of all jobs by 2030, compared to half of all jobs in 2000”. Its analysis reveals a clear and growing demand for sharp graduates who are good at communication, teamwork, problem-solving, emotional intelligence and ethical decision-making. Soft skills and talents of these kinds – precisely those that a liberal arts education instils – comprise “ten of the sixteen ‘crucial proficiencies in the 21st century’ identified by the World Economic Forum”.
Crucially, the degree stands out as being philosophical through and through. There is evidence that high-achieving philosophy graduates have good prospects for rewarding mid-career earnings. For example, median earnings of BA graduates majoring in philosophy “exceed those of majors in any other humanities field, and are the 16th highest in a study comparing salaries across 50 majors in the United States”, according to data collected by PayScale.
In sum, as Jay Garfield, a curriculum consultant for the degree, emphasises: “Liberal arts curricula are prized as the best possible preparation of students for citizenship and for a range of employment opportunities. They are properly regarded as better than the vocationally oriented training so often urged by those who neither understand the proper role of a university or the prerequisites of a career.”
This echoes the assessment of another curriculum consultant, Mari Hatavara: “A profound understanding of the diversity and depth of civilization will provide your graduates a competitive edge in today’s world, where culture as values and practices penetrates any societal, technological or economical endeavor.” We at Wollongong heartedly agree.
Publicație : The Times
Torino, occhiali intelligenti per non usare i tablet in magazzino: i campioni del concorso Amazon
Un team di studenti del Politecnico ha realizzato un applicativo che potenzia le funzioni degli smart glasses
Il team del Poli che ha vinto l’award
Occhiali intelligenti per non usare più cellulari e tablet per organizzare il lavoro nei magazzini di Amazon. È questo il progetto che ha vinto la tappa torinese dell’Amazon Innovation Award e che è stato pensato da un team di studenti del Politecnico di Torino per offrire soluzioni innovative all’automazione dei processi nei centri Amazon.
Il gruppo, composto da Gennaro Bianchi, Jacopo Fanelli, Ilaria Gandini, Chiara Perri e Katarina Sucic, ha lanciato „Amazon You”, un applicativo che potenzia le funzionalità degli „smart glasses”: sulle lenti saranno proiettate informazioni utili per i magazzinieri, come la dimensione della scatola adeguata da utilizzare per un determinato ordine, ma anche in quale punto della confezione è meglio posizionare gli articoli per ottimizzare lo spazio. Inoltre, gli occhiali saranno anche lo scanner per registrare il codice a barre dell’articolo selezionato e liberare quindi le mani dell’operatore da dispositivi superflui. „Sono molto stupito del risultato dei lavori proposti da questi ragazzi – racconta Stefano La Rovere, responsabile del dipartimento Advanced Technology di Amazon Europa – Stiamo davvero lavorando su alcune delle proposte arrivate dagli studenti e pensiamo possano dare un contributo importante al miglioramento delle nostre attività”.
Il Politecnico di Torino ha partecipato per il secondo anno a questa competizione, con una ottantina di ragazzi del corso di laurea magistrale in „Produzione industriale”. Domani sarà proclamato il progetto vincitore del Politecnico di Milano, mentre giovedì quello dell’Università di Roma Tor Vergata. Fra i tre sarà poi scelto il migliore che si aggiudicherà un viaggio a Seattle per visitare la sede Amazon e presentare la propria proposta. „I ragazzi hanno realizzato progetti rigorosi e ben strutturati, proponendo soluzioni innovative e suggerimenti per ottimizzare i processi all’interno della nostra azienda nel rispetto dei dovuti criteri di sicurezza, la priorità numero uno in Amazon” aggiunge La Rovere.
I vincitori sono stati premiati ciascuno con un „Echo spot”, mentre ai secondi classificati, il gruppo „A New Delivery system”, hanno ottenuto un Echo e i terzi, quelli del gruppo „Azeyes, hanno vuto una Fire tv stick. „Il Politecnico deve assicurare le basi culturali e non solo tecnico scientifiche per affrontare il proprio futuro – ha spiegato Juan Carlos De Martin, delegato del Rettore per la Cultura e la Comunicazione – Il nostro desiderio è aiutare i nuovi laureati in modo che subito o quasi subito possano essere inseriti in una struttura produttiva. Per riuscirci bisogna conoscere già oggi cosa è necessario alle imprese del presente e che tipo di formazione sarà richiesta nel futuro. Iniziative come questa con Amazon sono una di quelle guarda al presente e al futuro. Ci si confronta con una specifica impresa e con le sue specifiche esigenze”.
I manager di Amazon hanno infatti spiegato il contesto in cui avrebbe dovuto inserirsi il progetto e cosa si aspettavano „moltissimi studenti del nostro ateneo hanno potuto mettersi in gioco, apprendere molto sui processi e sui sistemi di Amazon – sottolinea Guido Perboli, docente del corso di Strategie e organizzazione aziendale che ha curato il progetto per il Politecnico – Dando così sfogo alla creatività e applicando le competenze acquisite in questi anni di studio in un settore in rapida trasformazione come quello della logistica”. Ora resta solo da conoscere gli sfidanti in arrivo da Milano e Roma.
Publicație : La Repubblica