Inedit colocviu româno-italian la Iaşi, despre antichitatea clasică şi creştinism
Centrul de Studii Clasice şi Creştine de la Facultatea de Istorie din Iaşi organizează un eveniment inedit în capitala Moldovei, o colaborare româno-italiană.
Astfel, în parteneriat cu Departamentul de Studii Umaniste de la Universitatea „Aldo Moro“ din Bari va fi organizat la Iaşi în perioada 10-12 octombrie 2019 cel de-al XI-la colocviu româno-italian care are ca tematică „Tradiţie şi inovaţie între antichitatea clasică şi creştinism: forme, instrumente şi modele de comunicare literară şi artistică“.
Acesta va avea loc la sediul Facultăţii de Istorie, în Sala H1, iar programul presupune mai multe prelegeri şi seminare comune. Deschiderea manifestărilor este programată pentru joi, 10 octombrie, de la ora 9.00, iar în continuarea acesteia Anna Maria Liberati, de la Muzeul Civilizaţiei Romane, va susţine prima conferinţă în plen, ce va avea ca tematică generală misiunea universală a Romei între antichitatea clasică, creştinism şi totalitarismul din modernitate. Închiderea colocviului peste programată pentru ziua de sâmbătă, 12 octombrie, cu trei mese rotunde şi 10 conferinţe plenare pe tot parcursul zilei.
Publicație : Ziarul de Iași
Rectorul Politehnicii este nemulţumit de numărul de locuri bugetate alocate de minister
Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi“ din Iaşi (TUIASI) a avut la admiterea din acest an cu 50% mai mulţi candidaţi decât locuri bugetate la licenţă şi master şi cu 15% mai mulţi candidaţi pentru studiile doctorale. Astfel, Politehnica ieşeană a realizat un record pentru ultimul deceniu în ceea ce priveşte numărul de absolvenţi de liceu şi de studii universitare care au ales să studieze la TUIASI.
Politehnica ieşeană a rămas cu aproximativ 200 de locuri neocupate la studiile de licenţă după admiterea din vară, acestea fiind ocupate integral la admiterea de toamnă care s-a încheiat săptămâna trecută. Mai exact, acestea au fost ocupate integral încă din primele trei zile ale perioadei de depunere a dosarelor, în total fiind depuse până pe data de 19 septembrie un număr de 426 de dosare pentru cele 200 de locuri libere de la studiile de licenţă.
„Am înregistrat o depăşire cu circa 50% a numărului de locuri alocate studiilor universitare de licenţă şi masterat. De asemenea, locurile la doctorat au fost ocupate în totalitate, existând şi aici o depăşire de circa 15%. Trebuie să subliniez faptul că locurile scoase la concurs în toamnă le-au inclus şi pe cele alocate suplimentar de Ministerului Educaţiei Naţionale. Din păcate, din discuţiile avute cu reprezentanţii MEN, am înţeles că nu mai există posibilitatea alocării unor noi locuri, astfel încât mulţi dintre candidaţi au optat pentru locurile cu taxă“, a precizat prof. univ. dr. ing. Dan Caşcaval, rectorul Universităţii Tehnice.
În total, peste 600 de studenţi au ales să urmeze cursurile Politehnicii ieşene chiar dacă au intrat pe locurile cu taxă de la studiile de licenţă, iar 200 de absolvenţi de facultate au ales să studieze cu taxă la studiile de masterat. În acest an, Ministerul Educaţiei a redus numărul de locuri bugetate pentru Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi“ din Iaşi comparativ cu 2018, chiar dacă numărul de candidaţi a crescut faţă de ceilalţi ani.
„Analizând evoluţia din ultimii ani a interesului candidaţilor pentru o universitate sau domeniu, am constatat că strategia adoptată de minister de a reduce sau a mări numărul de locuri alocate în funcţie de situaţia anului precedent nu este cea mai inspirată. În condiţiile în care se manifestă clar interesul mediului economic şi al candidaţilor pentru dezvoltarea studiilor universitare tehnice, reducerea numărului de locuri alocat universităţii noastre pentru admitere comparativ cu anul 2018 a condus la pierderea unui număr important de studenţi care ar fi putut urma cursurile la formele bugetate, atât la licenţă, cât şi la master. Cred că aplicarea acestor corecţii ale cifrelor considerate pentru admitere trebuie să ia în calcul o medie a interesului candidaţilor pentru o perioadă mai lungă de timp, cinci ani de exemplu, şi nu strict cifrele anuale, supuse unor variaţii impredictibile. În orice caz, conform acestui algoritm, ne aşteptăm ca în anul 2020 MEN să aloce din start Politehnicii ieşene un număr mai mare de locuri pentru admitere“, a explicat rectorul TUIASI.
Un număr mare de dosare au fost depuse anul acesta şi în cazul locurilor destinate românilor de pretutindeni, la studiile de licenţă crescând numărul de candidaţi cu 15%, iar la studiile de master cu 35%. În cazul admiterii pentru studenţii străini din statele UE şi non-UE, aceasta va fi definitivată după ce Ministerul Educaţiei Naţionale va transmite Politehnicii toate actele necesare
Publicație : Ziarul de Iași și Evenimentul și Bună Ziua Iași
Universities urged to help prevent deaths from binge-drinking as Freshers’ Week begins
New guidance comes in response to 2016 death of first-year student Ed Farmer, who died following initiation ceremony
Universities need to do more to educate students about the dangers of initiations and excessive drinking to prevent any more tragic deaths from taking place in the future, new guidance suggests.
Universities UK (UUK), which represents vice-chancellors, has launched the new advice for institutions in collaboration with Newcastle University following the death of first-year student Ed Farmer after an initiation involving heavy drinking in 2016.
The sector should move away from a “zero-tolerance” punitive approach to alcohol-heavy initiations as bans can lead to institutions doing very little to tackle the issue, the paper says.
It also warns about the dangers of other risky behaviours and activities students may be exposed to such as coercion, humiliation or bullying.
It comes as hundreds of thousands of students arrive at university for the first time this month.
Institutions should organise more staff training on ceremonies, provide clear reporting systems and advertise support available to students, the report suggests.
In December 2016, Ed Farmer died in his first term at Newcastle University after attending an agricultural society initiation where rounds of 100 triple vodkas were ordered.
The coroner at the inquest last year said there was a risk of future deaths because students were “unaware of the risks of consuming large quantities of alcohol over a short period of time”.
In a foreword to the new report, his parents said: “If students were made aware of the dangers of drinking large volumes of spirits in short periods of time, and maybe aware of the signs of someone that is no longer just drunk but in a life-limiting state and use the example of Ed to give the message some relevance, then possibly just one student might be luckier on a night out than Ed.”
Last year, Jeremy Farmer, Ed’s father, criticised Newcastle University’s response to the tragedy and called for students involved in future initiation ceremonies to be expelled.
But the report says not all events labelled as initiations are “inherently bad” and it warns that an outright ban can create more risks for students.
Bottom of Form
“A blanket zero-tolerance approach can push activities into private spaces, such as off-campus accommodation, and so making them more dangerous,” the guidance says.
Instead, universities should adopt a clearer definition of what constitutes an initiation which focuses on prohibited behaviours, it adds.
Professor Chris Day, vice-chancellor and president at Newcastle University, said: “Three years ago we lost a bright, talented, much-loved student in one of the worst ways possible.
“I think there is no doubt that it was the situation Ed found himself in that night which led to him drinking an excessive quantity of alcohol over a very short period of time.
“This, together with a lack of knowledge from his fellow students about the dangers of drinking to excess, resulted in the most tragic of outcomes.
“We all wish we could rewind three years and change what happened that night. But we can’t go back and so instead we are looking forward and doing everything we can to minimise the chances of anything like this happening again.”
Universities minister Chris Skidmore said: “Today’s new guidance is a welcome step in promoting the safety and wellbeing of students, and warning them of the dangers of initiation activities and especially excessive alcohol consumption. It is a shame that such a tragic case brought this issue to light, but it is important that students will now have access to increased information and that universities can use their position to warn students of the dangers involved in such activities.
“Raising awareness on the potential impact of initiations and excessive alcohol on physical and mental health is vital so that the hundreds of thousands of students starting and returning to their studies this month feel their universities are prioritising their welfare and safety.”
Publicație : The Independent
Interdisciplinarity will show students the career value of the liberal arts
A new humanities-based major focused on how global commerce, businesses and societies shape one another points the way forward, says Karen E. Spierling
Johann Neem’s recent call to abolish the business major rings true in many ways, especially for liberal arts colleges.
In his latest book, What’s the Point of College?: Seeking Purpose in an Age of Reform, the professor of history at Western Washington University argues that a college education should leave a signature impression on character, inculcating thoughtful and intellectually rigorous interpretations of the world. Business may be the most popular major in the US, but it fails this test, he says.
I might call for my own institution to abolish our business major, if we had one. But we don’t. Yet still we are swept up in the same “crisis of the liberal arts” as schools that are frantically jumping on the business bandwagon.
As a historian, I am certain that clinging to hopes of returning to some bygone academic era when “pure” intellectual pursuits reigned supreme is not only foolish but misremembers the past. I am also certain that turning our educational approaches upside down based on a current trend is not an effective approach, either. But ranting against the tyranny of the business major is not enough.
In an age of economic anxiety and uncertainty, we must illustrate more effectively how the liberal arts can connect with students’ plans for the future. This absolutely does not mean killing off disciplinary departments. But it does mean thinking creatively about how to combine their strengths to prepare our students for lives of civic engagement, personal growth and, yes, productive careers.
This kind of talk can provoke deep anxiety among humanities faculty. We were trained by research scholars to be research scholars. We spent many years mastering the vocabulary and the intellectual approaches of our disciplines. And many of us internalised the notion that to apply our knowledge to solving worldly and, especially, money-related problems is to betray our profession.
Somewhere along the line, many of us accepted that our talents are limited to academia and that forming productive connections with the world beyond is, at worst, enraging and, at best, futile. The world will never value the kind of critical thinking we do about texts and evidence, so some of us do our best to ignore that world.
This is all, of course, a bit overstated. But maybe only a bit.
Solving the liberal arts crisis requires getting faculty comfortable with trying new strategies and vocabularies. Perhaps most crucially, it means encouraging them to reach across boundaries and embrace the creative thinking stoked by new connections. It also means persuading the non-academics, both across campus and beyond, that academic pursuits remain at the core of a college’s purpose, and that collaborating with faculty is both possible and worthwhile.
At Denison University, we are doing this in a variety of ways. One is our new global commerce major, of which I am director. Grounded in the liberal arts, this major aims to give students the tools to think about how global commerce, businesses and societies shape one another, by drawing on a range of disciplines and balancing critical thinking with discussing practical applications (bolstered by intentionally designed co-curricular experiences). Students construct an individualised combination of courses from across the humanities, arts and social sciences – taught by existing faculty – to understand the social and cultural contexts of a selected global region.
Perfecting the programme has been a trial-and-error process, just as any start-up experience is. But after three full years of classes, four key principles have emerged.
The first is to keep faculty in control. This may strike fear into the hearts of administrators, but if a college wants to build new programmes (or highlight existing ones) that resonate with its mission and academic values, faculty must be driving the bus.
Those faculty, for their part, must be willing to think about how to use resources beyond campus to their own educational ends, rather than fearing the presence of outsiders in their classrooms. As long as clear pedagogical and intellectual goals are maintained, our experience is that connections with new people and ideas invigorate both programme and instructor.
Second, we must dismantle campus silos – and not just the disciplinary ones. I now work regularly with administrators in our careers office and our centre for innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as those involved in off-campus programming, institutional advancement and communications. This is crucial to building a solid foundation for the global commerce major and ensuring its staying power.
A third principle is to recognise the value of our own pedagogical knowledge. It is not mere lip service to say that the liberal arts train students to be effective thinkers, analysts and decision-makers in a wide variety of careers. Faculty can be skittish about making these connections explicit, yet many of the concepts that other professions have trendy phrases for – “design thinking”, for example – are skills that we employ every time we design a syllabus or plan a class.
Finally, think co-curricular, not extracurricular. Co-curricular elements of our global commerce programme range from “B-ready” workshops on topics such as Excel and marketing to an executive speaker series that allows students to exchange ideas with experienced professionals in small group settings. They learn that this programming is an integral part of their major experience, not an “extra” that is less (or more) important than classwork.
Articulating and demonstrating the rich value of a liberal arts education – for careers in business and everything else – is not the job only of college leaders, or staff in careers centres and communications offices. It is everybody’s business. And we must work together to do it well.
Publicație : The Times
US faculty condemn Trump officials on Middle East centre threat
University study centre ‘positive’ on Islam but not Christianity, objects senior Department of Education official
The leading association of US university professors condemned the Trump administration for threatening to withdraw funding from an academic study centre deemed to be insufficiently “positive” towards Christianity and other non-Islamic religions.
The American Association of University Professors, in a statement released on Monday by Henry Reichman, the chair of its Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure, called the federal funding threat to the Consortium for Middle East Studies, a joint project between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “chillingly inappropriate”.
The US Department of Education accused the consortium of potential legal violations after a Republican congressman complained about a conference on Gaza that it held in March.
The department began investigating the consortium in June after George Holding, a Republican representative of North Carolina, complained that the event – which used $5,000 (£4,000) in federal grant money – contained anti-Semitic content.
The congressman was reportedly alarmed by coverage of the event that described one conference participant, Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar, as saying he was singing “my anti-Semitic song”.
Mr Nafar was merely referring, one audience member told the UNC student newspaper, to his concern that any comment that might be regarded as anti-Israel could be criticised as anti-Semitic. Others, however, said Mr Nafar did make comments at other points that Jewish students legitimately took as offensive. Kevin M. Guskiewicz, UNC’s interim chancellor, later issued a statement condemning the language.
After the department’s investigation, the assistant US secretary for post-secondary education, Robert King, wrote to the consortium late last month listing a series of complaints.
By law, he wrote, “federal funding is conditioned on a demonstration that a given center or program is a ‘national resource’ for teaching of any modem foreign language; for instruction in fields needed to provide full understanding of areas, regions, or countries in which such language is commonly used; for research and training in the international and foreign language aspects of professional and other fields of study; and for instruction and research on issues in world affairs that concern one or more countries.”
The consortium’s work “appears to lack balance as it offers very few, if any, programs focused on the historic discrimination faced by, and current circumstances of, religious minorities in the Middle East, including Christians, Jews, Baha’is, Yadizis, Kurds, Druze, and others”, Mr King wrote.
He also complained that in the consortium’s offerings for elementary and secondary students and teachers, “there is a considerable emphasis placed on understanding the positive aspects of Islam, while there is an absolute absence of any similar focus on the positive aspects of Christianity, Judaism, or any other religion or belief system in the Middle East”.
Mr King said federal funding would be withdrawn unless the centre responded by 22 September demonstrating compliance with the law.
The money at stake, said Dr Reichman, a professor emeritus of history at California State University East Bay, is relatively little – the Duke-UNC consortium gets just $235,000 from a $22 million annual federal programme to assist international studies centres, of which about $3.5 million is aimed primarily at Middle Eastern topics.
But the threat to academic freedom is profound, Dr Reichman said. “We urge the Department of Education to step away from the dangerous path it has entered,” he said.
Publicație : The Times
Les étudiants infirmiers mobilisés contre des frais de scolarité «illégaux»
Les étudiants infirmiers se sont mobilisés un peu partout en France ce lundi 23 septembre pour dénoncer les frais complémentaires imposés selon eux «illégalement» par certains instituts de formation publics.
Une soixantaine de manifestants se sont ainsi réunis à partir de 10h ce lundi 23 septembre devant le conseil régional d’Ile-de-France à Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), répondant à l’appel de la Fédération nationale des étudiants en soins infirmiers (Fnesi), a constaté une journaliste de l’AFP. D’autres rassemblements étaient organisés devant des conseils régionaux à Lyon, Lille ou Nantes, les régions étant chargées du financement des formations sanitaires et sociales.
«On est venu pointer du doigt une pratique devenue monnaie courante»
«Étudiants en colère», ont scandé les étudiants, en blouse blanche pour la plupart, brandissant pancartes et banderoles sur lesquelles on pouvait lire «on ne pique que si nécessaire, stop aux frais complémentaires» ou encore «stoppez l’hémorragie de mon compte en banque».
«On est venu pointer du doigt une pratique devenue monnaie courante», a expliqué à l’AFP le président de la Fnesi, Bilal Latrèche. Selon son syndicat, près de la moitié des 272 instituts publics de formation en soins infirmiers (Ifsi) facturent des frais au-delà des droits annuels d’inscription, de 170 euros, et de la CVEC (contribution de vie étudiante et de campus), de 91 euros, réclamés à tous les étudiants de l’enseignement supérieur.
«Plus de 4 millions d’euros sont pris à tort aux étudiants»
Au total, «plus de 4 millions d’euros sont pris à tort aux étudiants sur l’ensemble du territoire» sous divers prétextes comme le financement des tenues professionnelles ou les frais de documentation, affirme M. Latrèche. Pour France Boyer-Vidal, en 3e année de formation à Orsay (Essonne), la facture est ainsi gonflée de «125 euros» par an, soit «un quart de mon loyer», pour «payer la rémunération des intervenants, le wifi, alors qu’il s’agit de droits qu’on est censés avoir», dénonce la jeune femme de 20 ans.
Publicație : Le Figaro
Quand HEC veut former des « leaders de sens »
L’école de commerce a lancé, grâce à la donation d’un ancien diplômé, une chaire sur la quête de sens et l’impact social et environnemental des entreprises.
Promenade au Mont-Saint-Michel (Manche) lors du séminaire d'intégration des nouveaux étudiants de HEC Paris, en septembre 2019. Daniel Brown /HEC Paris
« Il n’y a pas que des requins à HEC ! », lance Amélie. A Jouy-en-Josas (Yvelines), sur le campus de cette grande école de commerce, le squale écorche toutes les bouches. « On nous colle l’étiquette “shark”, mais ça, c’est l’ancien monde », renchérit Jeanne. Les deux recrues, 20 ans chacune, font partie de la fournée de 400 étudiants qui entrent cette année à HEC.
Jeanne, le bras en écharpe, revient de son séjour d’intégration de quatre jours à Saint-Cyr-Coëtquidan (Morbihan), sous la responsabilité des sous-lieutenants. Parcours du combattant, randonnées de nuit, initiation au Famas : un tiers de la nouvelle promo y a entraîné son esprit d’équipe. Amélie, elle, a opté pour Chamonix (Haute-Savoie), entre vallées et conquête des glaciers, afin de réfléchir à la mission des organisations. Marquée par l’engagement des guides de haute montagne, « qui vont jusqu’au sacrifice suprême », elle y a vu, de ses yeux, les conséquences directes du réchauffement climatique. « On s’est tous pris une claque », résume-t-elle. Quant à Astrid et Tommaso, ils ont découvert la baie du Mont-Saint-Michel (Manche) et l’une des plus fortes marées du monde menacée par l’ensablement. En pleine nature, ils ont travaillé sur l’introspection et la connaissance de soi, à partir d’outils de développement personnel.
Ces étudiants sont les cobayes d’une nouveauté de leur école : en cette rentrée 2019, la question du « sens » dans l’entreprise prend la forme d’un parcours obligatoire, pour tous, du séminaire de rentrée jusqu’au diplôme final. A terme, il s’agit de toucher tous les étudiants à différentes étapes de leur scolarité.
« L’introspection est la clé »
C’est la contribution d’Hubert Joly, PDG de Best Buy – le Darty américain –, diplômé de l’école en 1981, qui a permis le lancement de ce dispositif. Le Français vient en effet de faire une donation de 3,7 millions d’euros à HEC pour financer la création de la chaire d’enseignement et de recherche « Purposeful Leadership » (« quête de sens en entreprise »), en anglais dans le texte.
« Ils ont trois ans pour tester des univers et construire un projet de vie. Notre responsabilité est de les accompagner dans cette démarche. » Eloïc Peyrache, directeur délégué de HEC
« L’idée est de faire réfléchir les étudiants sur l’impact et les pratiques de tous les types d’entreprises, même celles qui font en apparence du business pur », détaille Cécile Lavrard-Meyer de Lisle, économiste du développement et directrice de cette nouvelle chaire. Des cours de sciences humaines et sociales doivent aussi les sensibiliser aux « enjeux du sens dans l’entreprise », mais aussi, individuellement, les aider à comprendre « ce qui fait sens pour eux ».
Publicație : Le Monde
Studenti in piazza per il clima? Assenze giustificate
Lo propone il ministro dell'Istruzione Fioramonti che ha inviato una circolare alle scuole, che però potranno decidere in totale autonomia in occasione delle iniziative del movimento ecologista Friday for future
Assenti giustificati. Chi non andrà alle lezioni perché in manifestazione a chiedere un mondo migliore, per salvare la terra, in nome delle battaglie ecologiste, sarà considerato giustificato, senza bisogno di interventi dei genitori. A invitare scuole di ogni ordine e grado a considerare questa ipotesi, è lo stesso ministro dell'Istruzione Lorenzo Fioramonti. "In accordo con quanto richiesto da molte parti sociali e realtà associative impegnate nelle tematiche ambientali, ho dato mandato di redigere una circolare che invitasse le scuole, pur nella loro autonomia, a considerare giustificate le assenze degli studenti occorse per la mobilitazione mondiale contro il cambiamento climatico", ha scritto su Facebook il ministro parlando delle iniziative Fridays for future.
"In questa settimana - aggiunge Fioramonti - dal 20 al 27 settembre, infatti, ragazzi e ragazze di ogni Paese stanno scendendo in piazza per rivendicare un'attenzione imprescindibile al loro futuro, che è minacciato dalla devastazione ambientale e da una concezione economica dello sviluppo ormai insostenibile". Secondo il ministro "l'importanza di questa mobilitazione è quindi fondamentale per numerosi aspetti, a partire dalla necessità improrogabile di un cambiamento rapido dei modelli socio-economici imperanti. E' in gioco - conclude - il bene più essenziale, cioè imparare a prenderci cura del nostro mondo".
Publicație : La Repubblica
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