5 octombrie 2019
Nicolae Hurduc, propus ministru la Educatie
Premierul Viorica Dancila i-a transmis vineri, 4 octombrie, presedintelui Klaus Iohannis noi propuneri de ministri interimari: Nicolae Hurduc la Educatie, Daniel Suciu la Justitie si Gabriel Les la Interne, au declarat surse politice.
Nicolae Hurduc in varsta de 63 de ani este de aproape un an ministru al Cercetarii, functie in care nu s-a facut remarcat prin nicio initiativa, dar a ramas cunoscut pentru controversatele sale declaratii conform carora oamenii vin din viitor.
Nicolae Hurduc, profesor universitar de chimie, este din 26 octombrie 2018 ministru al Cercetarii in Guvernul Dancila, rastimp in care nu s-a facut remarcat prin nicio initiativa.
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Una dintre cele mai tari ligi din cadrul Universitatii Cuza lanseaza o noua provocare
European Law Students’ Association (ELSA) filiala Iasi organizeaza evenimentul de prezentare This is ELSA. Acesta se va desfasura pe data de 7.10.2019, intre orele 12:00-14:00, in amfiteatrul Paul Demetrescu (I.1) al Facultatii de Drept din cadrul Universitatii ,,Alexandru Ioan Cuza’’ din Iasi si se adreseaza in special studentilor din anul I la Facultatea de Drept, costituind o metoda de familiarizare a acestora cu asociatia si proiectele pe care aceasta le organizeaza. La finalul prezentarii, doritorii vor putea completa chestionare pentru inscrierea in asociatie, urmand ca, mai apoi, sa participe si la proba interviului. ELSA este cea mai mare asociatie a studentilor in drept, fiind raspandita in 44 de tari si avand un numar de peste 45.000 de membri. La nivel national ELSA Romania inglobeaza 11 Grupuri Locale. ELSA Iasi fiind unul dintre cele mai mari Grupuri Locale din aceasta retea.
Dorinta si eforturile de a imbogati experienta juridica a studentilor Facultatii de Drept din Iasi si chiar a studentilor din alte centre universitare din Romania s-au concretizat in seminare, conferinte, stagii de practica si procese simulate, evenimente menite sa explice, sa detalieze si sa completeze informatiile oferite de catre profesori in cadrul cursurilor si sa largeasca orizontul noilor juristi. Pregatirea viitorilor juristi pentru realitatile acestui domeniu si contributia la procesul lor de maturizare, de formare, atat ca profesionisti, cat si ca oameni, reprezinta un deziderat permanent al activitatii ELSA Iasi.
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Top universities in US and UK took millions from Sackler family
- Owners of Purdue Pharma face lawsuits over opioid epidemic
- Institutions in Canada and Israel also received donations
Prestigious universities around the world have accepted at least $60m over the past five years from the family that owns the maker of OxyContin, even as the company became embroiled in lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic, financial records show.
Some of the donations arrived before recent lawsuits blaming Purdue Pharma, the Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company that makes the prescription painkiller OxyContin, for its role in the opioid crisis.
But at least nine schools accepted gifts in 2018 or later, when states and counties across the US began efforts to hold members of the family accountable for Purdue’s actions.
The largest gifts in that span went to Imperial College London, the University of Sussex and Yale University.
Major beneficiaries of foundations controlled by the billionaire members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma also include the University of Oxford in England and Rockefeller, Cornell and Columbia universities in New York, according to tax and charity records reviewed by the Associated Press.
In total, at least two dozen universities have received gifts from the Sackler family since 2013, ranging from $25,000 to more than $10m, the records show.
Some sceptics see the donations as an attempt to salvage the family’s reputation.
“Money from the Sacklers should be understood as blood money,” said Dr Andrew Kolodny, a leading critic of the family and Purdue who has testified against the company in court and heads a program on opioid policy at Brandeis University, which was not among the schools identified in tax records as receiving donations from the Sacklers. “Universities shouldn’t take it, and universities that have taken it should give it back.”
Representatives of Sackler family members who own Purdue declined to comment.
The AP reviewed charitable giving from more than a dozen Sackler family foundations as reported to the Internal Revenue Service, the Canada Revenue Agency and the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The recipients included schools in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Israel.
For decades, the wealthiest members of the family have been behind major philanthropic giving in the worlds of art, medicine and education, often leading to their name being bestowed on prestigious galleries or educational entities. They were listed by Forbes magazine in 2016 as one of the nation’s 20 wealthiest families, with holdings of $13bn.
Much of their giving has fuelled research in genetics and brain development. Other gifts supported medical schools, student scholarships and faculty jobs. It amounts to a small fraction of universities’ overall fundraising, but schools say the money has been a boon to important programs.
When evaluating the ethics of Sackler gifts, some experts argue, it’s important to consider what schools knew about the family and when they knew it.
“We’re looking at this through the lens of what people know now,” said Ross Cheit, chairman of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission and a professor at Brown University, which has accepted donations from family members. “My sense is, during the time period we’re talking about, people’s views about that source of money changed a lot.”
As opioid deaths, lawsuits and protests have mounted, some schools joined with businesses and museums cutting ties with the family, but none plans to return the money. One school is redirecting unspent donations. Most schools refused to say whether they would accept donations in the future.
The financial records may not capture all giving by the family. Colleges are not required to disclose donation information, and many refused to provide details to the AP.
Rockefeller University accepted more Sackler money than any other school in recent history – $11m-plus from the Sackler Foundation in Canada. Richard Sackler, a former president of Purdue Pharma, previously taught at the school.
Rockefeller, which enrolls about 200 students in graduate science programs, did not respond to requests for comment.
Behind Rockefeller was the University of Sussex in England, which received $9.8m, according to tax records. A university spokesman said the school actually received about $4m over the past decade, while another pledge “was not progressed”. The funding supports Sussex’s Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, which performs research of “paramount importance” that will continue for years, the school said.
Oxford and the University of Glasgow in Scotland each received $5m to $6m, tax records show. Columbia University followed with nearly $5m, while Imperial College London and McGill University in Montreal each received more than $3m.
The AP contacted all universities that were identified in tax records as receiving more than $1m, along with some that were not listed in tax records but previously publicized major gifts from some family members.
Of those 20 schools, three – Cornell, Yale and the California Institute of Technology – said they had made formal decisions to reject future funding from the family.
Some schools said they had no plans to accept Sackler funding for the foreseeable future, including Brown and the University of Washington. Most others refused to disclose their plans.
At many schools, the money has already been spent. And even if officials wanted to return what’s left, it isn’t simple. There are tax hurdles and legal obstacles that can make it difficult to return gifts from charities.
Publicație : The Guardian
University students 'cheated' by rise in unfinished housing
Destiny is feeling cheated and angry.
She is one of about 250 students at the University of Portsmouth left in the lurch when their accommodation was not finished in time for the new term.
Instead of a glossy new room, she has been stuck temporarily in a hotel, away from other students - and with no cooking facilities she's had to live on take-away food for nearly three weeks.
"I've been feeling really anxious. I can't concentrate on my studies," says the politics student.
There are 22 private student blocks across the UK that have been delayed this term - almost a third of those being built, according to student housing charity Unipol.
Lack of scrutiny?
Eva Crossan Jory, of the National Union of Students, says she is "extremely concerned at the significant rise" in students being disrupted.
But the University of Portsmouth is also angry - because even though there might be an assumption that it has some link to the unfinished student flats, these are private developments over which the university has no control.
The university's vice-chancellor, Graham Galbraith, says there is a serious lack of scrutiny about how the private student accommodation system operates.
"At the end of the day, those housing providers know that the universities will step in. So where does the responsibility for this lie? Because they seem to be able to walk away," he says.
Anyone going through university towns and cities will have seen new blocks of student flats mushrooming skywards.
These are often private investments, but the cash fuelling this building boom is public money - in the form of the maintenance loans to cover students' living costs.
Prof Galbraith says it seems extraordinary that billions of pounds of taxpayers' money should go into these private rental projects with so little accountability.
"There is no real control," he says, and he warns that new blocks can open without even a "conversation" with the university.
He also wants better consumer protection for students signing housing contracts, arguing that some "arrangements are incredibly one-sided".
Unregulated
This autumn there have been reports of unfinished flats in locations from Portsmouth to Swansea, Lincoln to Liverpool. In Bristol, delays have meant students being put up temporarily in Wales.
But it's not clear who might intervene.
Universities UK says its code of conduct applies only to university-owned housing - which means any private student developments will not be covered.
The higher-education regulator, the Office for Students, says it "doesn't have powers to regulate private accommodation providers".
Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan asked a parliamentary question about "safeguards for students affected by properties not being built in time".
But universities minister Chris Skidmore said universities were autonomous and that "government plays no direct role in the provision of student residential accommodation".
First day, no accommodation
In Portsmouth, Bilgesu is another student unable to move into the new Stanhope House student building.
She is in a hotel with no free wi-fi, where she feels unable to get on with her degree course and isolated from student life.
"It's just so far away from the student environment," says the biomedical science student.
Alex, an international student from the Netherlands, found out about the accommodation not being ready just as he was travelling to the UK.
He was coming to a new country and a new city for the first time - and had nowhere to go, so booked himself into a hotel at his own expense.
"I didn't know anything about this city, I couldn't make any friends. It was hard for the first week," says Alex, who was then found a room by the university.
He says he was even more taken aback when "on the day they told people they can't move in, they were asking for money from them".
"I feel like students are really easy to exploit. I just came here expecting the building to be ready, I'm trusting what I saw on the website."
Compensation
Destiny says the disruption has meant she can't get the term started. "I can't organise my books. It's affecting my studies," she says.
The students are unimpressed by a compensation offer of £150 - less than they are still being charged for a week's rent.
The students' union and university officials have been trying to help students who have found themselves unable to move in.
Union president Helena Schofield says the link between housing and students' mental health is underestimated.
Starting at university can be an emotional time - and such uncertainty about accommodation, and being away from other students, can only add to the stress.
Unreserved apologies
The private housing company behind Stanhope House, Prime Student Living, says it has "unreservedly apologised to students".
But it blames its building contractor for a lack of advance warning of the failure to open on time and says finding alternative accommodation was made an "immediate priority".
The spokesman said the company was "disappointed to hear that the university does not consider that we have communicated effectively to them".
"We believe that we have done everything possible to mitigate the impact for those affected in the time available," said the Prime Student Living spokesman.
"We will continue to do all we can to get students into the building as an urgent priority."
Publicație : BBC News
Traditional student housing may be less profitable but it’s better for GPAs
Universities should offer residence halls that support students’ socialising rather than expensive luxury-style apartments, argue Fred Volk and Joshua Brown
One way that universities have been increasing their recruitment appeal is by offering luxury student housing that includes high-end design elements desired by students. Historically, these design elements that emphasise the latest in residential amenities and increased privacy have not been included as part of the university residence hall experience. While luxury student housing may entice a student to enroll in a given institution over another, the design elements may undermine academic performance and potentially exacerbate class and race differences for student populations as our new study suggests.
Luxury residence halls have become a strategic part of the multi-faceted revenue plan for many universities. The construction of these high-end residence halls has been typically funded through loans or university-corporate partnerships. Such partnerships require the university to maintain specific student enrolments to ensure occupancy while the corporate partner funds, constructs and sometimes manages the facility. Once completed, the university can up-charge for the luxury student housing to generate additional revenues for the institution.
Presumably, these amenities will also attract a more affluent set of students who can pay the full tuition rate rather than discounted tuition rate subsidised by the university. This revenue generation model can stratify students by class and race by funnelling less affluent students into less expensive housing.
At best, this model directly discourages the development of inter-class and inter-racial relationships. At worst, this model could impact campus tension between groups based on class and race by promoting disparate housing experiences. The residence hall design can make a difference in the success of students.
Our research examined whether residence hall design is associated with student academic success. We compared two architectural designs: a luxury-style apartment design that provided privacy and added amenities for the students; and a traditional double-corridor design with shared bathrooms at the ends.
We believed the design of the luxury-apartment style emphasised privacy and was more isolating, whereas the design of the traditional corridor emphasised community and allowed for more socialising among students.
The study was based on archival records, and thus correlational in nature. An effort was made to control for specialised residence halls (e.g. for student athletes) and competing functions of ethnicity (e.g. international students). Unfortunately, records were unavailable to assess student engagement in campus activities.
The results of our study showed that all students who lived in the traditional, more socialising residence halls had higher first semester grade point averages. These results appear contrary to consumer demands that emphasise preferences for privacy and luxury, but they complement prior research that examines student academic success and a sense of belonging.
Our study also showed that underrepresented minority students who lived with students of similar ethnicity in the traditional, more socialising residence halls had higher first semester GPAs.
In contrast, the minority students who lived in the higher priced, luxury residence halls performed more poorly than those in the traditional architecture.
For minority students enrolled at predominately white institutions, such as the one we studied, first-semester academic success is an important factor in facilitating their persistence and, ultimately, graduation.
The luxury residence halls we examined likely limited student interaction through their design elements that emphasised high levels of privacy. The isolating nature of the luxury architecture may have limited minority students from engaging with other ethnic students “like themselves”.
Inversely, the luxury design also potentially limited the predominantly white population of students from engaging with the minority students “different from themselves”. As prior studies have shown, limited engagement within and across races leads to a less rich educational experience for all.
Although not causal, the results from this research underscore that the university housing environment likely plays an important role in student success and should not be overlooked by students, parents, and administrators.
We caution university leaders from pursuing market-driven approaches when it comes to student housing, given that consumer preferences change and an institution could find its features out of fashion very quickly. Moreover, partnerships with outside business entities should be undertaken with caution because corporate missions differ from university missions. The aim of a university is to transform students through education, while the aim of a business is to maximise profit. Poorly planned partnerships can undermine the goals of both entities.
We also urge university leaders to emphasise the transformative focus of their educational mission. Luxury dorms, climbing walls and other non-academic features are a logical result of a transactional rather than a transformative view of a college education.
The transactional approach reinforces market competition where customers are more likely to compare universities based on features and costs related to the purchase decision. Unfortunately, there will always be another college or university that delivers more features, in a better location and at a lower cost.
Unless institutions educate prospective students and parents about the value of an on-campus transformational experience – and objectively provide that experience for students – university leaders will continue to inadvertently invest in short-term solutions that may negatively impact the very people they are trying to assist
Publicație : The Times
Six out of 10 contract cheating cases spotted using new software
Turnitin tool offers limited improvement in detection rate
Machine learning software designed to help identify assignments produced by essay mills has the potential to deliver a limited improvement in detection rates, according to an Australian study.
Markers who took part in an experiment using an alpha version of Turnitin’s Authorship Investigate, which compares submissions with students’ previous work to identify anomalies, identified 59 per cent of contract cheating cases when using the tool – compared with 48 per cent without it.
Academics at Deakin University who conducted the test described the results as “very exciting”. However, other experts expressed disappointment that the improvement was not more significant.
For the experiment, detailed in Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 24 experienced markers across a range of disciplines were each given 20 assignments. Each set contained 14 legitimate assignments and six that were purchased from contract cheating websites.
Once they had made an initial judgement, the markers were allowed to revise their decision on whether or not the paper was from an essay mill after using Authorship Investigate, which had accessed seven previous assignments written by each student to scrutinise their writing style. The tool compares linguistic attributes such as sentence complexity and length before warning whether elements of the submission fall outside the expected range.
Phillip Dawson, associate director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning at Deakin and one of the paper’s authors, said that the 11 percentage point increase in detection was “very exciting”, adding that more recent versions of Authorship Investigate that are now being used were likely to be even more effective.
He acknowledged that the improvement in detection was smaller than the 24 percentage point rise reported in an experiment conducted with Deakin colleague Wendy Sutherland-Smith – also a co-author on the latest paper – which examined the impact of improving markers’ training in detecting contract cheating.
However, the type of marker training they investigated had involved academics spending three hours examining submissions written by essay mills similar to those that they would be marking, and the pair argue that this would not always be possible when staff worked across multiple campuses and had other commitments.
“Academics often don’t follow through with accusations of contract cheating because it’s too hard and too time-consuming. [Authorship Investigate] will take some of this work out of their hands,” Dr Dawson said. “This will help markers have confidence to bring the evidence to the committee for discussion.
“It’s always a human judgement about whether contract cheating has happened; we want people to be the decision-makers with input from the systems.”
Irene Glendinning, academic manager for student experience at Coventry University, said that although the results were encouraging, it was “disappointing” that the significance was not more “startling”. However, “any boost to detection would help provide a deterrent to students cheating in the first place”, she said.
Thomas Lancaster, a senior teaching fellow at Imperial College London, said that while he supported “any technology that made it easier to detect contract cheating”, the first priority “has to be encouraging staff to actively look for contract cheating and making sure that they are supported if they think that they have”.
He cautioned that despite the sector’s having better tools to detect this type of cheating, the “essay industry is getting more sophisticated”. “I’ve seen a provider telling students to keep hiring the same writer for all their assignments, so they don’t get caught by tools tracking their writing style. We have to continue to keep developing our response to contract cheating in all the forms that takes.”
Publicație : The Times
Pour les jeunes diplômés, difficile d’échapper aux stéréotypes générationnels
Chez les employeurs, les normes associées à la « génération Y » et à la jeunesse sont plus puissantes en France qu’ailleurs en Europe, selon une étude.
Lorsqu’elle a débarqué sur le marché du travail, début août, avec son double master en ressources humaines et gestion sous le bras, Zoë Dravert était pleine de confiance, pleine d’enthousiasme. Mais sans doute un peu « trop » . « Quand j’ai dit au recruteur que j’avais plein d’idées pour l’entreprise, il m’a soupçonnée d’avoir un problème avec l’autorité, relate la jeune femme de 26 ans avec amertume. Je lui ai répondu qu’on pouvait être à la fois ambitieuse et respectueuse de la hiérarchie. Il m’a dit que je donnais l’impression de n’en faire qu’à ma tête, et que c’était symptomatique des gens de mon âge. » La suite de l’entrevue a été du même tonneau :
« Il m’a demandé si j’étais prête à vraiment m’engager pour l’entreprise, à ne pas compter mes heures. Je suis sûre qu’il n’aurait pas posé la question à quelqu’un de plus âgé. »
Les jeunes diplômés sont-ils prisonniers de stéréotypes qu’on accole à leur génération ? Comment échapper à ces images et ces associations, lorsqu’on ne s’y reconnaît pas ? Tel est l’objet d’une étude publiée en juillet 2019 par Jean Pralong, professeur de gestion des ressources humaines à l’EM Normandie. Le chercheur a suivi les carrières de titulaires de masters en gestion, et interrogé des managers et des cadres des ressources humaines sur leur perception des jeunes diplômés dans l’Hexagone et dans cinq pays européens (Royaume-Uni, Portugal, Suisse, Pays-Bas et Allemagne).
« Individualistes », « trop créatifs »…
Trois stéréotypes sur les « jeunes diplômés » sont ressortis : les jeunes débutant leur carrière aujourd’hui seraient très attachés à l’équilibre vie privée/vie professionnelle, auraient de fortes attentes sur le cadre de travail et seraient difficiles à fidéliser. Ils seraient très individualistes, auraient du mal à supporter l’autorité, ce qui complique leur intégration dans des équipes. Ils seraient très, voire trop créatifs. « Toutes ces croyances sont relativement partagées dans les six pays étudiés. Mais c’est en France qu’elles sont les plus fortes, d’après nos résultats », explique Jean Pralong.
Un des constats de départ de son étude : à compétences égales, selon Eurostat, les jeunes diplômés sont moins attractifs en France que dans les autres pays européens. Les bac + 5 tricolores sont 9,2 % à être au chômage un an après leur diplôme, contre seulement 3,7 % pour leurs homologues du reste de l’Union européenne.
Le chercheur y voit un effet direct des « images négatives » associées aux jeunes en France. « Les caractéristiques supposées des jeunes sont des handicaps à leur insertion. Elles font hésiter les entreprises avant de recruter un jeune diplômé et avant de créer des postes qui leur sont destinés. Elles expliqueraient le choix des CDD comme stratégie de pré-embauche, c’est-à-dire comme moyen de vérifier concrètement qu’un jeune candidat va se comporter de façon adéquate. »
Publicație : Le Monde
Une université franco-tunisienne ouvre ses portes à Tunis
Inaugurée vendredi, l’Uftam propose dès cette rentrée des masters, des licences et des certificats binationaux.
En finir avec la fuite des cerveaux africains et le chômage d’une jeunesse diplômée. C’est une des ambitions de la nouvelle faculté au nom résolument géopolitique : l’Université franco-tunisienne pour l’Afrique et la Méditerranée (Uftam). Inaugurée à Tunis vendredi 4 octobre, en présence de la ministrede l’enseignement supérieur, de la recherche et de l’innovation française, Frédérique Vidal, et de son homologue tunisien, Slim Khalbous, l’Uftam fera sa rentrée le 4 novembre. A l’heure où les portes s’ouvrent le recrutement de ses premiers étudiants francophones, issus aussi bien du Maghreb, d’Afrique subsaharienne que des rives nord de la Méditerranée est en cours de finalisation.
C’est pour proposer une formation plus en adéquation avec les problématiques de développement du continent que l’Uftam a élaboré trois premiers masters : « Expertise économique des politiques et projets de développement », « gestion de l’environnement et métiers de l’eau » et « sciences des données et nouveaux métiers du numérique ». Viennent s’ajouter deux certificats diplômants en ingénierie de projets euro-méditerranéens et en management, avec une attention particulière portée aux « compétences douces » (soft skills), destinées à développer, notamment, l’intelligence collective en entreprise.
« Diplôme “agrafé” »
L’attractivité de ce pôle d’enseignement supérieur tient beaucoup aux diplômes binationaux qu’il va délivrer. Les universités de Carthage, de Tunis, d’El-Manar, d’Aix-Marseille, de Nice-Côte d’Azur, Panthéon-Sorbonne, les écoles nationales d’ingénieurs de Tunis (ENI et Ensit), l’Ecole normale supérieure de Paris-Saclay, Sup de Com Tunis, l’Institut préparatoire aux études scientifiques et techniques (Ipest) de Tunis et l’Ecole nationale supérieure de techniques avancées (Ensta) de Paris ont réuni leurs compétences pour donner naissance à l’Uftam. Avant d’envoyer leurs enseignants-chercheurs assurer les cours. Ils sont plus de 70 à avoir été associés au projet.
« A la sortie, les étudiants repartiront avec ce qu’on appelle dans le jargon un diplôme “agrafé”, explique la Franco-Tunisienne Samira Karrach, directrice de l’Uftam et des projets transversaux à l’université Côte d’Azur. A savoir un diplôme français, un tunisien et un franco-tunisien labellisé Uftam. » Slim Khalbous, le ministre de l’enseignement supérieur tunisien voit là « un gage de qualité important pour des étudiants du continent qui envisagent souvent d’aller en France pour faire ou poursuivre des études ».
L’idée de créer cette université binationale est partie du constat, en 2016, que « la coopération au niveau de la recherche entre nos deux pays était déjà très riche, analyse Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, ambassadeur de France à Tunis. Mais qu’au niveau licence et maîtrise, on pouvait faire mieux »… Et voir plus loin, pour répondre aux gigantesques besoins de formation sur le continent.
« Dialogue entre recruteurs et formateurs »
Si depuis 1970 le nombre d’étudiants a été multiplié par vingt, au regard de la dynamique démographique, plus de 300 millions de jeunes Africains sont attendus sur le marché du travail à l’horizon 2 050. Les universités africaines doivent donc se réformer sans tarder, innover et proposer une offre qui réponde aux besoins réels du continent pour faire mentir les statistiques de l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT) qui rappellent que les diplômés africains sont deux à trois fois plus exposés au chômage que les jeunes qui ne sont pas allés au lycée.
L’Uftam a d’ores et déjà dégagé comme axes prioritaires la gestion d’entreprise (avec un renforcement des compétences juridiques et de management), et les nouvelles technologies (avec l’énorme chantier de l’intelligence artificielle), et veut créer des synergies avec les entreprises tunisiennes et continentales. « Il faut que cesse l’absence de dialogue entre formateurs et recruteurs », argumente Slim Khalbous, afin d’accélérer “l’employabilité” immédiate des jeunes Africains diplômés. Pour ce faire, il faut aller vers plus de pluridisciplinarité et décloisonner les formations. »
Les professionnels seront à terme invités à intervenir directement auprès des étudiants aux côtés des enseignants et associés à l’université pour élaborer les contenus de formation. Courant 2020 et à la rentrée suivante, plusieurs masters et licences ouvriront. Enfin, avec des cursus en formation continue et à distance, l’Uftam veut aussi conquérir les salariés africains francophones qui souhaitent se perfectionner dans un domaine et les personnes en reprise d’études. En 2020-2021, 600 à 700 étudiants devraient être là, pour atteindre une vitesse de croisière à 6 000 étudiants les années suivantes.
Enjeu continental
L’enjeu d’une université francophone implantée en Tunisie, tournée la Méditerranée aussi bien que vers l’Afrique, est aussi continental. Ces dix dernières années, le Maroc a ainsi musclé son offre en parvenant à attirer de grandes écoles françaises, telles Centrale, l’EM Lyon, l’Essec ou l’université Paris-Dauphine, qui se sont implantées à Rabat et à Casablanca. Le Sénégal a pour sa part déjà inauguré son campus franco-sénégalais de Diamniadio en juin pour lancer sa première rentrée universitaire en proposant 18 cursus allant de bac + 3 à bac + 5 en partenariat avec des établissements français. Parmi les nombreux autres partenariats franco-africains d’envergure, l’Institut national polytechnique Houphouët-Boigny (INPHB) de Yamoussoukro, en Côte d’Ivoire, fleuron de la formation d’ingénieurs relancé à grands frais dès 2012, doit entrer dans une seconde phase de réhabilitation en 2020 avec l’ambition d’attirer un quart d’étudiants non ivoiriens.
Forte de ces exemples, la Tunisie veut aussi devenir une plate-forme régionale francophone. Or le pays, qui attire déjà 35 nationalités africaines, aurait vu son quota d’étudiants subsahariens fondre ces dernières années de 12 000 en 2010 à 4 500 en 2018, selon des associations d’étudiants subsahariens à cause des actes de racisme et des tracasseries administratives.
La très forte augmentation des frais d’inscription dans les universités françaises pour les étudiants extra-européens – entre 10 et 16 fois plus élevés – a mis un sérieux frein aux projets de nombreux jeunes Africains. Ils seraient entre 18 % et 50 % à avoir renoncé à venir faire leurs études de l’autre côté de la Méditerranée. Une chance pour l’Uftam et les universités francophones du continent avec leurs nouvelles offres de formation « qualité France ».
Publicație : Le Monde
7 octombrie 2019
Studentii de la "Cuza" pot primi burse pentru activitati sociale în campusurile studentesti
Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" (UAIC) din Iasi ofera 19 burse pentru activitati sociale în campusurile studentesti. Aceste burse vin în sprijinul studentilor care fac parte din categorii defavorizate, prin urmare, prioritate la acordare au studentii orfani, cei proveniti din plasament rezidential sau familial, din mediul rural, cu venituri reduse, de etnie roma. "15 burse sunt oferite pentru activitati în Cantina «Titu Maiorescu» si patru burse pentru activitati în cantinele «Gaudeamus» si «Akademos». Bursa este în cuantum de 600 lei/luna si se acorda pentru anul universitar 2019-2020", au transmis oficialii UAIC.
Studentii interesati de obtinerea acestor burse pot depune cereri pâna luni, 14 octombrie 2019, ora 9:00, astfel: pentru Cantina "Titu Maiorescu", la Biroul Social - camera 5, camin C12; pentru Cantinele "Gaudeamus" si "Akademos", la caminul "Gaudeamus" - camera 7. Selectia studentilor va avea loc luni, 14 octombrie, la ora 10:00, în Sala de protocol a Cantinei "Titu Maiorescu".
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Student al Universitatii "Cuza" din Iasi, dublu medaliat cu aur la Olimpiada Internationala de Matematica pentru Studenti din Israel
Stefan Razvan Balauca, student al Facultatii de Fizica si al Facultatii de Informatica din cadrul Universitatii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" (UAIC) din Iasi, a fost dublu medaliat cu aur la finala Olimpiadei Internationale de Matematica pentru Studenti.
Aceasta a fost organizata în perioada 22-24 septembrie 2019, de Universitatea "Ariel" din Israel - "Super Final Round of Mathematical International Olympiad". Acesta a fost medaliat cu aur atât la individual, cât si pe echipe. România a fost reprezentata la acest concurs si de o echipa formata din trei studenti.
Astfel, echipa formata din studentul Universitatii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" si doi studenti de la Universitatea Tehnica (TUIASI) "Gheorghe Asachi" din Iasi, Cristian Stelian Grecu si Ioan Stanciu, a obtinut medalia de aur, având un punctaj maxim, la egalitate cu echipa Universitatii de Stat "Lomonosov" din Moscova, Rusia. La acest concurs au participat 214 studenti de la 64 de universitati din întreaga lume.
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
The Italian miracle is an illusion
Improved citation performance amid falling funding is the result of gaming, say Alberto Baccini, Eugenio Petrovich and Giuseppe De Nicolao
In 2010, the Italian research system was profoundly changed by a landmark university reform.
In the name of efficient use of public money, research funding was cut, the recruitment of researchers was curtailed and a complex evaluation system was introduced to monitor and improve the quality of Italian research.
At the heart of that system are bibliometric indicators. They play a central role not only in the assessment of departments and research centres, but also in the recruitment, promotion and evaluation of individual researchers. For instance, researchers must now undergo a national scientific habilitation that cannot be passed unless their citations, h-index and output exceed the national median in their field.
On the surface, the reform appears to have had the desired effect. Notwithstanding the reduction in personnel and funding, Italian science achieved a kind of miracle, increasing both the volume and citation impact of its publications. On the latter measure, Italy overtook the US in 2012, rising to second place behind the UK among the G8 countries, according to Elsevier’s SciVal Analytics. In a 2016 report commissioned by the UK government, Elsevier predicted that, “based on current trajectories, [Italy is] set to overtake the UK in the near future”.
Meanwhile, a Nature editorial in August observed that “although Italy’s spending on research and development – at around 1.3 per cent of its gross domestic product – sits well below the EU average of 2 per cent, its research performance continues to improve”.
And, according to ANVUR, the Italian governmental research evaluation agency, “Italy is an international exemplar in the design and implementation of research evaluation exercises”. Its 2018 biennial report says that the “sophisticated use of multiple indicators” to “deal with the problem of comparison between disciplines” has meant that “in recent years Italian universities have shown a gradual convergence towards higher standards, both in teaching [and] research”.
However, bibliometric-centred policies have a dark side, which is increasingly being brought to light. Indicators invite gaming. Some of the highly cited researchers identified by Clarivate Analytics are, in fact, massive self-citers. And, in Italy, some recent studies document how, in some fields, self-citation has increased significantly since the reform.
Our study, “Citation gaming induced by bibliometric evaluation: A country-level comparative analysis”, published in September in Plos One, confirms that the recent sharp rise in Italian citation impact is, in essence, a mirage, generated by a massive national change in citation habits after the 2010 reform.
To illuminate the real situation, we introduce a new indicator called “inwardness”, defined as the ratio between the total number of a country’s self-citations and the total number of citations received by that country in the same time frame. It is able to track not only individual self-citers but also intra-national citation clubs.
We observe that, after 2009, most scientific fields in Italy saw their inwardness jump: a trend unique among European members of the G10. In 2016, Italy became – both globally and for a large majority of research fields – the country with the second highest inwardness and the second lowest rate of international collaborations, behind only the US.
The likely explanation is that the bibliometric targets have stimulated large numbers of Italian scientists to both increase their level of self-citation and join citation-exchange clubs.
So what are the lessons of this huge case of collective citation doping? It might be claimed that the perverse effects of bibliometric targets could be countered by adopting better indicators. However, excluding self-citations from calculations would just reinforce the incentive to create citation clubs – which, by their nature, are elusive.
In the end, there is no escape from Goodhart’s famous maxim that when a measure become a target, it ceases to be a good measure. Our results show that any new indicator is doomed to be matched by new forms of strategic adaptation, feeding an endless perverse cycle.
Miracles do not happen. There is no magic wand – bibliometric or otherwise – able to transform the scientific performance of a country while also cutting investment.
Publicație : The Times
Student fees and funding ‘key battleground’ in Canadian election
Main political parties take different approaches to improving affordability of higher education
Student funding is proving to be a key issue in the campaigns for Canada’s upcoming federal election, with most of the major political parties promising to improve the affordability of higher education, but in differing ways.
Just as university funding has been a critical element in the race for the US Democratic presidential nomination this year, politicians to the north of the border have been unveiling plans to reduce tuition costs and increase student grants.
Last month, prime minister and Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau promised to increase student grants by 40 per cent; to give new graduates two years’ grace before they must start to repay student loans, instead of the current six months; and to enable graduates to postpone those repayments until they are earning at least C$35,000 (£21,000) – up from the current C$25,000 threshold.
New parents would also be able to pause student loan repayments until their youngest child turns five, without accruing interest during that time, Mr Trudeau pledged ahead of the election on 21 October.
The prime minister made the announcements at the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus in Ontario – where the Progressive Conservative premier and populist Doug Ford has forced through deep education spending cuts. While Mr Ford lowered tuition fees, he has also cut student loan and grant funding, and his approval rating has plummeted in recent months.
“Education matters to young people across the country, of course, but it’s especially top of mind here in Ontario, as Doug Ford slashes education funding and makes it near impossible to pay for tuition,” Mr Trudeau said.
The Conservative party was yet to publish its manifesto as Times Higher Education went to press, but the New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Green Party have both addressed the affordability of post-secondary education in their campaigns.
The NDP said its goal was to work towards free university and college tuition, and it has promised to work with provinces and territories to cap, or even reduce, tuition fees. It has also pledged to eliminate federal interest rates on student loans and to boost student grant funding.
Meanwhile, the Greens have pledged to eliminate post-secondary tuition fees and to forgive federal student debt. They also said they would ensure that Indigenous students have access to post-secondary education.
Sofia Descalzi, chair of the Canadian Federation of Students, which advocates for free post-secondary education, said the topic was “definitely an important talking point in this election season”.
“Students are going to be one of the largest voting blocs, and there are a lot of [other] people who are student debt holders,” she said.
“Now, more than in other elections, we’re seeing that most of the parties actually do have a stance on post-secondary education.”
While voters in Canada are not required to register in advance of heading to the polls, Ms Descalzi said that high numbers of students were pledging to vote.
“In the last election in 2015, voter turnout went from 38 per cent to 56 per cent among students and youths. We’re expecting that percentage to be even higher this time around,” she added. “This election, students might be the game changers for sure.”
Jim Woodgett, director of research at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto, said that although education was largely a provincial, rather than a federal, mandate in Canada, most of the major parties were “making affordability the central aspect of their campaigns”, but in “slightly different ways”.
“It’s not necessarily a vote swinger but…nobody wants to say that they’re against education,” he said. “Almost half of students go on to post-secondary education of some sort.”
Dr Woodgett said that Ontario and Quebec were the two largest provinces in terms of the number of seats in parliament, which meant that issues that are “sensitive in those provinces tend to get more attention”.
He added that the Liberal party proposal to increase student grants by 40 per cent would enable provinces to offset all tuition costs for low-income students without any cost to the provincial governments.
“The parties are trying to leverage provincial counterparts to take their policies and transfer [them] in terms of their own policies for the benefit of students and families,” Dr Woodgett said.
While the various proposals would affect students in “different ways, in terms of whether they’re means-tested, for the neediest, or universal”, Dr Woodgett concluded that “no matter what happens [in the election], it’s probably going to be good for students and their families”
Publicație : The Times
New Danish government ends budget squeeze – except for humanities
New Social Democrat administration drops annual 2 per cent saving target, but could end teaching subsidy for humanities and social sciences
Denmark’s new Social Democrat government has ended a five-year budget squeeze for universities, but academics fear that proposed cuts to humanities and social science funding could lead to course closures.
The new administration, which set out its budget on 2 October, will scrap annual 2 per cent cuts to university allocations.
Birgit Bangskjær, chief executive of the Akademikerne, a body that represents Denmark’s graduates, described universities as having been cut “really into the bone” by five years of financial pressure.
Jesper Langergaard, director of Universities Denmark, welcomed the end of the annual cuts. “There have been some significant and positive changes with the new government,” he said.
Mr Langergaard also welcomed “huge” new grants for green research, amounting to DKr1 billion (£119 million).
Some of this money, however, will come from funding streams for other research projects that have come to an end.
And the government has not supported the extension of a long-standing subsidy for humanities and social sciences teaching costs, which was introduced to address concerns that the disciplines were underfunded.
Removing this, Ms Bangskjær said, would amount to a 10 per cent cut in teaching funding across these fields.
“This is really, really grave, and we are quite disappointed, because we feel they haven’t lived up to their promises,” she said. “It can very well mean that courses will close down, or they will have to fire academic staff.”
Hanne Tange, associate professor in the department of culture and global studies at Aalborg University, agreed. “It’s going to close programmes. We don’t know – it might even close universities. It’s a big blow,” she said.
Removing support for humanities and social sciences teaching would continue Denmark’s utilitarian approach to higher education, although it could still be traded away in negotiations over the budget with other parties. In 2018, a group of rectors, government officials and business leaders recommended in a report that student places be funded on the basis of labour market need, leading to fears of cuts in the humanities.
There is also hope that Denmark will overturn a reduction of more than 1,000 places on courses taught in English, which was announced in 2018 by the previous government. That administration had argued that too many foreign students left Denmark after graduation, meaning that the state did not recoup its investment. The concern was particularly acute regarding European Union students, who, like Danes, pay no tuition fees and receive student grants.
In its governing agreement with other parties, the Social Democrats have promised to end this cap on students attending courses taught in English. “There will be a different and more welcoming approach concerning the number of international students in Denmark,” said Mr Langergaard.
But nothing has yet been agreed because ending the restrictions would entail breaking earlier inter-party agreements limiting what can be spent on foreign students.
And complicating the matter is the new governing party’s broader hostility towards immigration, said Ms Bangskjær. “It’s not an area that has warm political feelings in the Social Democrats, but it’s what they have promised to do,” she said.
Professor Tange said there had been a “very, very swift change” since the restrictions were introduced last year, with foreign students noticeably deterred from applying.
Publicație : The Times
Hong Kong universities fear reputation impact as protests go on
Institutions’ status hinges on city’s high level of academic freedom and position as global travel hub
Hong Kong’s status as an academic hub could be undermined by the protests that have gripped the territory, academics fear.
Cancellations of a conference and student exchange programmes have been seen as early signs of the potential impact of the demonstrations and the increasingly authoritarian response of the Hong Kong government.
And although many academics are sympathetic to protesters’ demands for greater democracy, they are conscious that the reputation of Hong Kong’s universities hinges on the city’s high level of academic freedom and its position as a global travel hub.
Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at SOAS University of London, told Times Higher Education that the impact “will depend on what happens in the next few months”.
“Universities with collaborations with Hong Kong institutions are unlikely to make major changes at the moment. But if the situation in Hong Kong continues and deteriorates, partner universities elsewhere will have to review some of the practical arrangements,” Professor Tsang said.
“We in universities have a duty of care to our students, and we would prefer not to send our students in harm’s way. But the situation in Hong Kong has not reached such a point – at least in my view.”
Others appear to feel that that point has already been reached. Singapore’s Education Ministry has told its public universities to postpone trips to Hong Kong, including those related to exchange programmes involving more than 100 students.
The Association of Pacific Rim Universities said it was cancelling a major conference on global health set to take place at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) next month and rescheduling it for 2021. The university was “aware of the concerns of some foreign visitors about visiting Hong Kong at this particular time”, the APRU said.
HKU said that its enrolment of international students this year remained “robust”. The institution’s undergraduate programmes admitted some 700 non-local students this term, about half of whom are from mainland China. A “very small” number of students had decided not to enrol for various reasons, a spokeswoman said.
However, concerns have been raised about the welfare of Hong Kong academics and students making trips to mainland China. A survey conducted by the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union in August found that 93.6 per cent of respondents were “quite concerned” or “deeply concerned” about themselves or their colleagues crossing the border.
“There were reports in August that officials were checking Hong Kong residents’ mobile phones, which caused worries,” said Ip Kin-yuen, a member of Hong Kong’s legislative council and the union’s vice-president. “However, the level of these checks seemed to have gone down in September, so hopefully this is a short-term situation.”
Hong Kong’s two medical schools – at HKU and the Chinese University of Hong Kong – have delayed or cancelled trips across the border, which are normally a required part of the curriculum.
HKU did not give a reason for its decision, but it came after students posted on Facebook that mainland officials were checking personal electronic devices and asking that protest-related materials be deleted.
CUHK acknowledged “misgivings over doing internships in mainland China at this particular time”, and has arranged for students to take mainland-based internships at a later date.
Publicație : The Times
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