15 februarie 20120

Exclusiv! Raportul rectorului Tudorel Toader, validat printr-un vot covârşitor de noii membrii ai Senatului UAIC

Vineri, membrii noului Senat al Universității Alexandru Ioan Cuza din Iași s-au întrunit într-o şedinţă în cadrul căreia a fost prezentat raportul de activitate a rectorului în funcţie prof. univ. dr. Tudorel Toader din anul 2019. Din cei 57 de senatori prezenţi, 55 au votat pentru aprobare, fiind doar o abţinere şi un vot împotriva.

Astfel cu o majoritate confortabilă, activitatea din ultimul an al echipei coordonată de prof. univ. dr. Toader a fost apreciată şi aprobată de importantul for academic. De precizat că în perioada 18 -22 februarie vor avea loc depuneri de candidatură pentru mandatul de rector 2020 – 2024. Aici, aşa cum a declarat în exclusivitate în Platorulu BZI LIVE, prof. univ. dr. Toader îşi va depune dosarul de candidatură chiar în prima zi, luni, 18 februarie. Mai precizăm că noul preşedinte al Senatului UAIC va fi ales marţi, 19 februarie. Aici, cel mai probabil actualul preşedinte, prof univ. dr. Gabriel Ovidiu Iancu va obţine un nou mandat.

În final, pe data de 11 martie 2020 va avea loc primul tur de alegere al noului rector de la UAIC.

Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași

„Votul nu mai e parţial, ci universal. Dacă un rector se erodează, e amendat de comunitate“

Rectorii universităţilor de stat din Iaşi sunt de acord cu modificarea adusă de Parlamentul României asupra Legii Educaţiei, prin care s-a scos restricţia ca o persoană să poată avea maximum două mandate, consecutive, în funcţia de rector. Amendamentul a fost introdus de senatorul PSD Liviu Pop, iar legea, cu toate modificările, a fost trimisă la preşedintele României pentru promulgare. Rămâne acum de văzut dacă acesta va promulga legea, în urma reacţiilor vehemente din spaţiul public, sau o va întoarce în Parlament.

Prof.dr. Vasile Vîntu, de la Universitatea de Ştiinţe Agricole şi Medicină Veterinară „Ion Ionescu de la Brad“, a punctat faptul că o astfel de decizie este inoportun luată în timpul campaniilor electorale care au loc în universităţile din Iaşi, dar trebuie să fie una care să ţină cont de contextul naţional şi de cel internaţional, european. „Nu aş putea să spun dacă e bine sau rău, dar, dacă o comunitate academică îşi doreşte un manager, de ce să i se interzică acelei comunităţi, prin lege să îl poată numi pe omul respectiv? Există criteriul votului, iar atât timp cât este universal, exprimă dorinţa comunită­ţii. Dacă era un vot parţial, dat doar de senatori, cum era înainte, da, era o problemă. Dar aşa, o măsură de acest gen cred că nu este nepotrivită. Dar, sigur, trebuie să ne bazăm pe responsabilitatea comunităţii academice“, a declarat prof.dr. Vasile Vîntu, rector al USAMV.

„De ce nu ar fi restricţionat similar şi pentru primar sau parlamentar“

Prof.dr. Dan Caşcaval, rectorul Universităţii Tehnice „Gheorghe Asachi“, a punctat chiar că i se pare forţată prevederea din Legea Educaţiei 1/2011, cea care restricţionează numărul de mandate pentru rectori la două. „Spun aceasta deoarece dintre poziţiile care se pot ocupa prin vot «popular», deci nu mă refer la cele din zona justiţiei, doar funcţiile de preşedinte al statului şi de rector sunt limitate la două mandate. În aceste condiţii, nu văd de ce numărul de mandate nu ar fi restricţionat similar şi pentru poziţiile de primar, parlamentari sau decani. Dacă în cazul poziţiei de preşedinte există o tradiţie în ţările civilizate privind numărul de mandate, care pot fi doar două, complete sau incomplete - a se vedea cazul unor preşedinţi suspendaţi, sau care au «sărit» un mandat, care nu au mai putut candida pentru un al treilea mandat, în cazul rectorilor Legea 1 prevede «două mandate complete succesive». «Complete» şi «succesive» sugerează clar că pot exista şi mai mult de două mandate“, a declarat prof.dr. Dan Caşcaval.

Acesta a explicat că, din punctul său de vedere, sunt şanse reale ca un rector să se „erodeze“ în două mandate, ca strategia sa să nu mai fie adaptată contextului actual în care universitatea are nevoie să evolueze. „Însă această uzură poate fi uşor amendată de către comunitatea academică, prin votul pe care i-l acordă sau nu. De aceea, cred că prin modificarea acestei prevederi a Legii 1 se revine la o stare de normalitate, la o uniformizare a numărului de mandate a funcţiilor care se ocupă prin vot popular şi se elimină o restricţie care, din diferite motive obiective sau subiective, era adresată strict poziţiei de rector. Şi, de asemenea, cred că va creşte rolul comunităţii academice în a-şi alege neîngrădit un anumit traseu“, a precizat prof.dr. Dan Caşcaval.

Toader: Nu mi se aplică

Prof.dr. Tudorel Toader, rectorul Universităţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza“, şi-a exprimat dubiile că propunerea Parlamentului va trece din prima de preşedinte, punct de vedere împărtăşit şi de o parte dintre ceilalţi rectori, şi a ţinut să puncteze că aceasta nu i se aplică şi lui. „În ceea ce mă priveşte, nu se aplică. Probabil că a fost corelată cu ideea funcţiilor de decan, care nu au limitat numărul de mandate, mai ales ţinând cont de faptul că decanii fac parte din conducerea executivă a universităţii. Astfel, s-a dat mai multă autono­mie universităţii, comunităţii academice, care poate astfel să decidă dacă cineva merită un mandat sau mai mult de două“, a precizat prof.dr. Tudorel Toader. Întrebat, în calitatea sa de expert în drept, dacă prin carta universităţii o instituţie poate introduce, ca regulă, un număr limitat de mandate, acesta a precizat că de principiu Carta respectă legea, deci nu s-ar putea limita numărul.

După 65 de ani, oricum nu se poate candida

La rândul său, prof.dr. Viorel Scripcariu crede că, într-un universitate cu o comunitate sănătoasă, oricum pot fi cu greu mai mult de două, maximum trei mandate, fiindcă rectori sunt aleşi persoane cu experienţă, aflate în partea a doua a vieţii, şi aici intervine vârsta de pensionare la 65 de ani, după care o persoană nu poate candida decât în regim special. „Nu văd să ajungă cineva rector la 40 de ani şi să rămână apoi nu ştiu câte mandate. Dacă nu se scoate şi vârsta de pensionare, nu există niciun risc major. Nu pot să zic că mă bucur sau că îmi pare rău, îmi propun să mă gândesc la cele două mandate ale mele şi apoi să vedem despre altele“, a explicat prof.dr. Viorel Scripcariu

Publicație : Ziarul de Iași

Observatorul Astronomic de la Iaşi va fi reabilitat şi consolidat. A fost considerat cel mai modern din Europa, dar acum se află într-o avansată stare de degradare

Observatorul Astronomic din Iaşi, clădire de patrimoniu aflată în proprietatea Universităţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iaşi, va fi reabilitat şi consolidat în urma unei investiţii de 8,9 milioane de lei.

Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iaşi (UAIC) a primit de la Compania Naţională de Investiţii aprobarea pentru finanţarea proiectului de reabilitare, consolidare şi modernizare a Observatorului Astronomic, în valoare de 8.986.644 de lei.

Acum, Observatorul Astronomic se află  într-o avansată stare de degradare structurală şi la nivelul finisajelor, încadrată în clasa I de risc seismic, astfel încât se impune restaurarea şi consolidarea imediată.

„Observatorul Astronomic al UAIC este unica unitate de observare a spaţiului din judeţul Iaşi, iar revitalizarea acestui obiectiv va crea valoare atât pentru specialiştii din cadrul Centrului de Cercetare Atmosferică şi Astronomică pentru securitate spaţială, cât şi pentru publicul amator de astronomie, care va avea acces ocazional la terasa de vizitare a cerului şi sala lunetei, cu prilejul evenimentelor astronomice importante (apariţii de comete, conjuncţii de planete, ploi de meteoriţi, eclipse, etc)”, a declarat prof. univ. dr. Tudorel TOADER, Rector al Universităţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iaşi.

Potrivit reprezentanţilor UAIC, prin lucrările de consolidare şi refuncţionalizare se urmăreşte restaurarea imobilului în integralitatea sa cu păstrarea funcţiunii iniţiale de cercetare atmosferică şi spaţială, amenajarea fostei locuinţe prin integrarea sa în funcţionalul unei instituţii de cercetare, precum şi realizarea unor spaţii de laboratoare care vor găzdui echipamente laser şi de cercetare astronomică dintre cele mai avansate pe plan mondial.

Lucrările vor fi făcute prin Compania Naţională de Investiţii, urmând a fi dezvoltate două entităţi CDI: pentru cercetarea dinamicii corpurilor infinitezimale şi pentru cercetarea atmosferei şi securitatea mediului. După reabilitare, publicul interesat va avea acces la terasa de vizitare a cerului şi sala lunetei, cu prilejul evenimentelor astronomice importante.

Construit în 1913, Observatorul Astronomic din Iaşi a fost al doilea din ţară, după cel înfiinţat la Bucureşti. Gândit iniţial ca laborator de astronomie pentru Facultatea de Matematică a Universităţii a fost considerat, la vremea sa, cel mai modern observator astronomic din Europa. Includea, pe lângă luneta centrală şi săli de laborator, o bibliotecă, precum şi un apartament pentru profesorii de astronomie ai Universităţii. Edificiul, înscris în lista monumentelor istorice, a suferit numeroase intervenţii de-a lungul timpului, cea mai radicală fiind realizarea Sălii Meridian.

Publicație : Adevărul

Hawaiian, Gaelic, Yiddish: so you want to learn an endangered language on Duolingo?

Languages do not become endangered peacefully. Duolingo’s efforts to teach such languages have entangled the company in often fraught historical contexts

In October last year, Meena Viswanath, a 31-year-old civil engineer from Berkeley, California, joined a small team of volunteers who were developing a Yiddish course on Duolingo, the free language learning app with over 300 million users. Having grown up in the only Yiddish-speaking family in a majority English-speaking New Jersey neighborhood, the prospect of broadcasting her mother tongue to a global network of students was exciting.

Throughout October, Viswanath and three other contributors regularly met to discuss the curriculum over a shared Slack channel. They had a target to get the course up and running towards the end of 2020, and to begin, progress was solid. But then they hit a roadblock.

Yiddish, which combines elements of German, Hebrew, Aramaic and Slavic, is a language of many dialects corresponding to the different regions of Europe where they emerged. The differences in pronunciation and grammar between these dialects are subtle, but for a native speaker they carry meaningful information about identity, culture and religious affiliation.

If you hear someone speaking Central European Yiddish, Viswanath explained to me, it would be a relatively safe bet that they are from a Hassidic community in Brooklyn. Whereas a speaker of Northern European Yiddish is more likely to have been taught at a secular university or school.

So whose dialect was going to be digitally archived as the Yiddish dialect?

Uncertain how to navigate this impasse, the team drafted a poll and posted it online, inviting others to vote. It triggered a community-wide debate: some felt that the Northern dialect, which closely matches the written form, was most appropriate. Others argued that Central Yiddish, which is most widely spoken, made more sense. This was further heightened by a fraught history. There were 13 million Yiddish speakers before the Holocaust; today the number hovers at around half a million. Teaching a dialect, therefore, is seen by many as a defiant homage to what was lost.

“People felt like this was not just a question about a dialect, but a political, socio-cultural question,” Viswanath said. “And we realized that we were going to make a lot of people angry, no matter what we picked.”

Along with Hawaiian, Scottish Gaelic and Navajo, Yiddish is one of several minority languages in development phase on the Duolingo platform. The company, which was recently valued at $700m, views the inclusion of languages with fewer speakers as part of a broader mission to become the most complete language education platform online.

For dominant languages like English and Spanish, which are highly standardized and deeply entrenched in global culture, Duolingo’s simple, game-ified approach to pedagogy – Learn Spanish in Five Minutes a Day! – makes sense. For minority languages, however, language education is often not just a matter of mastering a vocabulary and a grammar, but of immersing oneself in a culture, a history, a way of life.

• ••

Lessons on Duolingo are a collage of colorful progress bars, ticks and crosses, cartoon characters cheering you on, doling out small hits of dopamine as you click your way to linguistic mastery. This game-like approach has been at the center of the app since it launched in 2012, and proved popular from the start.

To begin, users only had access to lessons in a handful of major European languages, but as the polyglot user base ballooned, so too did demand for greater linguistic diversity. Hiring translators was expensive, so the company invited dedicated users to participate in course creation as volunteers – crowdsourcing for language education.

As well as adding to existing courses, contributors could recommend languages of their choosing, meaning that smaller, lesser-known languages were added early on. Irish, for example, was added in 2014 and was a huge success. The Irish language is spoken by approximately 1.8 million people worldwide; there are now 920,000 active learners on Duolingo.

After seeing the popularity of Irish Duolingo, Ciaran Iòsaph MacAonghais submitted an application to create a Scottish Gaelic Duolingo course. MacAonghais, a 28-year-old Gaelic teacher in the West Highlands town of Oban, was brought up among a family of proud native speakers. As a teenager, he stopped engaging with the language and then went to Edinburgh University to study English literature. But before becoming a father at the age of 20, he found himself drawn back to the language of his childhood.

He transferred to Celtic studies, and shortly after moved back home to teach the heritage tongue. “I realized that knowing the language gives you a richer picture of the place that you’re from – you suddenly see Scotland in full color,” he told me. “So, when I saw the Irish Duolingo had almost a million subscribers, I thought that the same could happen for our language.”

Last June, MacAonghais got an email from Duolingo administrators inviting him to lead the course design for Scottish Gaelic. Over an intense eight-month period he and a small team wrote a curriculum and recorded more than 7,000 audio clips of people speaking the language, including the voices of MacAonghais’s uncle and grandmother.

The course launched on 30 November last year, coinciding with St Andrew’s Day, and already has 186,000 active learners. “To see this many people learning Gaelic, potentially listening to my gran, that’s really affirming,” he said.

• ••

Scottish Gaelic is just one endangered language among thousands. Every two weeks or so, the sole speaker of a language dies, often taking with them millennia of culture condensed in their unique lexicon and grammar.

Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, linguists predict that nearly half are in danger of extinction by the end of this century.

According to Conor Walsh, a product manager at Duolingo, the company sees itself as having a role to play in the preservation of endangered languages, offering a ready-made digital platform for motivated members of a linguistic community, like MacAonghais, to take the lead. “We know that to speak an endangered language is a badge of honor,” Walsh told me. “We want the Duolingo courses to reflect that.”

But languages do not become endangered peacefully, and the diminution of native speakers is often embedded in histories of colonialism and suppression. For many communities who speak their tongue within a dominant culture, linguistic education is thus tied up with political resistance. And when Duolingo adds endangered languages to its platform, the company inevitably becomes entangled in this historical context.

When the Hawaiian Duolingo course launched in 2018, for example, some native speakers felt that it was too short and basic. Kū Kahakalau, a renowned native Hawaiian educator, told CNN that the course was “too baby, it’s too simple”.

Given Hawaiian history, this is a serious charge. After illegally overthrowing the Hawaiian government in 1893, the US administration banned the native language from school instruction as part of the broader cultural oppression of the native populations. Generations of young people were denied access to their cultural heritage, until a community-led renaissance in the 1970s, which focused on linguistic immersion and education to re-engage with what was lost. To this day, linguistic education is seen as a vital part of a broader cultural revitalization.

More content has since been added to the course, which now has half a million active learners. But according to Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier, a contributor to the Hawaiian Duolingo course and a longtime educator at Kamehameha Schools, which emphasizes Hawaiian language and culture, the original release was somewhat limited partly because the volunteers were encouraged by Duolingo administrators to have it completed for World Indigenous Day on 8 October 2018. “When I look back we should have said no and taken more time,” she told me. “Our target group has always been our own community, and our intention was to teach our own.”

Another language launched on Indigenous People’s Day in 2018 was Diné, which is spoken by the Navajo people. As well as being significantly shorter than other courses on the platform, there was a noticeable absence of quality sound recordings. According to one Navajo educator I spoke to, the diminished learning material made the Navajo course feel tokenistic for some.

“I know that some Navajo who heard of the Duolingo course for Navajo were unhappy stating that it is our language that the holy people, Dįyįn Dįnę’ę́ [God], gave to us,” he said. “Others felt it was an invitation to non-Navajo people to learn Navajo for ‘bragging rights’ and for reasons of ego.”

• ••

The team at Duolingo are acutely aware of the sensitivities involved with developing a course for an endangered language, which is why they invite community members and native speakers to develop the courses. Walsh, who has studied endangered language policy at Harvard and the National University of Ireland, told me that when a complex issue arises – like which Yiddish dialect is appropriate – administrators allow community members to make a decision together, without imposing their own opinion.

“We’re not taking any political sides,” he said. “They ultimately need to decide what is right.”

The volunteers that I spoke to, who are all deeply engaged in their own linguistic communities, do not see Duolingo as a catch-all solution to language education, but one tool among many that can be harnessed to revitalize broader cultural expression. “Duolingo will not replace person-to-person teaching, but it can offer a way for beginners to learn and feel comfortable,” Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier said. “It might get a someone to a place where they want to reach out and engage more.”

Viswanath agrees, and is particularly optimistic about how Duolingo attracts younger students. “They seem to have figured out an addictive type of learning that appeals to a younger generation.”

She and the other volunteer Yiddish-speakers have now collected the votes, more than 4,000 in total, and are slowly coming to a decision about what dialect to proceed with. “As you can imagine, there has been a lot of back and forth between us, and we feel the weight of the responsibility,” she said. “After all, this is our language. This is our people.”

Publicație : The Guardian

Market economics has driven universities into crisis – and we’re all paying the price

The trebling of tuition fees would unleash a new golden age for English universities, or so we were told. They would become financially sustainable, competitive, liberated from stifling bureaucracy and responsive to the needs of students. And yet, nearly a decade later, higher education is in crisis.

Tuition fees have formed part of a full-frontal assault on the living standards of a generation battered by a housing crisis, stagnating wages and slashed services. And with 83% of student loans forecast to never be paid back in full, the promises of financial sustainability are a nonsense. Both frontrunners for the Labour leadership have committed to maintaining the party’s totemic commitment to abolishing this punitive attack on aspiration, recognising that university education is a social good. But the issue goes much, much wider – and has profound implications for the future of our society.

According to the University and College Union, university staff’s pay has declined by 20% over the last decade

This month, staff will begin rolling strike action at 74 universities: their list of grievances is long indeed, ranging from pensions to pay and workload. A job in academia used to be perhaps the definitive prestigious middle-class occupation, rewarded with status, security and top salaries. Yet academics have become a case study in the decline of the middle class in favour of a casualised, precarious, overworked labour force. According to the University and College Union, university staff’s real-terms pay has declined by 20% over the last decade. In London – one of the world’s most expensive cities – that collapse has been even more profound. Seven out of 10 higher education researchers are stuck with the insecurity of fixed-term contracts, and 30% of teaching at many institutions is done by so-called atypical academics, treated as casual workers and paid by the hour.

This precariousness has huge consequences: like making financial plans, long-term family decisions, buying a house, paying rent and bills, and the impact on mental health all that can have. There’s another dimension, too: casualisation fuels the already stark pay gap suffered by women and black and minority-ethnic staff. Even as pay deteriorates, the workload only mounts: in 2016, 83% of academics reported an increase in the pace or intensity of work, with the average staff member working nearly 51 hours a week.

The whole model is based on making universities compete, and, following the logic of market economics, this has created winners and losers. The Tory-Lib Dem government removed the cap on student numbers, encouraging institutions to compete with each other for applicants: but admissions rose quicker than staff numbers, inevitably reducing the quality of education.

Universities spend vast amounts on advertising, from billboards to adverts on buses – both the universities of Central Lancashire and the West of England splashed £3.4m each on marketing in 2017-18, for instance. They invest vast sums in flashy buildings that they hope students will gawp at on open days: superficial additions that are hardly the best use of limited resources. Acting rather like corporate titans, Russell group universities used resources to aggressively expand and hoover up students from middle-tier universities, often with offers that are unconditional on A-levels. “Let’s just get these students, it’s bums on seats,” as Natalie Fenton, a professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, sums it up. “That completely squeezed that middle group of institutions which then found themselves in crisis, so they seek to recruit from institutions below them in the pecking order, and the whole system starts to crumble.” Nearly a quarter of English universities are now in deficit: so much for financial sustainability.

The system moulds students into consumers seeking value for money: if they are to be saddled with debt, they understandably expect an education that will open doors for high-salaried occupations. But the expansion in higher education has not been accompanied by a commensurate increase in well-paid, skilled jobs, creating a ticking timebomb of disillusionment and resentment. Yet student satisfaction is also tied to how good their grades are – and, given student satisfaction helps underpin university rankings, that incentivises universities to grant higher degrees. This grade inflation is truly remarkable: the number of first-class degrees has soared by 80% since the introduction of tuition fees. This means students overall know they can put less effort in, and inevitably leads to a less skilled workforce. Is this good for society or the economy?

There’s another perverse consequence of marketisation: as debt-laden students head for degrees they think will maximise their earning potential, many vital courses suffer. The University of Sunderland is axing its history, politics and foreign language courses, for example, expressing a desire for a more “career-focused and professions-facing” approach.

“We do know that subjects go in cycles,” says Prof Fenton, “so there some courses that aren’t trendy now, it’s decided they’re not economically viable, and you end up with universities without politics or history departments.” It’s a process encouraged by a wider push to promote Stem subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths – at schools, often to the detriment of creative arts.

The student experience would improve, we were promised, yet the average price of student accommodation surged by a third between 2012 and 2018. It leaves students struggling with financial stress and increasingly holding down paid work to survive, inevitably harming their studies. What a mess: skint students convulsed with worry about tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of debt and whether there’s a well-paid job waiting for them, taught by overstressed, underpaid, precarious staff.

A flourishing higher education sector is critical to a nation’s economy and culture. That’s recognised by other countries, like Germany, which abolished tuition fees for undergraduates in public universities in 2014. Reducing university education to a conveyor belt for a narrow array of professions is a terrible error that we will all pay for. University should foster imagination and creativity, enriching society in the process. When university staff strike, they will be abandoning their lecture rooms and desks for a far greater cause than their own justified grievances. It is a battle that will help determine not just the future of our imperilled universities but our society and culture with it.

Publicație : The Guardian

BAME trainee doctors in 'climate of fear' over racism

British Medical Association has criticised the response by medical schools

Many black, Asian and minority ethnic trainee doctors are experiencing a “climate of fear” at medical schools amid a failure to address widespread racism, according to the British Medical Association.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chairman, said the schools’ inadequate response to racism had left many BAME afraid to speak out.

His criticism came after an investigation by the BMA and the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found medical schools were ill-prepared to deal with racism against students, with only 11 formal complaints recorded since 2010.

Of the 32 medical schools who responded to freedom of information requests by the BMJ, only half said they specifically record complaints about racism.

Nagpaul said there was a worrying disparity between the significant scale of racist incidents BAME students raised with the association and the tiny number of formal complaints.

He added: “Many medical students of BAME origin experience a culture of fear. They are afraid to speak out. But it’s not even recognised as a problem.

“That’s what makes these findings even more powerful because it shows the mismatch between the scale of the problem and the level of reporting, which is a symptom of students not feeling supported. This is widespread, and there is institutional racial bias.”

Olamide Dada, founder of Melanin Medics, a group that supports students and doctors from African and Caribbean communities, said medical schools often “preferred to ignore racism”. She added: “A lot of the time the problem is seen as separate to, rather than a problem with, the institution. I think that separation has contributed to the magnitude of the problem.”

Gurdas Singh, co-chair of the BMA’s medical students committee, said the most common racist incidents raised by their BAME members included patients refusing to be treated by them, and female black medical students being perceived to be nurses.

Singh said his first experience of racism in medical school came in an interview when a clinical examiner asked him: “Are you just applying because you’re Indian?” He said: “I felt ‘you’re never going to give me the score to pass’.”

Toni Robinson, a black medical student at Keele University and member of the BMA medical students committee, said she had experienced many racist incidents but had never reported them.

She added that BAME students often did not feel confident that white staff would understand their complaints, or would dismiss them. “I was on a ward round and a patient said I looked like a golliwog,” she said. “The consultant and other students, who were all white, did not respond. It was brushed under the carpet – completely ignored.”

The BMA has launched a charter for medical schools “to prevent and effectively deal with racial harassment”, which includes guidance for students on how to get support. It calls on medical schools to commit to introducing dedicated complaints procedures for racism and tackling racism on work placements.

Katherine Woolf, associate professor in medical education at University College London, welcomed the guidance. She said she recently asked a group of 80 senior doctors to raise their hand if they felt confident about handling a racism complaint from a trainee doctor. She said: “One person in the room put their hand up.”

Professor John Atherton, co-chair of the Medical Schools Council, said: “We are saddened to hear of the difficult experiences faced by some BAME students and the issues they have faced with reporting these incidents. There is clearly much more work to be done to ensure all students feel safe and supported both at medical school and on placement.”

Publicație : The Guardian

Les ingénieurs en herbe doivent aussi apprendre les bons comportements

Les qualités comportementales sont de plus en plus demandées par les entreprises. Elles souhaitent des connaissances techniques, mais aussi un savoir être..

Adaptabilité, esprit d’équipe, organisation, écoute, curiosité, créativité, gestion du stress… Selon une étude de Monster, tels sont les «soft skills» les plus attendus par les entreprises françaises. Face à une telle demande, les écoles d’ingénieurs se positionnent pour former aux mieux leurs élèves à ces qualités devenues centrales.

Pour les acquérir, rien de tel que le travail en groupe. «Nos élèves ont régulièrement des activités communes. L’idée est de développer leur capacité à résoudre un problème efficacement. Les entreprises attendent d’eux une envie de collectif et une capacité d’écoute et d’apprentissage», estime Lionel Luquin, directeur des formations d’IMT Atlantique.

Et pour aller plus loin, les ingénieurs en herbe réfléchissent aussi à leur façon de travailler ensemble. «En première année, ils ont un grand projet en groupe. Ils doivent alors défendre leur contenu technique, mais aussi préparer des pitchs, des points d’étapes, sous une forme scénarisée. La partie technique nous intéresse autant que la façon dont s’organise le projet», précise Bertrand David, directeur de la formation ingénieur de Télécom Paris. De quoi booster ces fameux soft skills.

Des compétences humaines dont le marché du travail raffole

La culture générale n’est pas oubliée. «Nous leur proposons aussi des cours de sciences humaines et sociales, cinéma, droit, histoire des sciences. Nos étudiants sortent de deux ans de prépa et de concours. Ils ont besoin de s’ouvrir et de s’aérer l’esprit, d’apprendre à travailler à plusieurs, d’écouter les autres, de se forger une culture générale. L’ingénieur travaille souvent dans une équipe pluridisciplinaire, il doit être à l’écoute et savoir où aller chercher les compétences complémentaires aux siennes», détaille Marie-Mathieu Pruvost, directrice de l’enseignement des Ponts ParisTech. Des compétences humaines dont le marché du travail raffole.

Les élèves peuvent suivre des cours d’histoire de l’art, cinéma, œnologie et théâtre

D’autres établissements vont plus loin. Comme l’EBI (École de biologie industrielle), qui met l’art à l’honneur. Les élèves peuvent suivre des cours d’histoire de l’art, cinéma, œnologie, théâtre… La direction a aussi investi dans du matériel de musique. «Au lycée, l’art reste dans le domaine du privé. Selon leur milieu, tous les jeunes n’y ont pas forcément accès. Or, en devenant ingénieur, certains peuvent avoir des difficultés à s’intégrer dans les milieux de cadres français, parlant de théâtre ou de concerts. L’école doit aussi donner ces clefs», souligne Florence Dufour, la directrice. L’un de ses plus anciens programmes: la danse. «Cela peut sembler décalé, mais cette activité libère la capacité oratoire et aide à prendre confiance. Si l’on peut danser en public, prendre la parole pour une présentation en entreprise devient beaucoup plus facile».

Publicație : Le Figaro

« Avoir la bonne tenue » : dans les écoles de commerce, l’apprentissage des codes vestimentaires

Dans certains milieux professionnels, la maîtrise des codes vestimentaires est un puissant levier d’intégration. Les établissements sensibilisent leurs étudiants à ces enjeux.

« Je ne me suis jamais mis autant la pression sur ma tenue que le jour où j’ai passé mon entretien d’embauche chez Chanel », se souvient Mathieu, fraîchement diplômé de l’Inseec. Jusqu’alors, il ne s’était pas posé trop de questions. Pour se présenter aux jurys d’admission des écoles de commerce, il s’était acheté une veste, des chemises claires et un pantalon classique. Une panoplie qu’il a ressortie à chaque moment important de sa scolarité.

Mais là, c’était une autre affaire. Il s’agissait d’être embauché dans une entreprise de luxe. Après avoir longuement hésité entre une tenue très classique et « quelque chose d’élégant mais avec une touche de fantaisie, pour montrer que j’étais sensible à la mode », il a finalement préféré ne prendre aucun risque et a ressorti son habituelle veste complétée d’un nouveau pantalon « plus chic ».

« Nos étudiants apprennent à se présenter à un employeur et donc à adopter le bon code vestimentaire, sachant qu’il varie selon les entreprises et les secteurs » Jérôme Troiano, responsable carrières à l’Edhec

Si l’habit n’est pas censé faire le moine, en réalité « le vêtement reste un marqueur culturel et identitaire fort », souligne la sociologue Isabel Boni-Le Goff, spécialiste du secteur du conseil. Donc, pour avoir des chances d’être retenu lors d’un entretien d’embauche ou de stage, mieux vaut se présenter avec la « bonne » tenue. Les écoles de commerce, qui font de l’insertion professionnelle leur atout maître, l’ont bien compris.

Il en est question dans les ateliers consacrés à l’embauche ou lors de séances de simulation d’entretiens. Des préceptes mis en pratique au travers de différentes manifestations organisées par les écoles. Ainsi, à l’Inseec, « les étudiants doivent venir en costume ou en tailleur lors des présentations d’études de cas ou du grand oral en fin de master 1, » indique Alexandra Vignolles, directrice de l’innovation pédagogique. A l’Edhec, dès le début d’année, deux jours sont consacrés au « networking » (réseautage). « Nos étudiants apprennent à se présenter à un employeur et donc à adopter le bon code vestimentaire, sachant qu’il varie selon les entreprises et les secteurs d’activité », explique Jérôme Troiano, responsable carrières de l’école lilloise.

Classique et neutre

« S’il a la bonne tenue lors de l’entretien d’embauche, le candidat montre qu’il a compris la culture de l’entreprise, le message que celle-ci veut faire passer, et qu’il y adhère. C’est aussi un moyen, pour le recruteur, de voir si le jeune pourra s’intégrer ou non », observe Susan Nallet, directrice carrières de Grenoble Ecole de management (GEM). Et comme le marché du travail est très concurrentiel, pas question pour les candidats de prendre le moindre risque. « On a tellement envie de réussir que, même si parfois on a l’impression d’être déguisé, on joue le jeu, confirme Mathieu. Quitte à se mettre dans une situation financière inconfortable en achetant des tenues très chères. »

« En revêtant un costume, bon nombre d’étudiants ont le sentiment de ressembler à l’image qu’ils se font d’un cadre. » Oumaya Hidri-Neys, sociologue

Dans les écoles où l’on apprend à devenir manageur, et donc à intégrer les pratiques culturelles de la fonction, une tenue formelle est de mise dès les jurys d’admission dans l’école. Une pratique que les étudiants ont intégrée. « Cela ne me serait pas venu à l’idée de passer les oraux autrement qu’en costume. Ça fait partie du cérémonial », fait valoir Thomas, étudiant à Montpellier Business School. « Et ça met en confiance », abonde Alexandre, étudiant à GEM. Des propos qui ne surprennent pas la sociologue Oumaya Hidri Neys : « En revêtant un costume, bon nombre d’étudiants ont le sentiment de ressembler à l’image qu’ils se font d’un cadre. »

Ce qui ne les empêche pas, une fois dans le monde du travail, d’assouplir leur tenue. C’est le chemin adopté par Louise, étudiante à l’Inseec, qui suit son cursus en alternance chez Thales. Pour son premier jour dans l’entreprise, elle s’est attaché les cheveux et a choisi « des vêtements classiques et neutres » : veste, pantalon et sandales plates. « Je voulais sonder la température vestimentaire du service dans lequel j’allais travailler avant de m’autoriser un peu de fantaisie. » Elle a ensuite constaté que le code était assez libre. « Mon chef est en costume-cravate, mais son collègue met parfois un jean avec des mocassins. »

Des codes assouplis

Cette tendance à moins de formalisme se retrouve dans la plupart des entreprises, où costumes et cravates perdent du terrain. Mais ce relâchement est très relatif et reste largement codifié. En témoigne le « friday wear », cette tenue moins formelle réservée au vendredi, venue des Etats-Unis dans les années 1980. « Ce jour où l’on vient habillé au bureau comme on le souhaite répond en réalité à une autre forme de règle », rappelle Agnès Ceccarelli, professeure associée à l’ICN Business school.

Dans le secteur de la finance ou du conseil, ou encore dans les très grandes entreprises, le classicisme est toujours de rigueur. « Là, il faut avoir du style, c’est-à-dire savoir se déplacer, se tenir, s’exprimer, mais aussi se vêtir. La bonne tenue : un costume sombre et une chemise claire pour les hommes, avec ou sans la cravate selon les circonstances. Un tailleur avec un chemisier pour les femmes, éventuellement agrémenté d’accessoires discrets », détaille Haude Rivoal, sociologue du travail.

Dans les start-up de la tech ou dans l’univers de la communication, la liberté vestimentaire n’est qu’apparente. Certes, le costume-cravate est relégué au fond du placard. Mais il est remplacé par un nouvel uniforme codifié, à base de jean, baskets et tee-shirt. Un look qui vise, selon Haude Rivoal, « à mettre en scène la flexibilité et l’agilité, en faisant souffler un vent de jeunesse sur l’entreprise ».

« Les femmes sont soumises à une injonction paradoxale. Elles doivent être une vraie femme et en même temps un vrai manageur. » Isabel Boni-Le Goff

En conclure que l’on peut aller travailler avec n’importe quoi sur le dos serait aller un peu vite. « Il s’agit en réalité d’une transformation des codes, mais pas d’une disparition de ceux-ci », insiste la sociologue. Pour le jeune salarié, la difficulté consiste alors à paraître détendu... sans être négligé. Un équilibre subtil, d’autant « qu’on n’a pas les mêmes goûts vestimentaires selon son milieu d’origine, ni la même somme d’argent à y consacrer », pointe Oumaya Hidri Neys.

Adopter la bonne tenue dans la bonne circonstance apparaît plus difficile pour les étudiantes que pour les étudiants. « Les femmes sont soumises à une injonction paradoxale. Elles développent une stratégie qui vise à reprendre des pièces du vestiaire masculin pour être légitimes, car ce sont des éléments qui symbolisent l’autorité et l’expertise et véhiculent les signes de l’autorité managériale. Mais, en même temps, elles sont censées ne pas renoncer à leur féminité. Alors, elles bricolent pour répondre aux normes de genre qui leur sont assignées », analyse Isabel Boni-Le Goff.

Dans le domaine du conseil, largement dominé par les hommes, les femmes sont particulièrement exposées. « Si elles ne se conforment pas à ce qui est attendu d’elles, en adoptant par exemple une tenue jugée comme trop sexualisée, elles s’exposent à des moqueries, des injures, voire des comportements de harcèlement », a constaté la sociologue. Afin d’éviter d’être stigmatisées, les femmes préfèrent alors porter des vêtements neutres, voire passe-partout. Et cela dès l’école. Emma, étudiante à l’EM Normandie, l’a bien compris. La semaine, dans son école de commerce, elle s’habille de façon « à passer inaperçue ». Le week-end, elle « ressort jupes et accessoires ».

Publicație : Le Monde

Mattarella scrive al ricercatore penalizzato da un concorso: "Le università devono ispirarsi alla legalità e alla trasparenza"

L'intervento del Quirinale otto anni dopo il risultato contestato. E il rettore dell'Università di Catania ora apre la porta allo storico Scirè: "Mi impegno a farla lavorare"

ROMA - Alla fine, dopo otto anni di porte in faccia, chiuse, mai sbattute, di risposte evasive successive a incontri in università con i rispettivi avvocati - "lei ha ragione, ma è passato troppo tempo" -, il ricercatore Giambattista Scirè, 44 anni, ha deciso di scrivere al presidente della Repubblica. E di raccontare anche a Sergio Mattarella la sua storia di studioso di Storia contemporanea a cui è stato preferito - per un ruolo da ricercatore a tempo determinato che, di fatto, ha portato nel corpo dell'università la vincitrice del bando - un'architetta. Una lunga storia di vittorie giudiziarie - anche penali - e sconfitte professionali: Giambattista Scirè in queste otto stagioni è uscito completamente dal circuito universitario del Paese, ha vinto dispute nei tribunali amministrativi di primo e secondo livello, ma ha smesso di pubblicare. Di lavorare.

Bene, ventitré giorni dopo aver scritto al presidente, Scirè, appena uscito dall'ultimo colloquio con il rettore dell'Università di Catania, mercoledì scorso, ha acceso il computer e avvistato una mail. Una Pec, meglio. In neretto. Proveniva dal Segretariato generale della presidenza della Repubblica. Il direttore dell'Ufficio affari dell'Amministrazione della giustizia, Stefano Erbani, gli aveva risposto. In nome del presidente. E lo aveva fatto utilizzando quelle due parole usate dal ricercatore, "trasparenza e merito", che il 10 novembre 2017 erano diventate il titolo dell'associazione che lo stesso Scirè aveva contribuito a fondare e che tutt'oggi, dopo alcune difficoltà, guida.

Nella Pec dal Quirinale era scritto questo: "Il Capo dello Stato segue con grande attenzione le questioni da lei evidenziate nella convinzione che, anche nel settore universitario, occorre sempre seguire i principi di legalità e trasparenza. Le università italiane possono vantare livelli di eccellenza in vari campi del sapere e riscuotono i migliori risultati solo laddove si fondano sull'autonomia e libertà dell'insegnamento, guidate esclusivamente dal principio del merito. Augurandole di trovare riscontro alle sue aspettative nel corso della carriera universitaria, le porgo i più cordiali saluti".

Dice ora Giambattista Scirè: "Il Presidente Mattarella ci ha voluto far sapere che è al nostro fianco, gli atenei e i dipartimenti ora sanno che il Capo dello Stato auspica e raccomanda loro un cammino trasparente".

E' interessante notare come nell'arco dei ventitré giorni trascorsi tra la lettera di Scirè e la risposta del Quirinale, l'Università di Catania - decapitata in sette dipartimenti da una recente inchiesta della Procura abbia fissato un nuovo incontro con Scirè, il primo del neorettore Francesco Priolo.

Scandalo università, Zunino: "Pizzini e concorsi truccati: così secondo l'accusa funzionava il 'sistema Catania'"

L'ordinario di Fisica della materia fin qui si era distinto per una campagna elettorale, la scorsa estate, che aveva sostanzialmente ignorato lo tsunami giudiziario abbattutosi sull'ateneo. A Scirè, però, Priolo mercoledì scorso ha regalato parole inedite dichiarando la sua volontà di cambiare registro rispetto alle tre precedenti gestioni dell'ateneo: "Lei è una risorsa per l'università e io mi impegno a darle la possibilità di tornare a lavorare in ateneo". Passando quindi al "tu", il rettore Priolo ha detto all'interlocutore: "Sei un ricercatore proprio come me e quello devi tornare a fare".

La strada possibile, ora, per la soluzione di questa vicenda diventata emblematica all'interno dell'accademia italiana è quella della proroga per Scirè di un contratto (biennale) come ricercatore, appunto, in Storia contemporanea. Il rettore si è impegnato a scrivere, rapidamente, una lettera al ministero dell'Università e Ricerca, oggi guidato da Gaetano Manfredi.

Publicație : La Repubblica

17 februarie 2020

Este oficial! Ei sunt noii senatori ai Universității „Al. I. Cuza“ din Iași

Universitatea „Al. I. Cuza“ (UAIC) din Iași a prezentat oficial lista cu noii membri ai Senatului. Aceștia urmează să fie validați de către Senatul UAIC.

Lista completă poate fi consultată aici.

Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași

Alegeri pentru conducerea marilor universități din Iași! Cine sunt candidații pentru cele mai importante funcții de conducere

Săptămână de foc pentru competiția ce vizează Rectoratele și Senatele universităților „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” – UAIC, de Științe Agricole și Medicină Veterinară – USAMV „Ion Ionescu de la Brad” și cea Tehnică – TUIAȘI „Gheorghe Asachi”. Astfel, de luni, 24 februarie, și până joi, 28 februarie 2020, se pot depune candidaturile oficiale pentru poziția de rector la „Cuza”. Aici, prof. univ. dr. Tudorel Toader (actualul rector – n.r.) își va depune dosarul. Pe de altă parte, tot astăzi, prof. univ. dr. ing. Gerard Jităreanu, actual președinte al Senatului de la Agronomie, se va înscrie pentru un nou mandat de rector. De precizat că la USAMV, perioada destinată depunerii candidaturilor a demarat vineri, 14 februarie, și se va încheia marți, 18 februarie. La Politehnică, după încheierea perioadei pentru depunerea candidaturilor, doar actualul rector, prof. univ. dr. ing. Dan Cașcaval, și-a depus candidatura. Aici, începând de astăzi, acesta își va prezenta planul managerial și viitorii prorectori. De asemenea, tot în această perioadă, urmează a fi aleși noii președinți de Senat la toate cele trei universități

Zile importante pentru competiția ce vizează Rectoratele și Senatele universităților: „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” – UAIC, de Științe Agricole și Medicină Veterinară – USAMV „Ion Ionescu de la Brad” și cea Tehnică – TUIAȘI „Gheorghe Asachi”. Astfel, de luni, 24 februarie, și până joi, 28 februarie 2020, se pot depune candidaturile oficiale pentru poziția de rector la „Cuza”. Aici, prof. univ. dr. Tudorel Toader (actualul rector – n.r.) își va depune dosarul. Urmează ca, între 2 și 6 martie să aibă loc dezbateri ale candidaților. De precizat că, miercuri, 19 februarie, noul Senat de la Universitatea „Cuza” își va alege noul președinte. Cele mai mari șanse le are actualul conducător al forului academic, prof. univ. dr. ing. Gabriel Ovidiu Iancu.

Pe de altă parte, tot astăzi, prof. univ. dr. ing. Gerard Jităreanu, actual președinte al Senatului de la Agronomie, se va înscrie pentru un nou mandat de rector. De precizat că la USAMV, perioada destinată depunerii candidaturilor a demarat vineri, 14 februarie, și se va încheia marți, 18 februarie. Alegerile vor avea loc pe 26 februarie. Pe de altă parte, rectorul în funcție, prof. univ. dr. Vasile Vîntu, va candida la conducerea Senatului de la USAMV. La Politehnică, după încheierea perioadei pentru depunerea candidaturilor, doar actualul rector, prof. univ. dr. ing. Dan Cașcaval, și-a depus candidatura. Aici, începând de astazi, acesta își va prezenta planul managerial și viitorii prorectori. Alegerile vor avea loc pe 24 februarie. Urmează ca Senatul să-și aleagă un nou președinte.

Noile echipe de conducere de la UMF și UNAGE

În final, deja la UMF și UNAGE s-au stabilit noile conduceri, atât la Rectorat, cât și la Senat. La Medicină și Farmacie, actualul rector, prof. univ. dr. Viorel Scripcariu, a fost reales pentru un nou mandat. De asemenea, prof. univ. dr. Ioana Grigoraș a fost și ea reconfirmată ca președinte al Senatului. La Arte, prof. univ. dr. Aurelian Bălăiță a devenit noul rector. Mai departe, fostul rector, prof. univ. dr. Atena Simionescu, a fost aleasă, săptămâna trecută, președinte al Senatului de la Universitatea de Arte.

Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași

Gest emoționant făcut de profesorul Silviu Gurlui! Vine în ajutorul celor patru copii rămași fără familie

După ce reporterii Bună Ziua Iași au prezentat într-o ediție anterioră cazul a patru copii care au rămas fără toți membrii familiei, conf. univ. dr. Silviu Gurlui ,de la Facultatea de Fizică a Universității „Al. I. Cuza“ Iași, a luat atitudine. Acesta, ieri, a mers la domiciliul celor patru copii, din municipiul Iași.
Silviu Burlui a postat pe pagina sa de Facebook următorul mesaj.
„Sunt la casa tatalului celor patru copii. Sta intins pe pat, invelit in plapuma, in mare suferinta medicala. Este singur. Fara nici un venit. S-au oferit niste vecini sa-l ajute si stau cu el. Soba abia a fost dezmortita azi, parca de o vesnicie nu a mai fumarit. Fum. Pe plita, o bucata de os cu carne se dezmortea peste o oala. Nu se cuvine sa prezint imagini din casa si cu dinsul. Dar sa priviti prin ochii mei totul. E cumplit. Am fost si i-am luat pampersi. L-am incurajat. Are nevoie de hrana. Masa era plina de medicamente. Costa cam 200 lei pe luna. Sunt prea bulversat sa scriu mai mult insa va rog, pe oricare, din tara sau din strainatate sa-l ajutati. Mergeti direct la el.

Cei 4 copii sunt bine, inca la Centru. Cind ii scoatem, prima data ne intoarcem aici, sa-si vada tatal! Dorinta lor si a tatalui, deopotriva. Apoi mergem la Pascani la noua lor locuinta si scoala.
Va multumesc!
Daca doriti sa-l ajutati, trimiteti-i direct orice puteti:
Strada Marta 62, Iași
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4Ew6QJWsd1ruHJ9W8“, a scris Gurlui pe pagina sa de Facebook.

Doi dintre copii sunt în clasa întâi, unul este în clasa a VIII-a, iar altul în clasa a V-a. Primii trei învață la Școala Gimnazială „Mihai Codreanu”, iar ultimul la Școala Gimnazială „Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu”, ambele din municipiul Iași. Părinții sunt divorțați, minorii rămânând în grija tatălui și a bunicilor.

Ambii bunicii au murit fulgerător recent. Tatăl este în comă, fiind ținut în viață de aparate. Are șanse infime să mai supraviețuiască. Cei patru copii erau în grija bunicilor și a tatălui. Ei locuiesc pe strada Marta, numărul 48, aflată în zona Țicău din Iași, într-o casă dărăpănată. Tatăl nu avea slujbă și supraviețuiau doar din pensia bunicilor. Joia trecută (23 ianuarie 2020 – n. r.), a murit bunicul care avea o boală incurabilă. Două zile mai târziu, sâmbătă, 25 ianuarie, a încetat din viață și bunica. Aceasta avea probleme grave de sănătate ce au culminat cu un edem pulmonar. Tot în această perioadă, tatăl a intrat în comă. Acesta are șanse minime să mai trăiască. O firmă de pompe funebre i-a ajutat cu înmormântarea. Din păcate pentru ei, mama lor este de negăsit.

Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași

Exempt Chinese students from coronavirus travel ban, New Zealand universities urge

The ban has prevent about 12,000 students from arriving for start of new year, cutting off a lucrative revenue stream

New Zealand universities have called on the government to exempt thousands of Chinese students from the travel ban sparked by the coronavirus crisis, saying it could them more than NZ$150m in tuition fees.

Chinese foreign students make up roughly half of all foreign students studying at New Zealand’s universities but are unable to get into the country for the start of the academic year. Orientation week begins next week.

On 2 February the government placed temporary restrictions on entry into New Zealand for all foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China.

On Monday, China’s health commission revealed the total number of cases in the country now stood at 70,548, a rise of 2,048. Total deaths now stand at 1,770, after 105 more deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. Of those new deaths, only five were reported outside Hubei province (3 in Henan, and 2 in Guangdong).

Hundreds of Americans have been flown out of Japan after leaving the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship on Sunday night, as a further 70 people onboard tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total to 355.

As well as separating families and preventing people from returning to work, the ban has prevented about 12,000 Chinese students – or around 41% of all Chinese international students studying in New Zealand – from returning to begin the academic year, the government said.

Chinese foreign students are charged significantly higher fees than domestic students, making them a valuable stream of revenue for tertiary institutions around the country.

The director of Universities New Zealand, Chris Whelan, said the travel ban could potentially cost universities NZ$170m in lost fees, and the situation was “extremely serious”.

“We’re currently discussing the idea of an exemption, so some students may be able to come to New Zealand even if there is a more general travel ban,” Whelan told RNZ. “We would be only doing that with the full support of the Ministry of Health and certainly observing any guidelines that they put around it. There are some challenges but we are hopeful we might be able to do something in that space.”

The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, told Radio NZ that although discussions were taking place, no decision on a student exemption had been made.

“The first thing we’ve done is say yes, their student visas will be still able to give them entry to the country later on – but universities have indicated to us that they have a particular window ... about April, that’s the time by which they need their international students to start,” Ardern said.

“Public health is our No 1 priority here. There are a couple of things which make any exemptions tricky. Of course ... you’d basically have to be making these individualised decisions for what are thousands of visa holders, and that is quite a logistical exercise.”

Ardern said any students arriving would need to self-quarantine and this could be a complicated logistical exercise, but Whelan said plans had already been made to make any quarantine period as smooth and streamlined as possible.

Whelan said any first-year student who was not able to begin the academic year would likely choose to start their degree elsewhere – meaning the New Zealand university would lose four of five years of fees.

The Chinese consulate in New Zealand has expressed its disapproval of the travel ban and said it should be lifted for all Chinese nationals, who could self-quarantine once they arrived in the country instead. The ban was not in line with WHO recommendations, the consulate said.

So far there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in New Zealand, though more than eight people have been tested for the virus, and hundreds remain in quarantine in Auckland after being evacuated from Wuhan, the city at the heart of the outbreak in Hubei province.

Publicație : The Guardian

The Guardian view on apprenticeships: failing the young

 By turning their attention to the muddle surrounding on-the-job training, ministers could prove ‘levelling up’ is more than a slogan

That the government’s apprenticeships programme in England is in trouble is generally accepted, even if it is not widely enough known. While the particular problem most likely to catch the government’s attention is probably funding, since the scheme as currently organised is predicted to go bust, issues surrounding the low quality and patchy regulation of the whole system are arguably even more important.

Low productivity in the UK has long been a problem, and the period since the 2008/09 crash has been particularly bad. In December, the Royal Statistical Society made the average annual increase over the past decade – just 0.3% – its statistic of the 2010s. Understood as an effect of skills shortages, this is the problem that apprenticeships were supposed to solve. That the plan isn’t working is damaging to the economy as a whole, as well as to the people and businesses that apprenticeships are designed to support.

While the scheme’s critics do not agree about everything, most agree that it was flawed from the start. The basic idea, championed by George Osborne when he was chancellor, and introduced under Theresa May in 2017, was and remains a good one: larger businesses pay a levy (effectively a tax) to fund vocational training. The charge was set at 0.5% of salary bills in excess of £3m, which meant less than 2% of employers would pay it. But in an attempt to sweeten the taste of this unpalatable new demand, while sending a Conservative “business knows best” message, ministers gave employers too much say over what would happen next. They also made some highly questionable assumptions about how businesses would respond to the financial incentives created by the scheme, which have led to a situation in which the pot is too quickly being emptied out.

There were 393,400 new apprentices in 2018/19, representing an increase of almost 18,000 on the previous year (in 2017/18, by comparison, 548,000 students started a first undergraduate degree course). Apprenticeships, which are trainee positions governed by certain rules (such as 20% off-the-job learning, and a minimum period of one year) are a crucial component of our education and employment system. Yet while many businesses and individuals are benefiting under the current arrangements, there is growing evidence of the ways in which they are not working as planned.

This includes the fact that the number of new starters has, despite last year’s rise, fallen sharply since the levy started – and is less than one-sixth of the original target of 3 million. Meanwhile the proportion of apprentices who are school-leavers – the age group with whom the term is most readily associated in people’s minds – is shockingly low: in the two years since the levy began there have been 7,100 aged under 19, compared with 80,500 adults.

Nor do the problems end when people are taken on. Investigations have found instances of apprentices in low-skilled roles who do not know they are apprentices, and employers rebadging other kinds of training as a means to access funds. Meanwhile, official flexibility over the definition of an apprentice has led to the extraordinary situation whereby £45m of funding over two years has been spent on employees studying for MBAs.

Last month a highly critical report from EDSK, a thinktank, recommended that the classification of an apprenticeship should be reviewed, along with the system’s buckling finances and regulation. Now that Gavin Williamson has been reinstalled as education secretary, these are suggestions he should urgently take up in combination with the Treasury, which has responsibility for the levy.

British politicians’ ingrained unwillingness to treat skills training as seriously as universities and schools has historically been a cause of social injustice as well as economic underperformance, and reflects badly on the nation as a whole – particularly when compared with other European nations such as Germany. If the government is serious about its “levelling up” agenda, a renewed focus on vocational training would be an excellent place to start.

Publicație : The Guardian

Students who complain about abuse on campus are being ‘wokesmeared’

 Far from being hotbeds of political correctness, universities are ignoring victims of sexual harassment, racism and bullying

As the Windrush scandal was breaking, it became clear that there were two parallel perceptions of the UK’s immigration system. Those who had been mangled by the Home Office machine knew the truth: that the system was cruel and broken. The other view, more popular but fabricated, was that the country’s immigration policy was lax, gullible and open to abuse.

The overall result is a climate unreceptive to the anxiety of students on British campuses

The same now applies to life on Britain’s university campuses. Last week a report found a culture of non-disclosure agreement abuse. NDAs, originally designed to prevent departing university staff from sharing professional secrets, are now being used to gag victims of sexual harassment, bullying and poor teaching in order to protect the abusers and, by extension, the universities themselves. Freedom of information requests by the BBC in 2019 revealed that UK universities had paid about £87m in NDA payoffs in the previous two years. This suggests a nationwide and institutional failure to protect students from predatory abusers, a culture of exploitation of those who are vulnerable, and a failure to meet the needs of those with disabilities. In other cases, when universities failed to adequately investigate sexual assault allegations, students were pressured into signing NDAs without even receiving a payout, the BBC report found. This is likely to be only the latest instalment in a series of revelations exposing an unregulated culture of thuggery and malpractice in academic establishments. In October, an inquiry by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that about a quarter of minority ethnic students, including non-British white students, said they had experienced racial harassment since the start of their course, and that not only did British universities not tackle the thousands of racist incidents experienced, they also refused to acknowledge the scale of the problem.

It is also likely that students’ negative experiences and any potential measures to address their widespread concerns will continue to be submerged by a fictional, popular narrative of British universities as a hotbed of woke culture populated by a snowflake generation wanting to eject from jobs or the public space anyone who in their sensitive eyes has offended them. Another word for this alleged behaviour is “cancel culture”. The term now has its own entry in the urban dictionary, which calls it a phenomenon perpetrated by those “quick to judge and slow to question”.

Little is said of what is arguably more prevalent and more effective: what I call wokesmearing – the stigmatising and shaming of someone for crimes of extreme political correctness. Wokesmearing has a more powerful engine than worthy students. The rightwing press and tabloid media will fix on any incident that looks like it may be an example of progressive values overstepping the mark. If none or few of these incidents are found, they are made up. Scant details are tortured into solid stories, and before those stories can be challenged or even corrected, they have passed into the mainstream narrative.

Take the case of Lola Olufemi. All she and her fellow Cambridge students wanted to do was introduce some new writers into their syllabus. In 2017, they sent an open letter to the literature faculty requesting that non-white authors be added to the curriculum. Four months later, after precisely zero complaints from fellow students or members of the faculty, and before any decision had been made, the Telegraph published Olufemi’s picture on its front page with the headline: “Student forces Cambridge to drop white authors”. Within days the story was given credibility when it was debated in earnest on BBC Radio 4. The very channel that broke the NDA story is frequently a useful tool for the promotion of stories that originate in less responsible outlets, a gullible eager consumer of fake outrage. When I spoke to Olufemi a few months later, she said the most frustrating thing, other than “being called upon to address the lies as if they were legitimate”, was that the artificial outrage obscured what was actually happening on the ground on campus, the abuse she was receiving and the chill that had been sent down the spines of other black students – many of whom were from disadvantaged backgrounds and could not afford loss of future employment prospects if they were seen as troublemakers. The whole effort to simply add more authors to a syllabus, not to replace any, had been successfully wokesmeared.

And on it goes. As university campuses become increasingly unsafe for students and employees, a carousel of mythical stories is confected, amplified and recycled. So rich has this genre of reporting become that it now has its own formula: big, flashy, pearl-clutching headline followed by a quote from someone scandalised by the latest liberty-taking, then rounded off by a tiny detail, one buried at the end, that invalidates the whole story. One such example is a BBC news dispatch from October 2017. It starts with “Cambridge Uni students get Shakespeare trigger warnings”, only to end with: “Some lecturers indicate that some sensitive material will be covered in a lecture … this is entirely at the lecturer’s own discretion and is in no way indicative of a faculty-wide policy.”

The same principle is applied to all the developments we now take as an integral part of British campus culture, such as safe spaces and no-platforming and terrified administrators cowed by leftie students. No-platforming in particular is frequently presented as a simple case of mob rule and of frightened faculties placating students, when they often, far less contentiously, involve college bureaucrats lacking the resources to responsibly curate controversial union debates and the associated right of protest that comes with that.

The repercussions of the campaign by the cynical and the credulous are not just limited to point scoring in a culture war. The overall result is a climate unreceptive to the anxiety of students on British campuses. The fact that report after report states that universities are failing to act is down to more than just denial; it is a complacency and an impunity fostered by a rightwing culture that reinforces and perpetuates the myth that liberal spaces, especially universities, are dangerous, progressive playgrounds undermining tradition and common sense. Until that propaganda is acknowledged and combated, the calls of distressed students from the UK’s campuses will continue to go unheard.

Publicație : The Guardian

Fail productively… how to turn yourself into a super-learner

Whether you’re taking up the oboe or finessing your Finnish, scientific research offers tips to aid learning

If your aim for 2020 was to learn a new skill, you may be at the point of giving up. Whether you are mastering a new language or a musical instrument, or taking a career-changing course, initial enthusiasm can only take you so far, and any further progress can be disappointingly slow.

From these struggles, you might assume that you simply lack a natural gift – compared to those lucky people who can learn any new skill with apparent ease.

However, it needn’t be this way. Many polymaths – including Charles Darwin and the Nobel prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman – claimed not to have exceptional natural intelligence. Most of us have more than enough brainpower to master a new discipline, if we apply it correctly – and the latest neuroscience offers many strategies to do just that.

Much research in the field hinges on the idea of “desirable difficulties”, pioneered by Profs Robert and Elizabeth Bjork at the University of California, Los Angeles. The aim is to deliberately create a slight feeling of frustration as you learn, which leads the brain to process the material more deeply, creating longer-lasting memories. It’s like physical exercise: you need to feel a bit of resistance to make significant long-term gains.

Unfortunately, many of our preferred learning techniques – such as reading and highlighting textbooks, or the drawing of colourful “mind maps” to summarise material – don’t offer enough mental challenge to make the information stick, leading to disappointing results. “Our judgment about our learning is often biased towards strategies that feel easy and effortless,” says Dr Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel, a psychologist at the University of Glasgow and member of the Learning Scientists website. “But they don’t translate into long-term retention of knowledge.”

The following strategies will help you overcome these bad habits. Whatever you plan to learn, they will make your memory the envy of others.

Fail productively

Let’s begin with the pre-test – a strategy that is perhaps best explained with an example.

How do you say “thank you” in Finnish?

The answer is “kiitos” – and I’m guessing that most readers who aren’t Finnish won’t have had any hope of answering this correctly. But thanks to that initial struggle, you will now be more likely to remember the answer in the future. Psychological studies show that a “pre-test” quiz – taken before you have studied the material – primes the brain to absorb the information afterwards, even if you failed to answer a single question correctly.

If you are learning a musical instrument, switch between scales and the pieces of music you are practising

This is true for both the memorisation of simple trivia and the deeper understanding of more complicated material. In one study, participants were quizzed on the neuroscience of vision before reading an Oliver Sacks essay on the subject. They ended up learning 10 to 15% more than students who had instead been given extra time to read the text. Whatever you are learning, try to gauge your current understanding of the topic – even if it is nonexistent.

After taking the pre-test, you also want to continue quizzing yourself on what you’ve just learned. To psychologists, this is called “retrieval practice” and it is one of the most reliable ways of building stronger memory traces. In carefully controlled studies, retrieval practice vastly outperforms other strategies such as mind-mapping the material as you study.

As Dr Kuepper-Tetzel explains: “Testing is usually seen as a way to assess knowledge. However, testing in itself is a potent learning strategy and has been shown to increase long-term retention of knowledge.”

This may be one reason why flashcards – a common form of self-testing – don’t work as well as they could. If you think self-testing is purely a means of assessing your recall, you may peek at the answer too soon – whereas you need to truly rack your brain before giving in, if you want to form the stronger memory. “The harder retrieval is, the more the memory for the information is enhanced,” says Prof Mirjam Ebersbach at the University of Kassel in Germany.

Physical exercise is known to boost your memory, and it is best to mix both acute and endurance disciplines. Photograph: Martin Novak/Getty Images

If you are studying for exams, try to create your own questions rather than relying on past papers. Ebersbach has found that the process of question generation can itself reinforce learning, since it forces you to reformulate the material in a new way.

Perhaps the most potent technique is to teach the material to another person, since that forces you to demonstrate a deep conceptual understanding. If you don’t have a willing partner, you could imagine describing it to someone, or draft an email setting out what you’ve learned in as much detail as possible.

Mix it up

Try not to spend too long on any one topic – rather, switch between them regularly. If you are learning a new language, for example, you might rotate between two or three vocabulary topics, or switch between the different verb tenses you are practising, rather than studying them in turn in blocks. This strategy is called interleaving and like the pre-test, it can feel frustrating since you can’t really get into the swing of things before moving on. But according to the theory of desirable difficulties, that is why it works. Numerous studies have shown that this momentary confusion hugely increases your long-term recall.

Besides boosting factual learning, interleaving can also accelerate your acquisition of motor skills. If you are learning a musical instrument, for instance, you might alternate between scales and the pieces of music that you are practising.

Get moving

Contrary to the stereotype of the sedentary geek, the best learners are also the most physically active, since cardiovascular exercise triggers the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and epinephrine that are essential for memory formation. This means that your mind will be most fertile after a morning jog or a trip to the gym. So try to schedule your learning around your existing fitness plan and you may experience a natural memory boost.

Change your environment

Have you ever noticed that when you return to your home town, recollections of distant events suddenly come flooding back? That’s because our memory is context-dependent – meaning that it’s heavily influenced by environmental cues.

While context-dependent memory can trigger waves of pleasant nostalgia, it can also lead to a mental block in our factual learning. If we only study or practice a skill in one place, our memories become tied to the sights, sounds and smells of that location. This makes it harder for us to recall the same material in a new environment – the exam hall, the quizshow studio, a Parisian restaurant – without those cues.

To avoid becoming dependent on those cues, you should therefore try learning in different places. One experiment by Prof Robert Bjork and colleagues found that just switching rooms between study sessions increased learning by 21%.

After pitting your brain against all those desirable difficulties, give it time to recover. I don’t mean regular time out like watching TV, but literally doing nothing. Prof Michaela Dewar at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has found that “wakeful rest” – without any external stimulation – allows the brain to consolidate the memories of what it has learned.

So kick back, close your eyes and let your thoughts go wherever they want – in the knowledge that your mind is busy cementing your learning for the long term.

Publicație : The Guardian

Tip-off website signals the end for dangerous college initiation rituals

 University sports body sets up service for anonymous reports of extreme activities

The days of university initiation ceremonies – at which students are compelled to perform outrageous tasks, usually while extremely drunk, in order to join a sports club or society – are numbered.

Amid growing concerns about the rituals, which have been linked to mental health problems and blamed for at least one student death, the body that organises student sport competitions has set up a dedicated service that allows those who have concerns about the ceremonies to report them anonymously.

The “problem initiation” area of the British Universities & Colleges Sport website provides information on types of behaviour associated with initiations and gives students and parents the ability to submit a report, either anonymously or by sharing basic contact information. The reports are then made anonymous before being passed to the relevant university to investigate. BUCS will receive a report on the outcome of the investigation and evaluate whether further action needs to be taken.

Typical examples that have concerned university authorities down the years include students being forced to swallow goldfish, eat dog food and rub chillies on their genitals, often in various states of undress and usually intoxicated.

“Students should understand that problem initiations are not permitted by universities and will not be tolerated by BUCS,” said Vince Mayne, its chief executive. “We want to ensure that sport at university is fully accessible to all and the activities of a few individuals do not stop people playing the sport they love or trying a new sport.

“BUCS are determined to address this negative aspect of university sport and promote the incredibly positive contribution that sport makes to the employability, health and wellbeing of thousands of students, as well as the volunteering and community engagement which students carry out.”

Professor Bob Allison, the vice-chancellor of Loughborough University, where sport is a large part of campus life, welcomed the move.

“Like all institutions, we have our own challenges in this area and understand the importance of students being able to report concerns, where necessary anonymously,” Allison said. “We also recognise the need for robust, firm and fair interventions that leave members of the university community in no doubt that such behaviour is unacceptable and has no place in higher education.”

Allison said that initiation ceremonies were putting students off from participating in sport.

“Sport is part of Loughborough’s DNA and plays an incredibly important role in the student experience at many different levels – from keeping fit to competing on the world stage. There must be no barriers to sport participation.”

In 2016 a Newcastle University student, Ed Farmer, 20, died following an “initiation-style” bar crawl. His father, Jeremy, has called for a “line in the sand” to be drawn, so that “from here on in everybody knows initiations are banned and if you step over that line you will be removed from university”.

Mark Saltmarsh, the head of education and age grade rugby at England Rugby, a sport where initiation ceremonies are prevalent, said they threatened to undermine the positive contribution the game made to many people’s lives.

“There are hundreds of thousands of people who do a superb job on and off the pitch every week of the season to live out the values of our game for the rugby and wider community. But we still hear examples of poor behaviour in university rugby that conflict with these values and the inclusive foundations of team sport.

“While we acknowledge that this is not just a rugby problem or always easy to control, we are determined not to stand by and ignore it.”

Publicație : The Guardian

Les 10 métiers qui recrutent le plus dans le domaine de l’informatique en 2020

Une étude de CodinGame révèle les professions qui vont ouvrir le plus d’emplois dans le domaine de la «tech» en 2020.

L’informatique et l’intelligence artificielle sont des secteurs d’avenir. Les entreprises ne cessent de s’adapter aux nouvelles technologies afin d’améliorer leur rendement. Le recrutement d’experts informatiques connaît donc une forte croissance. À titre d’exemple, la demande pour les développeurs mobiles devrait augmenter de 31% d’ici 2026 selon Codingame, une start-up de recrutement de développeurs. D’autres métiers sont de plus en plus convoités comme développeur back-end , développeur front-end, business analyst, data scientist... Voici le top 10 des métiers de la tech les plus recherchés en 2020, selon une étude menée par cette start-up.

1. Développeur full-stack

Le développeur full-stack (ou «développeur à tout faire») est un informaticien polyvalent qui s’adapte aux besoins de l’entreprise pour laquelle il travaille. Il maîtrise tout les aspects du développement informatique de la création des sites web jusqu’à la conception d’un logiciel. Selon Aude Barral, la cofondatrice de Codingame, c’est cet aspect «couteau suisse» qui fait du développeur full stack un profil très recherché par les entreprises depuis environ cinq ans.

2. Développeur back-end

Le développeur back-end est un informaticien spécialisé, il s’occupe particulièrement de la surface web ou mobile qui n’est pas accessible aux utilisateurs, de la partie immergée de l’iceberg. Ce programmateur de l’ombre met en place et gère la base de données d’un logiciel ou d’une application, indispensable à leur bon fonctionnement.

3. Ingénieur DevOps

Les ingénieurs DevOps (contraction de développement et opérations) interviennent sur la partie serveur d’une infrastructure informatique. Ce métier récent est apparu avec l’émergence du Cloud qui permet de stocker à distance des données. Peu d’école forment à ce métier, c’est pourquoi ils seront très convoités en 2020. Ils ont pour mission d’assurer la rapidité et l’efficacité d’une surface web afin d’obtenir une performance optimale.

4. Développeur front-end

Le développeur front-end est complémentaire au développeur back-end. Il s’occupe de la partie émergée de l’iceberg en régissant les éléments d’un site web ou d’une application qui sont en interaction directe avec les utilisateurs.

5. Architecte informatique

L’Architecte est un expert qui construit une structure informatique de A à Z exactement comme une maison. Des fondations d’un logiciel à ses évolutions, l’architecte conçoit chaque détail informatique en identifiant les besoins de l’entreprise. C’est un métier difficile à recruter: plusieurs années d’expérience en tant qu’ingénieur ou concepteur sont nécessaires pour y accéder. Les architectes sont ainsi peu nombreux malgré la forte demande

6. Développeur mobile

Selon une étude de TechJury, 3,8 milliards de personnes utiliseront un smartphone en 2021. Les entreprises tendent donc à développer au maximum leurs applications mobiles qui sont devenues, à l’instar des surfaces web, indispensables. Le développeur mobile est un programmateur qui conçoit et programme des codes pour les applications smartphones et tablettes.

7. Data Scientist

L’intelligence artificielle est un secteur de plus en plus prisé par les entreprises. Les recruteurs cherchent des data scientist qualifiés pour satisfaire la demande de produits d’intelligence artificielle. Ils ont besoin d’experts en data capables de les stocker, de les trier et de les manipuler à très grande échelle. C’est une mission délicate car ce sont des données sensibles et massives qui peuvent mettre en danger une entreprise.

8. Testeur

Le testeur est un chasseur de bugs. Il a pour mission de vérifier l’efficacité d’un logiciel ou d’une application en traquant les éventuelles erreurs qui peuvent gêner les utilisateurs. Dans un premier temps, il évalue les anomalies pour effectuer un rapport détaillé afin de résoudre la défaillance.

9. Business Analyst

Le business analyst travaille en collectant les données d’utilisateurs de différents site web, y compris ceux des concurrents. Il les analyse ensuite pour identifier quel marché exploiter afin de répondre aux tendances du moment. Son rôle est à la fois stratégique et commercial. Les recruteurs ont besoin de ces profils pour faire face à la rapide évolution des besoins et envies de leur client afin de leur proposer des produits ou des services qui leur correspondent au mieux.

10. Développeur de jeux vidéo

Le développeur crée des jeux vidéo en programmant des logiciels qui génèrent du code. Il ne conçoit pas les lieux et les personnages mais il régit tous les mouvements et les interactions de ces derniers. Il s’assure aussi qu’aucune anomalie gêne l’utilisation du jeu. Le marché du jeu vidéo connaît une très forte croissance depuis quelques années, il devrait atteindre 180 milliards de dollars d’ici 2021 selon TechJury.

Publicație : Le Figaro

Important:

• Revista presei conţine fragmente preluate, fără nici o modificare, din articolele despre învăţământul superior ce apar în presa locală, regională şi naţională.
• Revista presei este o reflectare imparţială a presei educaţionale, cu misiunea clară de a prezenta noutăţile şi ştirile cu adevarat importante pentru mediul academic.
• Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" atrage atenţia că nu îşi asumă responsabilitatea pentru corectitudinea informaţiilor apărute în presă, redate pe această pagina exact în forma în care au aparut în publicaţiile respective.
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Realizator: Dr. Bogdan Baghiu
Contact: promovare@uaic.ro