27 iunie 2020
Guvernul a aprobat construirea căminului ștudențesc de la Universitatea”Alevandru Ioan Cuza” Iași
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Care sunt universitarii din Iași membri în cel mai important for științific din România CNATDCU-DOCUMENT
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Universitatea “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” si “Universitatea “Gh. Asachi” din Iași membre în cea mai importantă comisie de verificare a plagiatelor din România
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Ministers may move university applications to after A-level results
Exclusive: DfE believes current predicted grades method disadvantages BAME students
The education secretary is planning a radical overhaul of England’s university admissions system, with students applying after A-level results and the start of the academic year possibly being moved to January, the Guardian has learned.
Civil servants at the Department for Education (DfE), under Gavin Williamson, have modelled a shift to post-qualification admissions to improve social mobility and help disadvantaged school-leavers.
Under the current system, sixth formers in England apply to university in January using grades predicted by their teachers, before sitting A-levels in late spring and accepting university offers in June. Exam results are published in August, meaning those who missed out on their required grades face a frantic scramble to join clearing and find another course. Teacher grade predictions are notoriously inaccurate, adding to confusion for students and admissions staff.
Under the proposed change, school leavers and other applicants would only proceed with final university applications after their exam results, meaning they would have a clear understanding of the courses for which they qualify.
Ministers including Williamson are understood to believe that post-results applications would benefit disadvantaged young people, including students from black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups.
Predicted grades are often unreliable. Research from the Sutton Trust has shown that disadvantaged students tend to receive lower predicted A-level grades.
Ministers also want to give the government more direct oversight of the entry path to higher education, doing away with what they consider to be a bureaucratic tangle of predicted grades and conditional and unconditional offers that has grown up around the current system.
It comes as the business secretary, Alok Sharma, is to announce extra financial support for universities, including £200m to fund research posts likely to suffer from cuts stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, and loans to cover losses from falling international student fees. Further support, bringing forward additional research and development funding that was budgeted for next year, is expected to be announced soon.
Williamson and the DfE are preparing to publish new proposals for skills, further education and apprenticeships in the next few weeks, culminating in a white paper intended to rebalance post-18 education away from universities and higher education and towards further education, which is being given a higher priority by both the department and Downing Street.
For the higher education sector, a strategy paper is being drawn up to include the push towards post-qualification admissions and other proposals aimed at improving the prospects of disadvantaged applicants.
A number of vice-chancellors also fear that the government wants to clamp down on student numbers taking humanities courses, especially those with a track record of low graduate earnings.
A document discussed within the DfE this month, seen by the Guardian, outlines a number of models for ministers and policymakers. All the options assume post-qualification admissions as a starting point, suggesting that Williamson and others are determined to make the change that the sector has resisted for many years.
The models include:
- Exams results published in August as is currently the case, but with university and college terms starting in January, allowing five months for processing applications.
- Moving exam results forward into July and the start of the university term back into mid-October, allowing a 12-week window for students to apply.
- An unchanged timetable, with only a five-week window for the application process to run between exam results in August and the start of the university term in September, as now.
- University applications made before A-level results are received, but offers of places to students not released until after results are published, with no change to current timings.
The model of pre-qualification applications and post-results offers is also closest to that likely to be proposed by the Universities UK group, which is also holding its own consultation. A DfE spokesperson said: “We do not comment on leaks and will not be drawn on speculation.”
Those analysing the plans suggested that moving the start of university terms to January would promote fairness and transparency as well as a “strong social mobility narrative”. The long gap following the end of exams would allow universities to run courses to prepare students for higher education, as well as opportunities for applicants to attend open days and consider their options.
Supporters of the move to a January start said it would have less “negative impact” on the mental health of students, although would also leave many at a loose end in summer and autumn, “particularly for those disadvantaged students who are likely to need to take paid work in this time”.
A January term start would also have an impact on applications by international students and shrink the long summer holiday for students. “[Higher education] providers unlikely to voluntarily agree to this because of the loss of income and disruption to the academic year,” one briefing document noted, although it suggested that the process would be easier for both the Ucas admissions and Student Loans Company administrators.
Of the other options, the proposal for a 12-week application window between July and October would pile pressure on schools, exam boards and Ofqual, with less time to teach A-level and other qualifications and less time to mark exams, “and we do not know at this stage whether this would be feasible,” the analysis noted.
The DfE push for post-qualification admissions is the latest in a long line of attempts going back to 2006. On each occasion, the status quo has remained intact after opposition from universities and school leaders. Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, is said to have opposed the proposals during his time as an adviser to Michael Gove at the DfE.
Williamson’s efforts to press ahead with the reforms come amid government frustration with the Office for Students (OfS), the higher education regulator for England. In February the OfS launched its own consultation on the admissions process but that has since been paused because of the coronavirus outbreak, with no deadline set, leaving ministers with little to work on.
Earlier this week Sir Michael Barber, executive chair of the OfS, announced his retirement when his term expires next year. Barber was keen to be reappointed for another four-year term but stepped down after the DfE’s unhappiness with the OfS’s performance became apparent.
The new post-18 education policy proposals came as Williamson wants to move beyond the coronavirus pandemic aftermath, with measures to improve the status and attractiveness of further education, which it regards as a more cost-effective means of meeting the UK labour market’s skills shortage.
Publicație : The Guardian
The Guardian view on the humanities: the importance of being rounded
Arts subjects have lost ground to science in recent years. The decision to regroup under a new banner could help them catch up
The acronym Stem – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – was coined in the US in 2001. The idea of integrating and promoting skills seen as key to turbo-charging American prosperity had been around for a while, but as Smet, which is far less catchy. Stem quickly took root and spread beyond the US, not least because of its power as a metaphor: it makes the subjects sound foundational, central, while everything else is edging. In a climate of rickety job prospects, high tuition fees and a correlation of degrees with starting salaries, Stem subjects are equated with employability, good incomes and stability. Nicky Morgan was not unusual when, as the UK’s education secretary, she said: “[In the past] if you didn’t know what you wanted to do … the arts and humanities were what you chose because they were useful … We now know this couldn’t be further from the truth. The subjects to keep young people’s options open are Stem subjects.”
Last year, the number of British students taking the three types of English A-levels dropped by 20% compared with two years before, while those studying performing and expressive arts fell by 53%. Over the decade to 2017, the numbers studying languages at British universities fell by 35%, while the figure for those studying biology, maths and medicine rose (by 47%, 26% and 11% respectively).
Stem is flourishing, but it is a cause for concern that other subjects on the tree of knowledge are in less good shape. Falling numbers of English graduates will soon coincide with a baby bulge just hitting secondary schools, which over the next decade will need 50,000 more teachers, especially in core subjects; the Black Lives Matter protests underscored our thoroughgoing incomprehension of our history.
But besides such practical issues is the larger question of what a good life is. This week, a group spearheaded by the British Academy and including the London School of Economics and Arts Council England offered their answer: a parallel acronym, Shape – social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy. So everything from fine art to psychology to economics: the disciplines that help us govern ourselves, understand how we have developed over time and argue for doing it all better.
The argument for Shape can, if necessary, be economic: last year the arts and culture sector overtook agriculture in terms of its contribution, at £10.8bn a year. The humanities’ supposed lack of obvious vocational pathways is in fact a strength in an economy where flexibility and entrepreneurship are prized, while the perception of lower employability is not borne out by facts – 88% of Shape graduates were employed in 2017 (compared with 89% for Stem).
Shape subjects will also be central to answering the most urgent questions we face; science, for instance, is foundational to comprehending the climate emergency, but will not effect the political and behavioural changes needed to achieve net zero. Nor will it necessarily predict or mould the future. Eric Hobsbawm may have found it baffling that “brilliant fashion designers … sometimes succeed in anticipating the shape of things to come better than professional predictors”; the fact remains they sometimes can. The stem of a plant is, after all, sustained and not just decorated by its leaves.
We should not be shy to argue for confidence and curiosity, joy and openness as good in themselves. Along with Stem, Shape subjects have the potential to open up the full extent of our humanity, to help shape a well-rounded, empathetic and resilient body politic. Fighting for equal weighting for these disciplines is not only good but also necessary.
Publicație : The Guardian
A Montréal, les projets contrariés des étudiants français
Dans la métropole québécoise, en raison du Covid-19, les universités organiseront les cours du semestre d’automne en ligne. De quoi bouleverser les plans de milliers de Français qui étudient sur place, ou qui pensaient y venir à la rentrée.
Ils avaient signé pour une expérience internationale, mais celle-ci a pris un tournant inattendu. Les étudiants français de Montréal – ils sont environ 14 000, soit 40 % des étudiants étrangers de la ville – appréhendent une rentrée qui les privera de tout ce qui fait le sel des études dans la métropole québécoise.
Toutes les universités et grandes écoles de Montréal ont en effet prévu que la rentrée se ferait largement à distance, afin d’anticiper une éventuelle « deuxième vague » de la pandémie. « Une décision annoncée très en amont, afin de rassurer tous nos étudiants, même ceux qui seront contraints de rester éloignés de Montréal », explique Suzanne Fortier, rectrice de la prestigieuse université McGill, où un étudiant sur trois est étranger.
Une rentrée qui laisse Salomé dubitative. Cette étudiante française, qui a déjà effectué un premier cycle au Québec, vient d’être acceptée en première année à HEC Montréal. Elle n’est pas franchement enchantée par l’idée « d’être privée de bibliothèque, de ne pas pouvoir travailler en groupe avec ses camarades et de reprendre les cours sur [l’application] Zoom ».
McGill souhaite ouvrir des « cafés virtuels », où pourraient se retrouver des étudiants
Alors, pour pallier les manques de tout ce qui rend la vie estudiantine à Montréal stimulante, facultés et grandes écoles rivalisent d’imagination. McGill souhaite ouvrir des « cafés virtuels », où pourraient se retrouver des étudiants, même à des milliers de kilomètres de distance. L’université Concordia s’allie à des acteurs culturels de la ville, comme le Musée des beaux-arts, pour proposer des visites virtuelles récurrentes.
« L’enjeu, c’est de convaincre les étudiants maintenus à distance qu’ils peuvent malgré tout vivre une expérience positive, explique son recteur, Graham Carr. Nous devons donc imaginer une expérience virtuelle totale, pas seulement fondée sur les contenus pédagogiques. »
Un concert d’« air guitar »
Mais vivre un avatar de vie étudiante montréalaise promet de ressembler à ces concerts d’« air guitar » : ces prestations où tout y est, sauf… l’essentiel. L’agrément des immenses campus où se côtoient parfois près de cent cinquante nationalités, comme à McGill ou HEC Montréal, les résidences universitaires à bon prix ou les vastes logements en colocation plus abordables qu’à Paris, le foisonnement des activités associatives au cœur même des universités, ou encore les imposants complexes sportifs qui accueillent des milliers d’étudiants pour des matchs de football américain qui se terminent en soirées barbecues… Toutes les plates-formes numériques du monde auront du mal à remplacer les liens tissés dans cette ville cosmopolite, vecteurs de la sociabilité particulière de Montréal.
Publicație : Le Monde
29 iunie 2020
Astăzi, o nouă ediţie a „Marşului Vieţii”
Din dorința de a transmite un mesaj de pace, toleranță și solidaritate în aceste vremuri dificile, Primăria Municipiului Iași, în colaborare cu Comunitatea Evreilor din Iași și Rabinul Josef Wasserman, președintele Fundației pentru Promovarea Evreilor Români din Israel, vor organiza o nouă ediție a „Marșului vieții”, eveniment deja tradițional de comemorare, în acest an, a 79 de ani de la Pogromul de la Iași.
Evenimentul va avea loc astăzi, 29 iunie 2020, ora 10.00, în Cimitirul Evreiesc din Iași, respectând toate măsurile de siguranță și reglementările în vigoare privind organizarea ceremoniilor oficiale. „În aceste zile în care comunitatea internațională este profund implicată în prevenirea și combaterea infectării populației cu noul coronavirus, gândul nostru se îndreaptă spre prietenii evrei care, în fiecare an, comemorau la Iași Pogromul care le-a răpit nemilos familiile și a lăsat o rană adâncă pe cartea de istorie a popoarelor noastre. Nu vom uita niciodată această pagină neagră din istoria Iașului. Vom fi întotdeauna alături de prietenii noștri evrei, construind punți de prietenie și înțelegere care nu vor mai putea fi niciodată rupte. Luni (n.r. –astăzi), în Cimitirul Evreiesc, vom merge împreună în Marșul Vieții, pentru a învinge, încă o dată, moartea adusă de antisemitism, intoleranță, ură. Pentru că Iașul a învățat lecția întunecată a trecutului, privind cu încredere spre un viitor al păcii și prieteniei cu frații noștri evrei”, a declarat primarul Mihai Chirica.
Iaşul a fost printre primele oraşe din România în care s-a stabilit comunitatea evreiască, deosebit de implicată atât în dezvoltarea comerţului, cât şi a artelor (primul teatru idish din lume, „Pomul verde”, a funcţionat la Iaşi, în zona actualului Parc al Teatrului), a medicinei, a stiinţelor şi a patrimoniului arhitectural, fiind un oraș special pentru membrii comunității evreiești din România și Israel
Publicație : Evenimentul
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