11 mai 2019
Reuniunea Comunitatii Alumni UAIC. Nou start in relatia cu absolventii Universitatii
Întalniri bianuale, activitati de mentorat pentru studenti, colaborare in studii de cercetare si dezvoltarea unui fond privat de burse sunt cateva dintre initiativele in care va fi implicata comunitatea absolventilor Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi. Aceste activitati au fost prezentate joi, 9 mai, la o prima intalnire dedicata Comunitatii Alumni UAIC, ce s-a desfasurat in Aula Magna „Mihai Eminescu”.
Peste 200 de fosti studenti au revenit la Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi, la Reuniunea bianuala a Comunitatii Alumni UAIC, un eveniment menit sa puna bazele relatiei dintre institutie si absolventii sai. Intalnirea a fost organizata de Biroul alumni si insertie pe piata muncii, din cadrul Serviciului pentru Studenti, Orientare in Cariera si Insertie Profesionala si Alumni, cu sprijinul intregii comunitati academice.
In cadrul evenimentului, absolventii au fost intampinati de prof. univ. dr. Mihaela ONOFREI, Prorector pentru activitati studentesti si parteneriate cu mediul economic si sectorul public si Prof. univ. dr. Corneliu IATU, Prorector pentru strategie, dezvoltare institutionala si managementul calitatii. Evenimentul a inclus si un concert al Coralei „Universitas”, prezentari ale unor departamente ale Universitatii, alocutiuni din partea unor alumni remarcabili ai UAIC, dar si o sesiune de networking, la finalul evenimentului.
Prof. univ. dr. Mihaela ONOFREI a transmis salutul universitatii catre absolventi, spunandu-le celor prezenti ca „dumneavoastra, ca absolventi, nu ati plecat din universitate doar cu niste cunostinte si o diploma, ci ati luat cu dumneavoastra o parte din sufletul universitatii, din sistemul de valori, din spiritul universitatii si acesta va insoteste, fie ca sunteti in Romania sau in afara tarii, fie ca sunteti bucurosi sau uneori mai tristi.”
Prof. univ. dr. Corneliu IATU i-a asigurat pe absolventi ca „Tot timpul veti fi primiti cu drag aici. Chiar daca noi, conducerea, suntem trecatori, institutia in care suntem acum ramane si trebuie sa ramana, pentru ca noi suntem cei care o construim, permanent, o facem sa fie mai puternica, mai frumoasa si mai interesanta.”
Organizatorul evenimentului, Serban VORNICU, coordonatorul Biroului Alumni si insertie pe piata muncii a prezentat viziunea relatiei Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” cu absolventii, organizata pe patru componente principale:
Alumni Education – conectarea absolventilor, ca mentori, cu actualii studenti ai universitatii si implicarea acestora in programe educationale, ca speakeri la evenimente sau ca traineri, prin livrarea unor workshop-uri specializate ori de pregatire pentru realitatea din piata muncii;
Alumni Campus – activitati si proiecte de imbunatatire a actului educational prin renovarea unor sali de seminar, laboratoare sau amfiteatre, sau prin propunerea unor noi concepte de spatii dedicate studentilor, precum si prin activitati de fundraising, in special destinate instituirii unui fond privat de burse pentru studentii Universitatii;
Alumni Research – realizarea de studii, pentru sondarea asteptarilor pe care studentii nostri le au de la angajatori si viceversa, astfel incat Universitatea sa poata asigura un echilibru cat mai bun intre cerintele pietei muncii si formarea studentilor;
Alumni Community – crearea de contexte de interactiune intre absolventi, centre sau grupuri de discutii alumni in cadrul fiecarei facultati.
Tot in cadrul evenimentului, a fost anuntat faptul ca incepand din acest an, cei care vor absolvi Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi vor primi o diploma care le confera statutul de alumnus, respectiv alumna, in cadrul Ceremoniilor de absolvire organizate de Fundatia „ALUMNI – Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza din Iasi”.
„Prin acest gest simbolic, marcam faptul ca absolventii nostri devin parte a unei comunitati, ca pot sa se intoarca si sa revina ori de cate ori au nevoie sau ori de cate ori doresc sa colaboreze cu Universitatea”, a declarat Serban Vornicu.
Diana CHIHAIA, coordonatoarea Serviciului pentru Studenti, Orientare in Cariera si Insertie Profesionala si Alumni, a prezentat pe scurt departamentul si tipurile de proiecte initiate si dezvoltate de echipa. Totodata, s-a pus accent pe activitatile care implica si absolventi ai Universitatii, intre care „La ceai cu un profesionist”- o intalnire non-formala, intre actuali studenti si absolventi ai Universitatii sau Caravana UAIC – un proiect de promovare a ofertei academice a UAIC si de consiliere a elevilor de liceu.
Intalnirea a inclus un mini-recital al Coralei „Universitas”, coordonata de Gabriela ENASESCU si dirijata de pr. lect. univ. dr. Gabriel NASTASA.
Evenimentul a continuat cu scurte interventii din partea unor absolventi de seama ai Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi, care au contribuit prin intermediul companiilor pe care le reprezinta la dezvoltarea studentilor si la promovarea spiritului Universitatii. Au luat cuvantul: Anca Doina HREAMATA – Director Grup Retail, BCR; Adriana HUTANU – Director Management Vanzari, BRD; Bogdan BABICI – Director Regional, Raiffeisen Bank; Alexandra STROEA – Marketer Proiecte Educationale, IULIUS; Dan ZAHARIA – fondator al spatiului de coworking Fab Lab Iasi.
Reuniunea a avut si un moment aniversar, coordonat de lect. univ. dr. Bogdan NECULAU – Directorul Centrului de Invatare „Performanta pas cu pas” al Universitatii. Surpriza a fost dedicata doamnei profesor Nita NEDEA, absolventa a Facultatii de Biologie si colaboratoare apropiata a Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi.
La final, pe Sala Pasilor Pierduti, a fost organizat un cocktail, lasand participantilor posibilitatea sa se reintalneasca si sa schimbe idei si impresii, avand ocazia sa deguste din Vinul lui Cuza.
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Rectorul Universitatii Tehnice din Iasi, profesorul Dan Cascaval, invitat la Summit-ul din Romania, unde au fost marii lideri ai Europei
Rectorul Universitatii Tehnice "Gheorghe Asachi" - TUIASI, prof. univ. dr. ing. Dan Cascaval, a fost invitat la o importanta conferinta cu privire la viitorul Educatiei, care a fost organizata la Sibiu in paralel cu Summit-ul european de pe 9 mai 2019 • La momentul intitulat sugestiv "The Future of Europe. Perspectives of the Contemporary Developments" s-a punctat modul in care trebuie sa evolueze o societate bazata pe Educatie plecand de la "Education is the knowledge society. The future of education in Europe" • Aici au participat sapte rectori de la universitatile de stat din Romania, profesorul Cascaval fiind singurul ce a reprezentat comunitatea academica din Iasi • Au mai fost invitati si secretarul de stat Gigel Paraschiv si Adrian Curaj, directorul Uniunii Executive pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii
Prof. univ. dr. ing. Dan Cascaval, rectorul Universitatii Tehnice "Gheorghe Asachi" (TUIASI) din Iasi, a fost invitat la o importanta conferinta cu privire la viitorul Educatiei, organizata la Sibiu in paralel cu Summit-ul european de pe 9 mai 2019. Intitulat sugestiv "The Future of Europe. Perspectives of the Contemporary Developments", in cadrul acestui moment s-a punctat modul in care trebuie sa evolueze o societate bazata pe Educatie plecand de la "Education is the knowledge society. The future of education in Europe".
Aici au participat sapte rectori de la universitatile de stat din Romania, profesorul Cascaval fiind singurul ce a reprezentat comunitatea academica din Iasi. Au mai fost invitati si secretarul de stat Gigel Paraschiv si Adrian Curaj, directorul Uniunii Executive pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii.
La debutul seriei de conferinte, organizate de Universitatea "Lucian Blaga" din Sibiu si in colaborare cu Centrul pentru Prevenirea Conflictelor si Early Warning Bucuresti, a participat presedintele Romaniei, Klaus Iohannis, iar rectorii invitati la panelul organizat in data de 8 mai au fost in prim-plan si la evenimentele ce nu au presupus intalniri private ale liderilor Europei din cadrul Summit-ului.
"Integrarea Educatiei romanesti, in contextul european actual, reprezinta un subiect deosebit de acut si definitoriu pentru apartenenta noastra la Uniunea Europeana. In acest sens, o tema importanta de discutie au fost mobilitatile, in principal de tip Erasmus+, care vor beneficia de un buget substantial marit dupa 2020", a declarat prof. univ. dr. ing. Dan Cascaval, rectorul TUIASI.
"Mi se pare fireasca includerea Educatiei in topicul dezbaterilor prilejuite de Summit-ul de la Sibiu"
In cadrul conferintei, la nivel de tematici generale abordate, s-a discutat despre ariile europene ale Educatiei si Cercetarii, cu interpretari punctuale privind internationalizarea, procesul Bologna sau conceptul de universitate europeana.
"O problema ridicata, cumva specifica Romaniei, a constat in posibilitatile de echilibrare intre numarul studentilor incoming si cel al studentilor outgoing, mai ales bazate pe exemplul tarilor din imediata noastra vecinatate. Internationalizarea universitatilor, adaptata punctelor specifice, punctelor tari ale fiecarei universitati, a reprezentat un alt subiect fierbinte si care a suscitat numeroase discutii. Si deloc lipsite de interes au fost intrebarile, unele inca fara raspuns, care au vizat crearea retelelor de universitati europene", a mai punctat rectorul iesean.
Pe de alta parte, acesta a participat, atat la dezbaterea pe Educatie, dar si la celelalte conferinte. "Mi se pare fireasca includerea Educatiei in topicul dezbaterilor prilejuite de Summit-ul de la Sibiu. Aceasta includere in program este cu atat mai logica cu cat tema centrala a acestui Summit este tocmai viitorul Europei. Si, indiferent din ce unghi am privi viitorul, politic, economic, social, Educatia are rolul decisiv in crearea unei Europe si mai unite. Iar Romania are toate motivele de a fi unul dintre promotorii Educatiei europene. Prezenta Politehnicii iesene la aceste evenimente confirma atentia pe care o acordam integrarii noastre in sistemul european de Educatie si, in acelasi timp, subliniaza recunoasterea Universitatii noastre ca fiind un potential pol regional de educatie internationala, dar si un puternic partener in strategia nationala de compatibilizare europeana", a finalizat rectorul TUIASI.
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
Simpozion internaţional pe teme de istorie şi patrimoniu
Muzeele „Mihai Codreanu" (Vila Sonet), „Ion Creangă" (Bojdeuca) şi „Mihail Sadoveanu" din Iaşi vor fi gazdele celei de-a XII-a ediţii a Simpozionului internaţional „Istorie, cultură, patrimoniu", eveniment care se va desfăşura la Iaşi în perioada 13-14 mai. Manifestările sunt organizate de către Muzeul Naţional al Literaturii Române Iaşi şi Asociaţia „Patrimoniu pentru comunitate" Iaşi, urmând să reunească peste 55 de participanţi din România, Republica Moldova, Franţa şi Grecia.
Simpozionul se desfăşoară pe patru secţiuni principale, iar în deschidere va conferenţia Academicianul Alexandru Zub, pe tema „A.D. Xenopol peste hotare", conferinţa fiind în cadrul Programului de conferinţe academice ale Muzeului Naţional al Literaturii Române Iaşi. Ediţia din acest an va avea două noi secţiuni,„Muzeul şi tinerii – dezbatere cu participarea studenţilor Universităţii «Alexandru Ioan Cuza» din Iaşi", organizată în contextul în care Municipiul Iaşi deţine titlul de Capitală a Tineretului din România, dar şi „Muzeul meu: noi muzee ieşene", care reprezintă o platformă de prezentare a instituţiilor muzeale. Anul acesta, instituţiile invitate în cadrul platformei sunt Muzeul Municipal Iaşi şi Filiala „Ştefan cel Mare" Iaşi a Muzeului Militar Naţional „Regele Ferdinand I".
În funcţie de secţiunile simpozionului, participă reprezentaţi de la instituţii culturale din întreaga ţară, dar şi din străinătate. De exemplu, la Secţiunea „Culturăşi civilizaţie românească în context european", participă muzeografi şi cercetători de la Academia Română – Filiala Timişoara, Institutul de Studii Banatice „Titu Maiorescu", Institutul de Armenologie al Universităţii „Babeş-Bolyai", Cluj-Napoca, Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural, Chişinău, Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza" din Iaşi, Universitatea Paris-Sorbonne IV (Franţa), Universitatea „Aristotel" Tesalonic (Grecia), Universitatea „Transilvania" din Braşov, Universitatea de Stat „Alecu Russo" Bălţi, Universitatea de Stat din Moldova, Chişinău, Universitatea „Apollonia" din Iaşi, Muzeul de Artă Cluj-Napoca, Muzeul Brăilei „Carol I", Muzeul de Etnografie şi Artă Populară Tulcea, Muzeul Naţional al Literaturii Române Iaşi şi de la Fundaţia „Andreiana Juventus" Galaţi.
În cadrul simpozionului, mai există şi secţiunile„Conservarea şi restaurarea valorilor de patrimoniu",„Muzeologie – educaţie muzeală – relaţii cu publicul – politici culturale" şi „Biblioteconomie – traductologie – istoria cărţii", de asemenea cu zeci de participanţi din ţară şi străinătate. Simpozionul este organizat în cadrul Festivalului Internaţional al Educaţiei. Lucrările simpozionului vor fi prezentate în zilele de 13 şi 14 mai, iar cele selectate de Comitetul Ştiinţific al Simpozionului vor fi publicate în „Anuarul Muzeului Naţional al Literaturii Române Iaşi", nr. 12/2019.
Publicație : Ziarul de Iași
Singapore’s ‘fake news’ law undermines the credibility of academic expertise
And opens up scholarly discourse to political tampering, says Linda Lim
On 8 May, Singapore’s parliament passed a controversial fake news law that gives authorities the power to police online platforms.
The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 received global criticism from international media, human rights groups, the biggest tech companies and even a former Singaporean government minister. Their concerns centred on the law’s sweeping yet vague provisions, its severe criminal penalties, and its extraterritorial reach.
Fifty-eight academics, including myself, from many different institutions in several countries sent a letter to Singapore’s minister of education Ong Ye Kung on 11 April, copying in Singapore university presidents and boards of trustees.
We focused on the law’s lack of clarity in defining “facts”, “false or misleading statements” and Singapore’s “public interest”, and the impact it will have on scholarly research and publication.
In response, government ministers conducted dialogue sessions at a number of universities and met privately with a group of our signatories, taking great effort to explain the bill.
But they were unable to deny that the law was vulnerable to abuse and empowers political interests to skew scholarly debates. They could only assure us that this government does not intend to misuse the law’s powers in this way.
Admitting they could not speak for future governments, they advised only that Singaporeans vote wisely to stop the law getting into the wrong hands.
Meanwhile, government pronouncements reinforced rather than reduced our unease about politicians using the legislation to adjudicate scholarly disputes.
Ministers showed their impatience with contrary viewpoints by declaring that only people who support irresponsible speech would oppose the bill, then labelled critics who persisted as “alarmist” and “crying wolf”.
In his parliamentary speech, Minister Ong – who as a sitting minister is empowered by the new law to decide if a particular statement is “false or misleading”, “against the public interest” and made “with malicious intent” – asserted, completely without evidence, that the whole group’s “real concern is not about their research per se” but about the law being used to “stifle political discourse in Singapore, given that some of the academics are also activists”.
The standard government mantra is that “opinion” would be allowed under POFMA, thus protecting freedom of expression for anyone expressing “any viewpoint”. But this confers such freedom only on expressions of “personal opinion”, not statements, or contentions of purported statements, which, for scholarly work, is based on laborious original research, data-gathering and rigorous analysis subject to expert peer review.
In order to exempt academic research from the law, Minster Ong has categorised research results as “hypotheses, theories and opinions”. But this denies its seriousness and reduces its credibility. Ironically, it is such devaluation of expert knowledge that has contributed to the worldwide epidemic of fake news and created a world where all that matters is a “personal opinion”.
The US president Donald Trump, for example, justifies denying that human-induced climate change is happening, despite scientific evidence to the contrary, because it is his “personal belief” – this POFMA would allow.
Academics should be at the forefront of the fight against fake news, but this can only happen if our expert knowledge and professional judgment is taken seriously, not misrepresented (and thus dismissed) as mere “opinion”.
We also submitted concerns to the ministry of law regarding specific and technical aspects of academic research and publication, to which we have not received any response. One of these concerns is the requirement to post a correction provided by a minister to any finding mentioned online to which they object to under POFMA, including in private social media posts and encrypted chat groups.
For academics whose published research findings often involve research collaborators, peer reviewers and publishers of many nationalities and in multiple jurisdictions, this will be difficult if not impossible to do without perjury and exposure to legal jeopardy from other partners.
POFMA poses problems in other domains besides academia, chiefly because it will apply “in or outside of Singapore” and take precedence over legal requirements in other jurisdictions, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation that protects citizens’ data privacy.
And the fact that it allows ministers to exempt any individual or entity guilty of offence from being penalised means that the law by design does not actually protect from all “fake news”, including that which might be perpetrated by the state itself.
Academia is one of the most globalised professions and Singapore’s universities are proudly among the world’s most highly ranked, as well as being international institutions – a large majority of tenure-track faculty are foreign nationals (only one of whom signed our letter, despite many expressing their concerns privately).
What happens here will have an inevitable ripple effect, especially if copycat legislation is enacted by larger players like China or India.
Fake news is a global problem that needs to be tackled globally. Academics should be part of the solution by defending against it through our core missions of research, education, and community outreach.
We cannot do this if we are hobbled by this law and any subsequent imitators that it might inspire.
Publicație : The Times
New models ‘reshaping how historians write’
Fragmentary, first-person accounts are challenging the staid traditions of the monograph, event hears
A number of “striking and highly imaginative” studies are “breaking new ground in how history is being written”, an event heard.
Philip Carter, senior lecturer in digital history at the Institute of Historical Research, made the comment as the IHR hosted a panel discussion on “New approaches to writing history” in partnership with the Raphael Samuel History Centre.
One good example, the event heard, was the award-winning book by Bart van Es, professor of English literature at the University of Oxford, The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found. This explores how and why his paternal grandparents in the Netherlands sheltered Jewish children during the Second World War and even adopted a girl called Lien, yet in 1988 decided to cut off all contact with her.
When he came to write it, Professor van Es explained, he was influenced by the way that his own discipline of English had become “narrowly historicised”, a place “where the literary had died away”. After spending “an intense month” interviewing Lien and visiting the nine different places she had been hidden during the war, therefore, he produced a highly personal account, not striving for traditional historical detachment but writing from “a compromised position as narrator and a member of the van Es family”.
An even more radical example of “matching form and content” was described by Sarah Knott, associate professor in history at Indiana University Bloomington, and the author of a new book called Mother: An Unconventional History.
The “conventional protocols”, she pointed out, required historians “to seek change over time, to tell narrative, and to write in the third person. Conventional history writing is particularly adept at identifying overarching chronologies, offering a convincing narrative, and adopting a clear distance from the investigation.”
When she decided to embark on “a history of maternity” in the UK and North America, however, she soon realised that she would have to adopt a different approach. Part of the problem was “the fragmentary, piecemeal nature of archival traces of mothering, both hands typically having been needed to hold the baby…A small child continually breaks into maternal speech.” Equally significant was her own “sleep-deprived, interruptive state, with one baby and then another on hand, which made sustained thinking and long-form writing into temporary impossibilities”.
“Infuriated by the way that history in bookshops means kings and queens,” Dr Knott was determined to “dignify the domestic and the visceral with a sustained curiosity” and to pay attention to neglected topics such as “the sound of an infant cry” (interpreted in different ways at different times) and “the experience of being continually interrupted”. The only way to do justice to all this was to abandon standard models and produce “an unconventional history” that was “verb-led, based in anecdote, and composed in the form of a first-person essay”.
Academics need to “escape a culture of productivity and churning out ‘outputs’”, added Professor van Es, Instead, we ought to “give people more time to produce things they actually believe in”.
Publicație : The Times
Théorie du genre et indigénisme à l’université: les dessous de l’enquête du Figaro magazine
Décolonialisme, néoféminisme, théorie du genre ou lutte contre l’«extrémisme d’État», ces revendications se répandent au sein des universités sans laisser aucune place à la contradiction. Judith Waintraub raconte les coulisses de son enquête pour le Figaro Magazine.
«La liberté académique de pouvoir tout interroger est l’un des fondements de l’université. Elle a des racines constitutionnelles.» C’est le message que claironne Frédérique Vidal, dans un entretien à paraître ce samedi 11 mai dans le Figaro Magazine. Une pleine page sur laquelle la ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche s’inscrit en faux contre l’enquête présentée en Une: «islamo-gauchisme, décolonialisme et théorie du genre au programme, le grand noyautage des universités».
Sans concession, Judith Waintraub dresse le tableau de «l’endoctrinement» orchestré par les partisans d’une convergence des luttes contre le racisme, le sexisme la transphobie et autres formes de «discriminations croisées». Ce combat idéologique, qualifié d’ «intersectionnel», semble sévir de la prépa jusqu’aux bancs des grandes écoles et universités françaises, s’inscrivant dans une lame de fond dominante aux États-Unis.
«L’examen critique s’efface au profit du bourrage de crâne»
C’est par les «sciences molles» que tout a commencé. Sociologie, psychologie, histoire et politologie, ces matières sont un terrain propice à la propagation des thèses «indigénistes» (mouvement de défense des «masses indigènes opprimées» par la colonisation) et «islamo-gauchistes», constate Judith Waintraub. Elle tire de ses échanges avec nombre d’enseignants et étudiants, la conclusion que «l’examen critique, principe fondateur de l’enseignement académique, s’efface de plus en plus au profit du bourrage de crâne».
La journaliste évoque par exemple le témoignage d’Abdel en prépa à Henri IV, sidéré de ce qu’il apprend en cours d’ «histoire globale» ou de «sociologie des inégalités». «Qu’il existe un racisme d’État, qu’il faut déblanco-centrer et déseuropéano-centrer l’histoire, que la statuaire grecque est essentiellement phallocratique ou, encore, que les tableaux de la Renaissance italienne sont marqués d’un genrisme patent», raconte le jeune cité dans l’enquête.
« Dans l’enseignement supérieur, tout fonctionne par cooptation»Judith Waintraub, auteur de l’enquête
Judith Waintraub y égrène les événements symptomatiques survenus ces dernières années, de l’inauguration du programme «égalité de genre effective dans la Recherche et l’Académie» à Sciences Po en 2014, à l’annulation d’une conférence d’Alain Finkielkraut ou la suppression de la représentation des Suppliantes d’Eschylle taxée de discrimination pour «black face» à la Sorbonne. «Il ne se passe pas un jour sans qu’un événement de ce type se produise», fait remarquer la journaliste. Pour elle, si ce phénomène prend de l’ampleur, c’est que «dans l’enseignement supérieur, tout fonctionne par cooptation. Il suffit que quelques adeptes de ces théories s’installent, pour qu’ils construisent des réseaux et captent les postes et les crédits de recherche...le tout face à une administration au mieux aveugle, au pire, complice».
«J’ai voulu parler du vécu des victimes, ces profs et élèves ostracisés»
«Dans cette enquête, j’ai voulu parler du vécu des victimes, ces professeurs et ces élèves ostracisés, marginalisés quand ils ne font pas partie de ces réseaux», explique Judith Waintraub. S’ils ont témoigné de bon cœur, c’est bien souvent sous couvert d’anonymat. «La pression des pairs est énorme. Il y a des carrières en jeu, ou des résultats d’examens pour les étudiants», fait-elle remarquer.
«La pression des pairs est énorme, il y a des carrières en jeu »Judith Waintraub, auteur de l’enquête
L’enquête met d’ailleurs en avant les techniques d’intimidation dont usent les partisans de la «lutte intersectionnelle». Communiqués incendiaires, manifestations, boycotts, plaintes appuyées à la direction qui finit souvent par céder. Judith Waintraub cite l’exemple de Philippe Soual, docteur en philosophie et spécialiste de Hegel, qui s’est vu interdire le cours de préparation à l’agrégation (dont le thème était justement Hegel) à l’université de Toulouse, pour avoir apporté sa réflexion lors d’un séminaire de La Manif Pour Tous en 2015 sur le thème «Qu’est-ce que l’homme?». Son renvoi avait été réclamé par des militants revendiqués «Trans, PD, gouines, bi».
«Le modèle universitaire se définit par l’ouverture à la critique. Or ce qui caractérise ces mouvements, c’est qu’ils sont hostiles à toute critique envers eux», souligne la journaliste. Un paradoxe que les responsables d’établissements, à en croire Judith Waintraub, semblent encore peiner à considérer.
Publicație : Le Figaro
Lauree magistrali, il 13 settembre la prova d'accesso per Scienze della Formazione primaria, il 25 ottobre Professioni sanitarie
ROMA - Sono stati pubblicati sul sito del ministero dell'Istruzione date e modalità delle prove d’accesso per il corso di Laurea magistrale a ciclo unico in Scienze della Formazione primaria e ai corsi di Laurea magistrale delle Professioni sanitarie per l’Anno accademico 2019-2020.
La prova di ammissione in Scienze della Formazione primaria si svolgerà in ogni sede universitaria il 13 settembre prossimo alle ore 11. La prova prevede un tempo di 150 minuti e consiste nella soluzione di 80 quesiti che presentano quattro opzioni di risposta tra cui il candidato dovrà scegliere. Sono previsti: 40 domande su competenza linguistica e ragionamento logico; 20 su cultura letteraria, storico-sociale e geografica; 20 su cultura matematico-scientifica.
Da quest’anno, i laureati in Scienze dell’Educazione e della Formazione sono ammessi, dopo aver superato la prova e previa verifica dei requisiti da parte degli atenei sulla base dei contenuti dei programmi d’esame, al terzo anno del corso di laurea magistrale quinquennale a ciclo unico in Scienze della Formazione primaria.
La prova di ammissione ai corsi di Laurea magistrale delle Professioni sanitarie, invece, si svolgerà in ogni sede universitaria il 25 ottobre prossimo sempre dalle ore 11. In questo caso la prova prevede un tempo di due ore e consiste nella soluzione di 80 quesiti che presentano cinque opzioni di risposta, tra cui il candidato dovrà scegliere, su: teoria-pratica nelle Professioni sanitarie ricomprese nella classe di laurea magistrale d’interesse; cultura generale e ragionamento logico; regolamentazione dell’esercizio delle Professioni sanitarie ricomprese nella classe di laurea magistrale d’interesse e legislazione sanitaria; cultura scientifico-matematica, statistica, informatica e inglese; scienze umane e sociali.
Sono previsti, per Professioni sanitarie: 32 domande per l’argomento di teoria-pratica delle professioni ricomprese nella classe di laurea magistrale d’interesse; 18 per l’argomento di cultura generale e ragionamento logico; 10 quesiti per ciascuno dei restanti argomenti.
Publicație : La Repubblica
13 mai 2019
Conferinta "Europa convergentei: crestere, competitivitate, conectivitate", la Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" din Iasi
Institutul European din România (IER) si Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" (UAIC) din Iasi, cu sprijinul Ministerului Afacerilor Externe (MAE) - Presedintia României la Consiliul Uniunii Europene (CE), vor organiza vineri, 17 mai 2019, conferinta cu tema "Europa convergentei: crestere, competitivitate, conectivitate".
Evenimentul este înscris în calendarul Presedintiei României la Consiliul Uniunii Europene si se va desfasura în Sala Senatului din cadrul Universitatii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza", între 11:30 si 16:30.
Principalul obiectiv al conferintei va fi acela de a discuta diferitele chestiuni legate de reforma viitoarei politici de coeziune a UE (ulterior 2021). Cum ar trebui viitoarea politica de coeziune a UE sa abordeze noile provocari, tot mai numeroase, de la migratie, terorism si securitate pâna la digitalizare si securitate cibernetica? Care ar trebui sa fie principalele obiective ale viitoarei Presedintii a Consiliului Uniunii Europene (PCUE): coeziune sau competitivitate, dimensiune urbana sau rurala, regiuni de tranzitie sau regiuni mai putin dezvoltate, crearea de locuri de munca si sprijinirea inovarii sau dezvoltarea infrastructurii etc.? Care ar fi cea mai eficienta forma de sprijin pentru beneficiari: fonduri nerambursabile, instrumente financiare sau, cel mai probabil, o varianta combinata? Si care ar trebui sa fie relatia dintre PCUE si Fondul european pentru investitii strategice (cunoscut sub numele de Planul/Instrumentul Juncker)?
Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași
The economic value of going to university is not declining
Falling UK graduate wages reflect not too many students but a flexible labour market’s post-crash adjustment, argues David Willetts
Modern economies are supposed to deliver improving living standards – incrementally year-on-year, with big gains decade-on-decade. That is why it is so shocking that a 30-year-old today earns no more than a 30-year-old a decade ago did, according to previous research by the Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Commission.
This is an earnings freeze on a scale unprecedented in the UK since the war. The crash of 2008 is key but that is not the whole story. New Resolution Foundation research published this week helps to explain how jobs and earnings have been affected since then.
The good news is that unemployment did not rise as much as feared, and that since 2012 the UK has enjoyed a jobs boom that has delivered record employment. One reason is that pay adjusted itself by much more than we expected. After the crash, the unemployment rate for those aged 18-29 rose by four percentage points while their real earnings fell by nine percentage points. This is a much lower impact on employment and a much bigger effect on wages than in previous recessions.
Many of us would see this as one of the benefits of a flexible labour market, ensuring that the pain of adjusting to the recession was spread broadly through our wages, rather than being more narrowly focused on people losing their jobs. In the 1980s, by contrast, unemployment was much higher but wages stayed higher too. The politics of this shared pain is very different from the economics, however. Back in the 1980s, the incumbent government won two landslide election victories. Now both parties are feeling the wrath of an electorate fed up with the squeeze.
We can dig deeper into these effects on pay and jobs by comparing the employment rates four years after leaving education for groups who entered the jobs market in 2002 and 2008. We find that the employment rates of those educated only to GCSE level fell from 68 per cent in 2002 to 56 per cent in 2008, while graduate employment rates only fell from 91 per cent to 88 per cent. So the unemployment effects of the recession were felt almost entirely among the lowest qualified. Yet the opposite is true of pay. Graduates faced a 10 per cent earnings fall, compared with a 1 per cent drop among lower-qualified young workers.
It looks as if graduates responded to the crash by trading down into less-well-paid jobs. They, in turn, displaced the less skilled workers, who were more likely to be unemployed. But down at the bottom end, the minimum wage meant that pay fell by less.
Our research shows that the crisis cohort of graduates had a 30 per cent higher chance of being in a lower paying occupation one year after graduating, a scarring effect lasting seven years that could still have a significant influence on their pay and career prospects. This is the effect of the crash – there was no sudden increase in the number of graduates that could possibly offer an alternative explanation of this result.
Our new research adds to a growing shared understanding of the effects of the last downturn, and it raises lots of policy questions. One is how we can encourage young people to move jobs more frequently, particularly from low-paid to higher-paying occupations. We also need to think about how we can mitigate any negative effects for those young people unfortunate enough to leave education in the next downturn.
But there are also plenty of wrong conclusions to draw about what is happening to graduate pay. The latest data from the longitudinal education outcomes (LEO) appear to show graduate earnings doing badly. But while these data are very useful, they start in 2009, the worst year in living memory to enter the world of work. We can now see that a key reason graduate pay has underperformed over the past decade is the way that the UK’s labour market responded to the recession, with the pay effects focused on graduates and the unemployment effects focused on the least educated. Yet this crucial double impact is hidden if the only comparisons we make are on pay between graduates and non-graduates who are in work, because it ignores that differential employment effect.
Some people argue that the LEO data show that too many people are going to university. Actually, they show how a flexible labour market responds to a recession. This misinterpretation matters.
When we look at the long-term factors behind the slowdown of earnings growth, a key one is that the rate of increase in educational attainment has slowed too. What the UK needs, therefore, is more education opportunities for more people. It would be a tragic mistake to draw the opposite lesson from the recent recession and make the next one even more damaging than it need be.
Publicație : The Times
Universities ‘uniquely’ prone to workplace abuse, union warns
New reports uncover widespread gossip, harassment, verbal abuse and ‘scientific sabotage’ in Dutch universities – with women particularly affected
A Dutch labour union has warned that university workplaces are uniquely prone to harassment and abuses of power, after a survey discovered that about half of staff felt they were “socially unsafe” at work.
A survey of more than 1,000 staff members across the Netherlands discovered that around a third of respondents said they had been bullied, and nearly half undermined by having important information, like the time of meetings, withheld from them.
The investigation, carried out by the Dutch Federation of Trade Unions (FNV) and the Vawo academic union, asked not only about issues such as sexual harassment, but also about other problems like corrosive gossip and “scientific sabotage”, where researchers were made to feel that they were not good enough to publish articles or apply for jobs.
“We know [about] actions like sexual harassment,” said Jan Boersma, director for universities at the FNV. “But it’s far more than that.” He said this was the first survey to look at the broader “social safety” of university workplaces.
Universities had a “unique” cocktail of factors that made them prone to abuse, he warned. They were organised very hierarchically, facilitating abuses of power; workloads were intense; and job insecurity made competition for posts fierce, Mr Boersma warned.
The survey results found that female staff were more likely to report being victims of every type of behaviour, particularly gossip about their performance.
In a separate piece of research, the Dutch Network of Women Professors (LNVH) collected 53 accounts of harassment from female academics across the Netherlands.
They ranged from sexual jokes and groping to stereotyped denigration of female academics as “emotional” or “hysterical”. Seventy per cent of the harassers were the supervisor or manager of the victim, while 78 per cent were men, according to Harassment in Dutch Academia.
None except one of the victims had been happy with how their complaints had been dealt with, explained Marijke Naezer, one of the report’s authors and a gender studies researcher at Radboud University. In some cases, “people simply didn’t believe them”, she said, or, despite being sympathetic, did not have the power or inclination to take action.
The findings have triggered calls from both the union and the LNVH for independent ombudspeople who can investigate workplace complaints and even have the power to fire faculty.
At the moment, explained Dr Naezer, universities employed “confidential advisers” who can listen to and advise victims but “cannot take other types of action”.
“They can’t even start an investigation, or even talk to the harasser,” she said.
Harassers, often senior academics, were protected by their value to the university. “If you bring in money, people come to see you as indispensable. That acts as a shield,” Dr Naezer said.
Some victims interviewed by the LNVH saw that their harassers seemed to be “above the law”, she explained, hence the need for independent ombudspeople. “It has to be someone from outside the academic structure,” she said.
The Association of Universities in the Netherlands said that institutions were “committed to providing their students, employees and visitors with a safe environment”, and stressed that they were trying to improve the confidential adviser system.
Publicație : The Times
To close the student attainment gap universities must lead by example
The sector needs to share its successes and its failures to make progress, says Janet Beer
The first recommendation from Universities UK’s new report on closing the black, Asian and minority ethnic student attainment gap is clear: universities need to both lead by example and provide strong direction.
Ninety-six university leaders have already pledged to use the framework devised by UUK and the National Union of Students to close this gap. The sector’s swift reaction gives me great confidence.
There is, of course, a long way to go before we eliminate the difference between the proportion of first-class and 2:1 degrees awarded to white students and those awarded to BAME students, which currently stands at 13 per cent, but the public acknowledgement of the issue and the desire to do more is vitally important.
UUK and the NUS have worked relentlessly to ensure the widest possible input into this work. Through a series of regional roundtables with students, academics, university staff and vice-chancellors we have identified five steps universities can take to improve BAME student outcomes.
While the multiple causes of the disparity in achievement are complex, identifying some of the solutions is less so.
Encouraging, listening and acting on the views of students must be integral to building our understanding of their experiences at university and how they can be improved. The opinions of students have – in very positive ways – been the focus of much of the media attention on the report and a welcome part of the broadcast coverage. After all, this is about their futures so their voices need to be front and centre.
We also need to remember, however, that universities are already taking action and their different approaches to responding to the needs of their students can be shared and good practice built upon.
Working in isolation often means that progress is slower. So to help disseminate new knowledge, UUK has created a case study library for universities to share the challenges, successes and impact of what they are already doing, for others to learn from.
More evidence is key and we want the sector to help increase this set of case studies. The range of initiatives demonstrates that many universities are already making significant investments in change, such as Queen Mary University of London’s introduction of new modules to discuss race and disability in relation to drama, while joining up the committees on teaching and learning with those focusing on equality and diversity.
Another example is the University of the West of England, which has created a BAME project officer post in health and applied sciences directly focusing on the attainment gap within the faculty. Meanwhile, at Goldsmiths, University of London, a “Liberate our Library” working group has diversified the resources available to students in their library.
Every university is different and therefore different approaches will be needed, including an increased focus on unconscious bias training and inclusive teaching practices, diversifying the curriculum, and ensuring that students have visible BAME role models among university staff.
Currently, 10 per cent of professors are BAME and just 0.6 per cent are black. Addressing some of these challenges will take time and considerable effort, but we can all learn a lot from each other and the collection of case studies will help us to do this.
The more transparent we are, the faster we will progress. We talk a lot about what works, but we also need to talk more about what doesn’t.
Our universities are racially and culturally diverse and they must also be places where students are inspired and encouraged to realise their potential.
I am proud of the sector for making a formal commitment to close the BAME attainment gap and for sharing the steps that they have already taken, including both the successes and the challenges they have come across.
I look forward to following the progress of our work and call on all university leaders and senior managers to learn from the work of their colleagues. It is only when we succeed in closing the attainment gap that all of our students and staff can have real confidence that the higher education environment is one in which they can flourish.
Publicație : The Times
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