Titlul de Doctor Honoris Causa oferit de Politehnica ieşeană unui reputat chimist

Senatul Universităţii Tehnice „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iaşi (TUIASI) a acordat titlul de Doctor Honoris Causa profesorului universitar doctor Antonio Marzocchella, de la Universitatea „Federico II” din Napoli, Italia, în cadrul unei şedinţe festive care a avut loc ieri, în Sala de Conferinţe a TUIASI, de la ora 11.00.

Ședinţa a fost condusă de conf. univ. dr. ing. Tania Hapurne, preşedintele Senatului, care a precizat, în deschiderea evenimentului, că universitatea are marele privilegiu de a-l primi în comunitatea academică pe cunoscutul profesor Antonio Marzocchella, specialist în sisteme chimice şi biotehnologie.

„Acest titlu reprezintă cea mai înaltă distincţie oferită de Senatul TUIASI personalităţilor care s-au remarcat într-o activitate deosebită şi au realizări remarcabile în domeniul cercetării ştiinţifice, în domeniul didactic şi care au avut contribuţii importante în dezvoltarea relaţiilor cu universitatea noastră”, a punctat preşedintele Senatului în discursul său.

Antonio Marzocchella este profesor de Sisteme Chimice şi Biotehnologice în cadrul Facultăţii de Inginerie, Departamentul de Inginerie Chimică, Materiale şi Producţie Industrială din Universitatea „Federico II”, Napoli, Italia (L’Università degli Studi di Napoli „Federico II”) fondată de împăratul Frederic al II-lea al Sfântului Imperiu Roman la 5 iunie 1224, fiind una dintre primele universităţi din lume şi cea mai veche universitate laică.

După momentul decernării diplomei şi medaliei aniversare a universităţii, profesorul Antonio Marzocchella a făcut o scurtă prezentare a universităţii sale şi a relaţiilor întemeiate şi dezvoltate cu TUIASI în decursul anilor. Acesta a mulţumit comisiei care a luat decizia de a acorda titlul de Doctor Honoris Causa şi a spus că este o plăcere şi o bucurie să primească această distincţie.

„Am vorbit în această dimineaţă şi am încercat să răspundem la întrebarea, de ce am primit eu acest titlu? Cred că este şi un semn al vârstei, că devin mai bătrân. Dar vârsta creşte oportunitatea de a întâlni oameni cu mintea deschisă în toată lumea”, a subliniat profesorul Antonio Marzocchella

 Publicație : Ziarul de Iași

 

 „Depunem toate eforturile posibile pentru păstrarea integrităţii patrimoniului universităţii”

Rectorul USAMV a amintit de procesul cu Universitatea „Cuza” la deschiderea anului

 Universitatea de Ştiinţe Agricole şi Medicină Veterinară „Ion Ionescu de la Brad” din Iaşi (USAMV) şi-a deschis ieri porţile, întâmpinându-i atât pe cei peste 830 de boboci care încep cursurile pentru prima dată, cât şi pe cei aproximativ 4.200 de studenţi înmatriculaţi la cele patru facultăţi ale instituţiei de învăţământ superior din Iaşi.

La ceremonia festivă care a avut loc în Aula Magna „Haralamb Vasiliu”, în dimineaţa zilei de ieri, au participat, conform tradiţiei, reprezentanţi de la toate universităţile de stat din Iaşi, iar rectorul Universităţii Naţionale de Arte „George Enescu”, prof. univ. dr. ing. Atena Elena Simionescu, a transmis un mesaj comun din partea tuturor instituţiilor de învăţământ superior din capitala Moldovei.

În discursul său, prof.dr. Vasile Vîntu a vorbit despre rolul universităţii de a integra tinerii într-o economie concurenţială, de a forma oameni şi caractere şi de a forma şi perfecţiona noua generaţie şi de a o transformă într-o forţă de muncă adaptată la cerinţele pieţei.

„Ne face o deosebită plăcere să evocăm faptul că am fost evaluaţi de European University Association, care a apreciat pozitiv activitatea noastră şi eforturile pe care le facem pentru a ne îndeplini standardele de calitate, la fel ca în 2018 când am primit gradul maximum de calitate în învăţământul superior din partea ARACIS”, a punctat prof.dr. Vasile Vîntu.

Acesta a făcut în discursul său şi o trecere în revistă a celor mai relevante cifre cu care USAMV intră în noul an universitar. Universitatea dispune astfel de 16 specializări la învăţământul universitar de zi, 4 la distanţă, 21 specializări la masterat şi 32 de specializări la şcolile doctorale, precum şi diverse programe de perfecţionare şi formare continuă. Sunt 500 de salariaţi la universitate, dintre care 188 cadre didactice titulare, iar universitatea a acordat 2.502 burse, dintre care 201 din sponsorizări şi venituri proprii, 35% dintre studenţii înscrişi la zi beneficiind astfel de bursă. Concret, pe domeniul burselor, rectorul a anunţat că la ceremonia de deschidere au fost acordate burse din fonduri proprii şi donaţii din partea sponsorilor pentru studenţii merituoşi din anul anterior, în valoare de 45.000 de lei.

În discursul său, rectorul nu a evitat şi conflictul din instanţă demarat de Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iaşi, prin care încearcă să îşi însuşească cantina USAMV din Complexul „Târguşor Copou”, unde Cuza are mai multe cămine. Rectorul a vorbit de mai multe ori despre patrimoniul universităţii şi despre cum acesta trebuie să fie apărat.

„Întreg patrimoniul universităţii este destinat în exclusivitate activităţilor de învăţământ şi de cercetare desfăşurate de cadre didactice, studenţi, masteranzi şi doctoranzi. Astfel, este responsabilitatea noastră să depunem toate eforturile posibile pentru păstrarea integrităţii patrimoniului universităţii. Deţinem o bază solidă şi modernizată”, a punctat prof.dr. Vasile Vîntu.

A mai luat cuvântul preşedintele Senatului, prof.dr. Gerard Jităreanu, care i-a îndemnat pe studenţi să se îndrepte către şcoală şi către lectură, cât şi reprezentanţii partenerilor economici şi ai celor instituţionali: primarul, prefectul şi vicepreşedintele Consiliului Judeţean.

 Publicație : Ziarul de Iași

 

UK students waiting up to three months for mental health care

University data shows long delays, raising fears young people’s mental welfare will decline in the interim

Students with mental health problems are being forced to wait up to 12 weeks for help from their university, prompting fears that some may take their own lives during the delay.

Undergraduates at the Royal College of Music in London had to wait the longest to start counselling last year, with the worst case being 84 days, figures collected by British universities show.

Sir Norman Lamb, the ex-health minister who obtained the data, said such long delays for care for conditions such as anxiety and depression could prove seriously damaging to undergraduates.

“Twelve-week delays to start counselling are scandalous, particularly when we know that so many students are taking their own lives,” he said. “That’s longer than a university term.

“It’s extraordinary that some universities are subjecting students to such long waits and failing their student populations so badly.”

“Universities with these long waiting times need to remember that students suffering from mental health conditions very often need help as a matter of real urgency. The risk is that their mental welfare will decline even further while they wait and wait for care and support,” he added.

Despite the growing demand for care, one in four universities have cut or frozen their budgets for student mental health, Lamb also found, although not all universities supplied full data.

The University of Plymouth had the second-longest waiting times last year, with the worst case 66 days – though it stressed that the students involved had been offered earlier appointments.

At Edinburgh Napier university, students waited up to 57 days for counselling and 112 days to start cognitive behavioural therapy, the research shows.

Other institutions with notably long delays in the worst cases included the Royal College of Art in London (56 days), Bournemouth University (44 days in the term until December 2018) and the University of Salford (42 days).

The findings come as hundreds of thousands of young people across the UK prepare to start a degree course at university, with most living away from home for the first time.

Lamb’s results, based on responses received to freedom of information requests, also found that students at some universities are facing average waits of up to 52 days in their quest to get psychological support.

That average delay – of seven-and-a-half weeks – was seen at the University of Bristol. Its mental health support for undergraduates has come under close scrutiny as a result of the suicide or suspected suicide of 12 students there in the last three years.

Other institutions with long average delays include Northumbria (42 days) and Edinburgh Napier, where students typically waited 30.7 days last year to access counselling and CBT.

In contrast, those at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London were seen in just 1.2 days – the shortest wait among the 110 universities Lamb sought details from.

Universities have been heavily criticised for the mental health provision they offer undergraduates, as the number of them seeking help has soared in recent years. Students’ struggles can lead to them dropping out, doing poorly academically or killing themselves. An estimated 95 students in higher education took their own lives in the 12 months to July 2017 in England and Wales.

Reported student mental ill-health has increased fivefold since 2010. Research has found that one in five (22%) students has been diagnosed with a mental ailment and that even more (34%) have struggled with a psychological issue with which they felt they needed professional help.

In addition, 45% use drink or drugs to help them cope with problems, 43% worry often or all the time and 9% think about self-harming often or all the time.

Responding to Lamb’s findings, Tom Madders, campaigns director at the charity YoungMinds, said: “It is very worrying that there is considerable variation in the level of mental health support offered at universities around the country. Counselling for students should not be a postcode lottery.

“Many young people start university expecting to have the time of their lives. But for some it can be a stressful experience: moving away from home, financial difficulties, problems with your course, making new friends and changes to your support network can all pile on the pressure.”

Lamb also found progress by some universities. Many have increased the number of counsellors they employ or cut waiting times, for example.

John de Pury, assistant director of policy at Universities UK, which represents the vast majority of universities, said it wanted institutions to do more to help students as soon as problems first emerge.

“Mental health matters to universities but there is no simple answer to this challenge nor can they address it alone,” he said.

“Universities provide a range of mental health services – not just counselling – to support students. We are encouraging all higher education providers not just to do more of what they have been doing but to review existing support and to design and resource appropriate services based on need. They should widen their approach to include prevention and early intervention,” he said.

Some universities are trialling an opt-in scheme, whereby students allow the authorities to tell their parents if they develop problems, to help ensure their families know and can help to support them.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

Publicație : The Guardian și The Independent și The Times

 

Government to consider scrapping university offers based on A-level predictions

Education secretary Gavin Williamson warns of ‘deeply concerning’ recruitment practices

The education secretary has backed a review of higher education admissions which could potentially see university offers based on predicted A-level grades scrapped.

Sixth-formers could apply for a place on a degree course after they receive their exam results as part of a post-qualification admissions (PQA) system, following a review of the system.

Mr Williamson said conditional unconditional offers – where an institution tells students they are guaranteed a place only if they make it their first choice – could be a breach of consumer rights.

“There are also other recruitment practices, including the use of inducements, that could have an adverse impact on the access and success of students in higher education,” he said.

In the letter to the regulator, which sets out the minister’s priorities for higher education, Mr Williamson said he endorsed looking at the pros and cons of a PQA system as part of a review.

“While this has been considered before, the context in which the sector is operating has changed and there has been much recent debate about this topic expressing differing views,” he said.

Mr Williamson added: “I am glad the OfS is looking at whether it would be in students’ interests to apply for their university place after they have their A-level results.”

Labour will scrap university offers based on predicted A-level grades

It comes after the Labour Party pledged to scrap university offers based on predicted A-level grades last month in a bid to curb the significant rise in unconditional offers and bring an end to clearing.

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Recent figures from Ucas show that the proportion of university applicants being offered a place on a course regardless of their exam grades has risen to nearly two in five.

Thirty-eight per cent of 18-year-old applicants from England, Northern Ireland and Wales received an offer with an unconditional element in 2019, compared to 1 per cent in 2013.

Last week, Mr Williamson condemned the use of “conditional unconditional offers”, adding that they can deter disadvantaged teenagers from going to the best academic institutions available to them.

Speaking to vice-chancellors in Birmingham on Thursday, the minister warned that grade inflation across British universities is in danger of making degrees worthless to students and employers.

A Universities UK spokesperson said: “The university admissions system must be fair and transparent, able to serve the needs of a diverse group of applicants from a wide range of backgrounds.

“Universities UK recently launched a review of admissions, involving Ucas, students, and senior representatives from schools, colleges and universities.

“This is a wide-ranging review and we will be considering all aspects of the offer-making process as part of it.

“It will collect evidence on how the current admissions system works, identify the challenges relating to offer making and recommend best practice – ensuring we are absolutely clear on the evidence base and determining what is in the interests of students and what is not.”

Publicație : The Independent

Ethical review should apply to non-academic research, too

It is unfair and dangerous that, unlike academics, researchers in the private sector operate with no ethical oversight, says Ron Iphofen

When I served on NHS research and development committees a few years ago, we were often tasked with deciding whether a proposal constituted fully fledged research or “merely” an audit.

The latter involves the evaluation of services supplementary to treatments, such as changes to a patient waiting area or feedback on the experience of care. It is deemed not to be research because it might not produce new and effective knowledge. That is despite the fact that, to be useful, an audit should be as robust as standard research in terms of accurate baseline and outcome measures, as well as awareness (if not control) of potentially confounding variables.

The distinction between research and audit matters because audits are not considered by the NHS to require the same ethics appraisal as research. Yet such interventions could raise just as many moral questions as research does.

It largely comes down to administrative convenience. Given the amount of service evaluations conducted in the health context, the ethics review system could be overwhelmed if all research-like activity required its approval. Yet administrative convenience is obviously not a good reason to determine where ethical oversight is appropriate.

More recently, I have been challenged to define research in my capacity as leader of a European Commission project, known as PRO-RES, that aims to promote ethics and integrity in non-medical research – in certain fields of which, the requirement to submit to ethics review is sometimes actively opposed.

My colleague Fabian Zuleeg, CEO and chief economist of the European Policy Centre, points out that not all research agencies are in a position to adhere to PRO-RES’ foundational statement on the values, principles and standards to be sought in research. For instance, it could clash with some thinktanks’ business models by offering an advantage to less reputable organisations that would be unlikely to follow such principles.

But while analysts in the public and private sectors might not carry the label “researchers”, they certainly collect data, as well as synthesise research findings from other sources. They use their judgement and experience to make recommendations based on the research. So why, unlike academic researchers, are they currently unlikely to be subject to any form of ethics review?

Nor is it just public policy researchers and advocacy organisations that evade ethical oversight. Data gathering is also part of the modus vivendi of most large internet-based corporations – and the scale of profit realised by companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook is testimony to the value, accuracy and effectiveness of such data. Yet there are currently no adequate legal limits on their actions. They allow themselves to be subject only to their own internal mission statements.

How can it be allowed that standards in research apply to some researchers but not to others? This only enhances the unfortunate incentives for skilled researchers to migrate from ethics-appraised academic research in universities to better-paid commercial research organisations, in which innovation might even override integrity and which are highly unlikely to subscribe to those supposed fundamental principles of science: openness, transparency and the sharing of knowledge.

The research that elected Donald Trump and “caused” the Brexit referendum result was not subject to the kinds of checks on ethics and integrity required of academic researchers. Cambridge Analytica was a research mercenary – employed to gather data that could influence opinion on a massive scale and immune to the need for transparency, balance and justice in its exploitation of data.

The mathematician Hannah Fry recently argued for a Hippocratic Oath for scientists – especially mathematicians. She hopes that this would encourage them to pay closer attention to the consequences of hidden algorithms and invisible processes that gather and manipulate personal data with varying degrees of permission and perform functions that have real-life consequences for individuals and their communities.

But we also need to find something equivalent to the conventional models for monitoring ethical research that can be applied to corporations, thinktanks, advocacy agencies, lobbying groups and the more murky “advisory bodies” with mass behaviour change as their raison d’être. This is particularly true in areas such as personal data, artificial intelligence, robotics, food and agricultural science.

The reason that this has not happened already is primarily that no one has thought through how it could be done. But the authorities that should address these issues must not be dissuaded merely because the task is daunting. It may be easier to establish regulatory mechanisms for “pure” academic research – but such research may be considerably less dangerous than the research that is currently unregulated.

If some research is worth monitoring, then all should be – in ways suited to their forms and function. It is not fair that non-academic researchers are allowed to get away with things that academics cannot. And history has already shown that relying on the vagaries of self-regulation outside the academic field is an invitation to abuse.

Publicație : The Times

UK clarifies post-study work visa eligibility after ‘confusion’

Visa route on offer for those ‘graduating in the summer of 2020-21 and after’, but Indian students concerned by announcement’s ambiguity

The UK Home Office has confirmed that post-study work visas will be available for students “graduating in the summer of 2020-21 and after”, following criticism of the government’s initial announcement for causing “confusion” among international students.

The government’s initial press release announcing the return of two-year post-study work visas was issued by the Department for Education on 10 September. It said the new route “will be available to international students who have successfully completed a course in any subject at undergraduate level or higher at a higher education provider with a track record of compliance, and have Tier 4 [student visa] leave at the point the route is introduced”.

The press release added: “This includes students who start courses in 2020-21 at undergraduate level or above.”

Times Higher Education has since been contacted by a number of current and prospective international students uncertain as to their eligibility for the new visas. Some with places at UK universities starting this autumn asked whether they would need to defer their entry for a year to be eligible.

After THE contacted the Home Office for clarification, a spokesman for the department said that students “graduating in the summer of 2020-21 and after will be eligible”.

That ought to mean that no student should need to defer entry in order to be eligible.

“We’ll set out further plans on the introduction of the route in due course,” the Home Office spokesman added.

Indian students have been among those expressing concerns about the lack of reliable guidance on timing. This is embarrassing for the government because one of the key aims behind the reintroduction of post-study work visas was to reverse the dramatic decline in the number of Indian students after abolition of the visas in 2012.

Sanam Arora, chair of the National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK, said the post-study work visa announcement, while welcome, had created “a lot of confusion”.

Three categories of student were “very concerned at present”, she added: students starting courses this month; those already in the UK and in possession of valid student visas when the change is implemented; and students “who are currently graduating”.

“We firmly believe all categories should be in scope for the PSW [visas] and have written to authorities asking for urgent clarification. It is important they do so immediately because students are now wondering whether they should defer entry to the following year or cancel and reapply,” Ms Arora said.

Publicație : The Times

Netherlands universities ‘must improve’ foreign students’ Dutch

Proposed new law not as tough as some feared – but critics argue focus on Dutch ignores benefits of studying in English

Universities in the Netherlands will have a legal duty of care for their international students’ Dutch language proficiency under controversial proposed legislation designed to deal with a rapid growth in foreign admissions and English-only courses.

A new bill stops short of mandating that all international students take part of their courses in Dutch, as some universities had feared.

But the new language and accessibility bill, based on a major review into internationalisation on campuses, does recommend several significant measures, some of which have universities worried.

One is the extension of an existing duty to promote Dutch for all students, not just locals. “This will enhance the students’ links with their host community and the regional job market, increase their employability and strengthen the position of Dutch as a language of scientific research,” the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science argues.

In the decade to 2018-19, international student numbers more than doubled, according to the policy review on which the new bill is based.

“Forcing foreign students to learn the Dutch language is nationalism at its worst,” said Jo Ritzen, a former minister of education, culture and science for the opposition Labour Party and now a professorial fellow at Maastricht University. “It is simply meant to keep them away.”

But Martin Paul, president of Maastricht University, said the proposals were much less severe than feared and even called some quite “sensible”.

“We have to prove that Dutch proficiency is developed,” said Professor Paul. However, how this is done is “up to the universities”, he said.

At Maastricht, 80 per cent of international students already learn Dutch, he said, so increasing that figure to 100 per cent was “not a big step to take”.

The Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) said it had some concerns about the requirement, which had to be balanced with Dutch universities’ international reputations.

In addition, universities will face tougher criteria when they have to justify teaching a course in a language other than Dutch. The VSNU fears that this will lead to a big increase in paperwork.

Universities will also be able to cap numbers on courses not taught in Dutch. “This will safeguard access to the Dutch-language course variant,” the ministry argues. But institutions will have to get the minister’s permission to do so, something the VSNU says could infringe on their autonomy.

Scholarships for incoming students will be cut, but will be increased for Dutch students who go abroad to learn.

Although the recommendations are not as tough as some had feared, the ministry’s focus on preserving Dutch has irked Professor Ritzen. “There is not one positive word about the role of an education in English for Dutch students,” he said.

“All research shows that graduates on average have at least once-a-day contact with someone across the border in another language. Dutch graduates are in high demand on the international labour market because they often have had part of their studies [taught] in English,” he explained.

And the bill could be toughened when it goes for discussion in parliament in October, warned Professor Paul. The Dutch Council of State – a government advisory body – has already described it as too lax and wants stronger regulations to increase the study of Dutch, he said.

Publicație : The Times

Rich likely to benefit from changes to US early admission rules

Fighting what it sees as anticompetitive practices, Trump administration may harm universities and low-income students

The Trump administration is demanding that US universities overhaul the “early decision” practice under which students promise to accept an admissions offer ahead of normal timelines, in ways that could further benefit wealthier and more experienced families.

In what it describes as a crackdown on anticompetitive practices, the administration is pushing the nation’s leading association of guidance counsellors to repeal several of its ethical guidelines governing early decision.

The current membership guidelines, issued by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, include a prohibition on offering students additional incentives – such as better housing or increased financial aid – if they choose the early decision process.

Other association guidelines faulted by the US Justice Department  are those that generally expect universities to respect the exclusivity of an early decision agreement and to stop pursuing any student who has committed to one elsewhere.

The department is now making clear that it regards such provisions as violations of federal anti-trust laws.

The counsellors’ association, in response, plans to ask its members at a meeting in late September to formally delete the objectionable guidelines from its ethical code, and to give its leaders authority to make further changes as needed to satisfy government officials.

Such compliance, the association is warning its members in a letter ahead of the meeting set for 28 September in Louisville, Kentucky, appears necessary “to avoid exposing NACAC to litigation and trial”.

The early decision process, at many US universities, offers prospective students a chance to apply earlier than normal in the annual admissions process – often November, about a month or more sooner than usual – and then to receive a correspondingly earlier answer.

The counselling association’s current guidelines discourage offering incentives beyond an early response. But colleges have been known to make indirect suggestions of benefits, such as higher odds of acceptance and greater certainty of access to limited amounts of the institution’s pot of financial aid money.

Such benefits are widely understood to confer an advantage upon students and families with the greatest familiarity with colleges and their admissions processes, and thus short-change students from poorer and non-white backgrounds.

The changes proposed by the Trump administration could widen that income- and race-based opportunity gap, by making clear that such incentives are fully permissible and by encouraging all colleges to keep offering such incentives even after a student accepts an admissions offer at a different institution.

That widening advantage for wealthier families, experts said, stems from the fact that better-resourced applicants have a greater ability to understand increasingly complicated and longer-running sets of options and possibilities.

“It’s widely known and even acknowledged that early decision favours wealthy students,” said Jon Boeckenstedt, vice-provost for enrolment management at Oregon State University.

The changes being pushed by the Trump administration will also complicate the work of universities, said Robert Springall, the vice-president for enrolment management at Muhlenberg College, since institutions may need to keep fighting to keep their students after the point at which the students have promised to enrol.

That anxiety could extend even after a student begins attending a particular college, Mr Springall said, since the policy changes appear to invite outside colleges to make offers for desirable students to transfer.

“The consequences of this are difficult to predict,” he said. “I think it will affect the positions of institutions in different markets differently.”

Mr Springall said that the changes were a worrying sign that the Trump administration was keen to goad universities to compete with each other, rather than helping the neediest students

Publicație : The Times

2600 candidats sans affectation: l’Unef veut «redonner la parole aux étudiants»

Le syndicat étudiant Unef a mis en place une consultation en ligne, qui a comme rôle selon le syndicat de gauche de «redonner la parole aux étudiants» en prenant en compte leurs propositions.

Augmentation des frais pour les étudiants étrangers, candidats sans affectation, baisse des aides: face aux incertitudes de la rentrée, le syndicat Unef, proche de la gauche, a lancé ce lundi une «consultation inédite» et de nouveaux outils pour répondre aux étudiants.

«On a une rentrée avec des freins pour les étudiants à toutes les étapes de leur cursus», a commencé Mélanie Luce, présidente de l’Unef, deuxième syndicat étudiant.

«L’important c’est de redonner la parole aux étudiants», estime-t-elle. Conditions de vie et d’études, discriminations ou encore écologie, le syndicat a mis en place une consultation en ligne pour recueillir les propositions des étudiants sur les actions à mener.

Publicație : Le Figaro

« J’ai détesté mon lycée pro, mais j’ai réussi à m’en sortir à l’université »

Après une scolarité difficile et un bac pro en gestion, Breno, 20 ans, a trouvé à l’université le cadre et la stimulation intellectuelle qui lui avaient jusqu’ici manqué.

Voix d’orientation. Le Monde Campus et La ZEP, média jeune et participatif, s’associent pour faire témoigner des étudiants sur leurs parcours d’orientation. Ce sont eux qui rédigent, dans le cadre d’ateliers d’écriture encadrés par des journalistes, leur récit.

Quand je suis arrivé en France en 2015, débarquant du Brésil, une conseillère d’orientation m’a proposé d’aller en bac pro en gestion administration, sans m’expliquer vraiment pourquoi. Mes notes étaient bonnes. Je parlais français, même si j’avais un accent assez fort. Comme je ne connaissais absolument pas les filières en France, j’ai décidé de lui faire confiance.

Dès mon premier jour dans mon lycée de banlieue parisienne, j’ai détesté. Je me suis senti comme une personne à part. J’avais l’impression d’être le seul à être là pour travailler. Je trouvais que les jeunes étaient très malpolis face aux enseignants et face à leurs camarades, tout en n’ayant aucun projet de vie ou d’ambition professionnelle. La classe n’avait pas envie de progresser. Les élèves se comportaient n’importe comment, tout en insultant les parents des camarades, les profs, et en se bagarrant… Une fois, la principale a essayé de séparer une bagarre entre deux jeunes et elle s’est pris un coup dans le visage. Une autre fois, un élève a amené un pistolet au lycée.

Pendant trois ans, je me suis totalement démotivé, en passant même par une dépression. J’ai été victime de propos racistes venant de mes camarades de classe tels que « sale clochard, retourne dans ton pays ». Mais le pire dans cette histoire, c’est qu’eux-mêmes en voulaient à la société française d’être discriminatoire et raciste envers eux.

« Impossible d’étudier »

Dans ce contexte, impossible d’étudier. On se concentrait pas, certains profs laissaient carrément tomber, ou avaient des propos très vexants comme : « Vous allez travailler toute votre vie dans un supermarché, aucune fac vous acceptera ». Je ne dirais pas tous les propos que j’ai entendus ou subis. Des propos venant d’un professeur qui a un rôle majeur dans la vie d’un étudiant peuvent être très lourds.

J’ai essayé de me réorienter, mais ma prof m’a dit que c’était impossible de passer en filière générale, même si j’avais des bonnes notes et que j’étais sérieux. Au bout d’un moment, je ne venais presque plus en cours, et si je venais c’est parce que ma mère m’obligeait. Du coup, mes notes ont chuté, je ne pensais même pas avoir le bac. Avec difficulté, j’ai quand même réussi à l’obtenir, du deuxième coup.

Depuis, j’ai intégré une licence de Langues étrangères appliquées à l’université Paris-Nanterre. Cette université m’a accueilli à bras ouverts, en ne faisant pas de distinction par rapport à mon bac d’origine.

Je n’étais pas préparé pour l’université, mais j’étais motivé. Au début, c’était très dur, certains profs me disaient que je n’avais pas le niveau. Mais des enseignants m’ont aidé à mieux développer mes connaissances et m’ont poussé à m’intéresser à d’autres matières qui, auparavant, n’étaient pas importantes à mes yeux. Par exemple, la culture et la lecture.

Trois fois plus d’efforts

Je ne vous cacherai pas qu’avant la fac je n’avais jamais lu un livre littéraire jusqu’à la fin… Je suis sans doute devenu une personne plus cultivée et ouverte d’esprit grâce à eux. Cela démontre, encore une fois, le rôle majeur des professeurs passionnés dans la vie d’un étudiant.

J’ai donné de mon mieux, même si je devais étudier trois fois plus qu’un élève francophone. Au second semestre de ma première année, j’ai eu 12,9 de moyenne générale et j’ai fini par valider mon année avec la mention assez bien. Pour ma deuxième année, j’ai choisi le parcours « langue des affaires », car j’envisage d’intégrer une école de commerce après ma licence. Mon objectif est de valider mon année avec une mention bien.

En venant d’un bac pro, je suis conscient des inégalités et des discriminations que cette jeunesse subit. Mais il ne faut pas tourner le dos à ce problème. Sinon, comment croyez-vous que ces jeunes, qui seront les citoyens de demain, arriveront à s’en sortir ?

Publicație : Le Monde