Doua distinctii de excelenta acordate Editurii UAIC in cadrul „Zilelor Recoltei Editoriale”

Editura Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi a primit doua importante distinctii in cadrul Zilelor Recoltei Editoriale, editia a VII-a, targ de carte care a avut loc in perioada  12-14 septembrie 2019, in Parcul Copou, Iasi, si care a fost sustinut de Primaria Municipiului Iasi. Evenimentul a constituit un bun prilej de a semnala cele mai importante aparitii editoriale ale anului 2019. Astfel, sambata, 14 septembrie 2019, in cadrul festivitatii de premiere Editura Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi a primit doua importante distinctii, Premiul pentru Debut 2019, pentru volumul (Si) Fenomenologia vietii personale in filosofia lui Constantin Micu Stavila, de Fraguta Zaharia, si Diploma Zilelor Recoltei Editoriale 2019, pentru volumul Confesiuni, vestigii, temporalitati, de Andi Mihalache.

Premiile au fost inmanate de Adi Cristi, directorul Casei de Cultura a Municipiului Iasi „Mihai Ursachi”, institutie care a organizat acest targ de carte, Editura Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”  fiind prezenta in cadrul acestui eveniment cu o expozitie a noutatilor editoriale din domeniul cartii academice.

Volumul Fragutei Zaharia, (Si) Fenomenologia vietii personale in filosofia lui Constantin Micu Stavila, evidentiaza contributia ganditorului roman Constantin Micu Stavila (1914-2003) – stabilit din 1969 la Paris – la dezvoltarea filosofiei romanesti in context european, dar si, mai ales, o fructificare a operei sale filosofice in perspectiva unei fenomenologii a vietii personale. Autoarea este doctor in filosofie al Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi.

„Cartea semnata de Andi Mihalache (Confesiuni, vestigii, temporalitati – n.n.) este realmente incantatoare, te atrage mai mult decat poti banui la primele pagini. Anunta o maniera de a scrie cu adevarat distincta: cultivata si erudita – fara sa devina pur livresca, dezinvolta si densa, cu idei care, desi ating uneori altitudini speculative, isi afla imediat carnatia vie, starea lor intrupata.” (prof.univ.dr. Stefan Afloroaei, Membru Corespondent al Academiei Romane, in recomandarea de pe coperta IV a cartii).

Andi Mihalache este cercetator in cadrul Departamentului de Istoria Culturii din cadrul Institutului de Istorie „A.D. Xenopol” din Iasi.

Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași

Echipa UAIC a reprezentat Romania la Finala Campionatului Europen din cadrul proiectului Erasmus +„Anti Bullying Beach-Golf Contest”

In perioada  5 – 9 septembrie 2019, patru studenti si un cadru didactic de la Facultatea de Educatie Fizica si Sport din cadrul Universitatii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iasi (UAIC), impreuna cu 10 elevi de la Liceul „Miron Costin” din Pascani – Iasi,  au participat la Finala Campionatului Europen  din cadrul Proiectului  Erasmus + „Anti Bullying Beach-Golf Contest”, organizata in Pescara, Italia, de Federatia Internationala de Beach-Golf (BGSA) si co-finantata de Uniunea Europeana.

Cu un total de 240 de puncte acumulate la 12 probe sportive, iesienii au ocupat la final locul VI  dintr-un total de 15 tari participante.

Primele cinci locuri au fost ocupate de Franta, Italia, Turcia, Malta, Portugalia, echipa Romaniei devansand tari ca Olanda, Belgia, Spania, Lituania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia si Grecia.

„Reprezentand Romania, UAIC si orasul Iasi, toti participantii am dat dovada de ambitie, curaj, determinare, participand cu interes si cu dorinta de a acumula cat mai multe puncte in competitia directa cu celelalte tari.

Imi felicit echipa selectionata atat din randul elevilor, cat si din randul studentilor, care s-a ridicat de multe ori la nivelul Turneului Final de Campionat European.  Atat elevii, cat si studentii,  au avut de castigat  pe plan sportiv, dar si pe plan personal. Prin promovarearea fairplay-ului in competitie, sunt convins ca am reusit sa stabilim punti de comunicare si relatii de prietenie pe termen lung cu ceilalti participanti din Europa” , a declarat Lect. univ. dr. Florin Nichifor. Aceasta competitie a fost organizata in faza a doua a Proiectului  Erasmus + „Anti Bullying Beach-Golf Contest”. In prima parte a proiectului, desfasurata in perioada  2 – 9 martie 2019, tot la Pescara, Italia, cei patru reprezentanti ai UAIC (studentii: Radu Adriana, Calin Ana-Maria, Bucatariu Robert, Balan Cosmin si Lect. dr. Florin Nichifor), alaturi de reprezentanti ai celorlalte 14 universitati europene au participat la un program de combatere a fenomenului Bullying prin jocuri sportive – beach golf. De asemenea, in perioada aprilie  – august 2019,  au fost selectionati si antrenati 10 elevi de la Liceul „Miron Costin”  din Pascani – Iasi, cu varsta cuprinsa intre 15  si 19 ani, dintr-un numar de aproximativ 400 elevi.

Publicație : Bună Ziua Iași

Fostul rector al Universității Tehnice, Mihai Gafițanu, omagiat la împlinirea a 85 de ani

 Colectivul Universității Tehnice „Gheorghe Asachi” l-a omagiat marți, 17 septembrie 2019, pe prof. univ. dr. ing. Mihai Gafițanu, fost rector al instituției de învățământ superior, care a împlinit cu o zi înainte, pe 16 septembrie, vârsta de 85 de ani.

„Profesorul Gafițanu a participat din toată inima la efortul de «clădire» al Institutului Politehnic, cei care au ajuns mai târziu în școală găsind laboratoare, cărți și îndrumare, o atmosferă propice dezvoltării și un climat favorabil atât formării specialiștilor în inginerie, cât și cercetării științifice. Un exemplu cred că este edificator: sub îndrumarea profesorului Popinceanu și-a început activitatea, la Iași, o adevărată școală în domeniul contactelor cu rostogolire, cu aplicații mai ales în industria rulmenților”, a punctat prof. univ. dr. ing. Dumitru Olaru.

Prof. univ. dr. ing. Mihai Gafițanu a fost rector al universității în perioada 1976 și 1984, având încă un mandat și în intervalul 1996 – 2000.

„Aceste momente au fost practic marcate de prezenta dumneavoastră ca rector al universității. Îmi revine foarte onoranta misiune ca în numele colegilor mei profesori să vă oferim un foarte nesemnificativ omagiu a întregii dumneavoastră activități și a faptului că universitatea noastră este astfel astăzi datorită dumneavoastră”, a subliniat prof. univ. dr. ing. Dan Cașcaval.

Publicație : Ziarul de Iași

 Fiul unui fost ministru al Educației a câștigat Premiul Nobel Junior pentru Economie

 Ștefan Pricopie, absolvent al Universității Manchester, a câștigat Global Undergraduate Awards 2019 – cunoscut ca Premiul Nobel Junior, la secțiunea Economie. Pricopie a fost desemnat astăzi câștigător al premiilor acordate sub patronajul președintelui Irlandei, pentru teza sa de licență despre învățământul public și fenomenul de brain drain, informează jurnalistii.ro.

Tatăl lui Ștefan Pricopie este Remus Pricopie, fost ministru al Educației și rectorul SNSPA.

Premiul Nobel pentru Studenți desemnează cele mai importante lucrări de absolvire a facultății, pe 25 de discipline din domenii precum arta, științele exacte și științe umaniste.

În competiție s-au înscris peste 3.400 de persoane, de la 338 de universități din 50 de țări, și reprezintă una dintre cele mai importante distincții pentru studenții de nivel licență / master din mediul universitar internațional.

Ștefan Pricopie are 22 de ani și în iunie 2019 a absolvit cu High First-Class Honours programul de economie-matematică din cadrul Facultății de Științe Sociale de la Universitatea Manchester, UK.

Teza de dizertație, care este și cea pentru care a primit Premiul Nobel Junior 2020 pentru Economie, se intitulează “Public Education and Brain Drain”.

Tot anul acesta, tânărul a primit premiul special din partea Decanului Facultății de Științe Sociale – Dean’s Award for Achievement.

În prezent, Ștefan Pricopie își continuă studiile la Universitatea din Manchester, la programul de Data Science for Social Policies.

În 2014, Ștefan Pricopie a obținut medalie de bronz la Olimpiada Națională de Matematică. Tânărul a studiat în România la mai multe școli, Complexul Educațional Lauder-Reut, Colegiul Național de Informatică Tudor Vianu și Liceul Teoretic de Informatică București – ICHB.

Global Undergraduate Awards 2019 vor fi acordate în perioada 11-13 noiembrie 2019, la Dublin, la UA Global Summit 2019, organizat sub patronajul Președintelui Irlandei, Michael D. Higgins.

În 2018, un alt student român a obținut premiul, însă în domeniul Informatică. Cristian Bodnar, absolvent al Universității din Manchester, a câștigat Premiul Nobel Junior pentru Informatică în 2018, potrivit HotNews.ro.

Publicație : Evenimentul

MEN: Cluburile sportive studenţeşti trec în subordinea instituţiilor de învăţământ superior

Cluburile sportive studenţeşti cu personalitate juridică înfiinţate, potrivit legii, prin ordin al ministrului Educaţiei Naţionale vor funcţiona, începând din noul an universitar, în subordinea instituţiilor de învăţământ superior de stat, a anunţat MEN, marţi, într-un comunicat de presă.

Potrivit Ministerului Educaţiei Naţionale (MEN), decizia vizează descentralizarea activităţii celor 30 de cluburi sportive studenţeşti existente şi a fost aprobată în şedinţa de Guvern de marţi, prin modificarea şi completarea Hotărârii Guvernului nr. 26/2017 privind organizarea şi funcţionarea Ministerului Educaţiei Naţionale.

„Precizăm că această reglementare are ca temei Legea nr. 104/2019 pentru modificarea şi completarea articolului 223 din Legea educaţiei naţionale nr. 1/2011, care oferă universităţilor posibilitatea de a prelua cluburile sportive universitare. Anterior acestei modificări, cluburile sportive studenţeşti funcţionau în subordinea MEN”, scrie în comunicatul Ministerului Educaţiei.

Hotărârea stabileşte şi forma de conducere a acestor cluburi. Astfel, directorul, care va avea şi calitatea de ordonator terţiar de credite, va fi numit de rector, în urma promovării concursului organizat de instituţiile de învăţământ superior de stat, în maximum 3 luni de la data intrării în vigoare a actului normativ adoptat marţi. Numirea şi eliberarea din funcţie a directorului se fac prin decizie a rectorului instituţiei de învăţământ superior de stat, în condiţiile legii.

Conform MEN, directorul clubului încheie un contract de management pentru o perioadă de patru ani cu rectorul instituţiei de învăţământ superior de stat. Până la data organizării primului concurs public, conducerea executivă a clubului sportiv universitar este asigurată de directorul în funcţie la data preluării. Bugetul anual al cluburilor sportive universitare din subordinea instituţiilor de învăţământ superior de stat va fi aprobat de rector.

Publicație : Adevărul

Ce facilităţi suplimentare există pentru studenţi şi doctoranzi pe segmentul de mobilitate academică

Studenţii şi studenţii doctoranzi beneficiază, începând din noul an universitar, de dreptul de a li se recunoaşte, pe lângă creditele transferabile dobândite la alte instituţii de învăţământ superior acreditate/autorizate provizoriu din ţară sau din străinătate, şi creditele transferabile obţinute la alte programe de studii din cadrul aceleiaşi instituţii de învăţământ superior, a anunţat marţi Ministerul Educaţiei.

Flexibilizarea mobilităţii academice a studenţilor este reglementată de noua metodologie şi aprobată prin ordin de ministrul interimar al Educaţiei Naţionale.

Faţă de metodologia anterioară, prin noul act normativ se reglementează posibilitatea ca studenţii să poată beneficia de mobilitate academică definitivă şi în cadrul aceleiaşi instituţii de învăţământ superior.

„Pentru studiile universitare de licenţă şi studiile universitare de master, mobilitatea academică definitivă se poate realiza numai la început de semestru, după primul semestru şi până la sfârşitul penultimului semestru, între programe de studii cu acelaşi număr total de credite de studiu transferabile obligatorii, din aceeaşi ramură de ştiinţă”, se arată în comunicatul de presă remis Adevărul.

Reprezentanţii MEN au mai precizat că în cazul mobilităţii academice definitive, diploma se emite absolventului de către instituţia de învăţământ superior care organizează examenul de finalizare a studiilor.

Studentul/studentul doctorand poate beneficia şi de mobilitate academică temporară între două instituţii de învăţământ superior acreditate/autorizate provizoriu, după caz, după finalizarea primului an de studii.

De asemenea, studentul poate beneficia de mobilitate academică temporară pe cont propriu, în afara acordurilor interinstituţionale de mobilitate academică, la solicitarea acestuia, ca urmare a identificării unei posibile universităţi primitoare.

„Recunoaşterea creditelor transferabile în cazul mobilităţilor academice internaţionale se realizează de către instituţiile de învăţământ superior pentru persoana care dovedeşte parcurgerea stagiului de mobilitate cu documente emise de către instituţia de învăţământ superior pe care a frecventat-o.

Acordurile interinstituţionale stabilesc condiţiile de desfăşurare a mobilităţilor între instituţiile de învăţământ superior acreditate/autorizate provizoriu: tipul mobilităţii, durata mobilităţii, numărul de mobilităţi, domeniul, programul de studiu, finanţarea mobilităţii temporare, limba de studiu, condiţii de cazare etc”, se mai arată în document.

„Tipologic, mobilitatea poate fi (pentru toate formele de învăţământ) internă sau internaţională, respectiv definitivă sau temporară. Mobilitatea academică se poate efectua ca urmare a demersului studentului/studentului doctorand, în baza existenţei unor acorduri interinstituţionale, cu acceptul instituţiilor de învăţământ superior acreditate/autorizate provizoriu, după caz, de provenienţă, respectiv primitoare”, a mai transmis MEN.

Compatibilitatea curriculei în vederea recunoaşterii creditelor de studii transferabile se stabileşte anterior perioadei de mobilitate, iar recunoaşterea creditelor de studii transferabile se realizează după finalizarea mobilităţii, în conformitate cu acordul interinstituţional şi regulamentele instituţiilor de învăţământ superior implicate, după caz.

„Instituţiile de învăţământ superior acreditate/autorizate provizoriu au obligaţia de a actualiza regulamentele privind activitatea profesională a studenţilor în acord cu prevederile din noul act normativ”, a mai transmis instituţia.

Publicație : Adevărul

US academic given two weeks to leave UK after eight years

 Visa system for researchers is hostile and costly and risks jamming a pipeline of talent, universities warn

After eight years researching music history at Glasgow University, Elizabeth Ford hoped her request for a visa extension would sail through this summer. Instead, the Home Office gave the American academic two weeks to pack up her life and leave the country.

Ford has held a research fellowship at Edinburgh University – which, like Glasgow is in the elite Russell Group – and is due to begin a new research fellowship at Oxford University. But this is in jeopardy after a letter from the Home Office in July, which said that her leave to remain, granted a year before, was erroneous, and that she must leave within two weeks.

Ford, an expert on 18th century Scottish music history, who says she loved Scotland from the moment she first set foot there, says: “After eight years I had 14 days to get out. It was truly shocking. I have never felt so unwelcome or so offended.”

Ford’s case adds to a growing storm over the visa system. While the government has announced plans to offer two-year work visas for international students, nothing similar has been offered to researchers from abroad, who say the process is hostile, cumbersome and punitively expensive. University leaders say the situation could block the talent pipeline to the UK.

Ford is refusing to leave her home in Glasgow and has been strongly backed by Scottish MPs, including Ian Blackford, the Scottish National party’s Westminster leader. She has consulted immigration lawyers who say she has a case to appeal on human rights grounds.

She came to Glasgow to do her PhD under a student visa, then obtained a doctoral extension visa for a year. The research fellowships she has won since do not come with a fixed employment contract, so a charity sponsored her last visa applications. “The visa system in the UK is completely arcane and arbitrary,” she says. “It is focused on high income and nothing else. But it is unrealistic to expect newly minted PhDs to find a permanent academic job with a high salary. It just doesn’t happen.”

Prof Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh, vice-principal and head of the college of arts at Glasgow, says Ford is a “valued colleague” and the university is very supportive of her application for a visa extension. “This case has caused considerable distress to Dr Ford, especially as it would appear that the issue was caused by an error at the Home Office,” he says.

Shamit Shrivastava, a post-doctoral research associate at Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, is forced to renew his visa every year at great expense.

However, it is not only academics who have had their visas refused who are unhappy. The cost of applying for a visa has increased considerably in recent years, and many young researchers are struggling to pay the fees. Dr Jana Bacevic, a sociology research associate on a part-time contract at Cambridge University, earns £1,200 a month. Last month she was horrified to hear that she had to pay £1,500 to cover the costs of extending her visa for a year while she looked for a permanent academic job. She tweeted: “You know what UK? Good night and good luck. I used to love this place with all its flaws, but hey, there are universities on the continent too.”

Gareth Edwards, an Australian who is a senior lecturer in human geography at the University of East Anglia, says: “If I was arriving today as a fresh postdoc I couldn’t finance it, especially with a family.”

Edwards, who has co-founded an academic campaign group called International and Broke, says a postdoctoral researcher with a three-year contract, a partner and two children on the average salary is now expected to pay more than 30% of their first year’s take-home pay – £7,240 – upfront on visa and immigration costs.

He says junior academics are hit hardest as they are often on short-term contracts and have to reapply for their visa – and pay thousands again – every time their contract is extended or they move jobs.

One young Indian academic, who asked not to be named in case it prejudices his future visa applications, says the costs felt overwhelming, coming to Liverpool University from Mumbai with his wife and baby. “I had visa costs of around £2,500. We had to use my father’s retirement savings,” he says.

Shamit Shrivastava, a post-doctoral research associate at Oxford University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering, has had to reapply for his visa every year since he arrived in 2015. He says he is lucky because Oxford, unlike many other universities, pays the fees. But he still usually ends up spending hundreds more on the premium service each year to speed things up, because, typically, applications take two and a half months to process, meaning he could not work.

“When I first applied, the programme I was working for had the funding to employ me for at least three years but I was only given a one-year visa. It is very stressful to have to go through it all again every summer,” he says.

Shrivastava adds that to take out a loan or rent a flat for 12 months you need a visa of at least a year. This means that even a month after his paperwork is finalised, he is ineligible. “I only manage because I have a wife who is employed, but colleagues have really struggled with this,” he says. “The system leaves you with a feeling of helplessness.”

Martin Smith, policy manager at the Wellcome Trust, says UK visa costs for scientists are more expensive than competitor countries “by a long way”. The charity has also collected around 100 examples of cases where scientists wishing to come to the UK for conferences have had their visa declined unfairly. “These are disproportionately from lower-income countries, especially in Africa,” he says. “They are told they do not have sufficient finances, even if the trip is fully funded.”

Smith adds that the suspension of parliament means that the immigration bill making its way through Westminster has died and will need to be reintroduced in a new session. The trust is worried that there is no clarity about what the government intends to do on immigration. “It’s not reassuring for researchers right now,” he says. “For people thinking about moving their lives to another country it is an enormous decision.

“The current immigration system is so bad for science that unless we get some real clarity and improvement, talented people will drift away.”

A spokesperson for the Home Office says: “We welcome international academics and recognise their contribution to the UK’s world-leading education sector. All immigration applications are considered on their individual merits and on the basis of the evidence available.”

Publicație : The Guardian

Reclaiming public space is an essential part of scholar-activism

Lennard Davis’ recent THE article was wrong to dismiss the utility of subversion, says David Palumbo-Liu

There are not many activist-scholars whom I admire more than Lennard Davis. For me, he is a model of the kind of intellectual who is committed to actual change, having done more than his share of the mundane, unsexy work that is needed to accomplish real things. So when I read his recent Times Higher Education article, “Turn down the noise, roll up the sleeves” (Features, 5 September), I understood his impatience with academics and others who carelessly make gestures that seem to go against the grain and then claim that subversion is politics. Rubbish.

Davis says: “Let’s face it, subversion is easy. It’s much easier to write a snarky book review than a positive one. But passing legislation that redistributes wealth is more effective in combating income inequality than dancing rudely, naked and tattooed, in front of capitalists.”

That’s an eye-catching rhetorical move, but, ironically, it is not very politically astute. Davis notes the changing mediascape upon which modern politics is played out, yet his only recourse is backwards, to the good old days of simple political organising. I agree that we need to reconnect with both that ethos and the work it demands. But to regard this as an either/or is not helpful.

As Davis points out, world leaders have taken to Twitter to leak information, criticise opponents and promote themselves. One effect of this is for activists to try to beat them at their own game of subversion and theatrics. Davis suggests that we not try. I want to argue that reclaiming public space (both real and virtual) is an essential part of scholar-activism, and that public intellectual work cannot be effective without appreciating more fully how grabbing attention, and getting a message across, is essential.

The explosive and, yes, carnivalesque displays of gay pride were at least in part motivated by a desire to reclaim the streets after previously being hunted down in them; feminists “take back the night” for similar reasons. So rather than dismiss spectacle and transgression as antithetical to organised political work, let’s think more carefully. And let’s be sure not to forget that once you have a public’s attention, educating it for political ends is essential and doable.

Davis and I are of about the same generation. So surely he, too, remembers the slogan we chanted during the anti-war protests: “The whole world is watching.” By that, we were acknowledging the power of the media and the importance of “making a spectacle of ourselves”. We wanted the world to witness the brutal logic of the state as it inflicted violence upon us: violence that we saw as connected to the violence of the war. In some way, we were trying to bring the war home.

Davis might counter that all this was a pre-planned action. True. But I can think of two more contemporary instances of blending spontaneous spectacle with political efficacy.

One of the great accomplishments of the young survivors of the Parkland high school shooting was that, within a day of that appalling event, when many of their friends had been killed or grievously injured, they had mounted a sophisticated Twitter campaign that soon had many times more followers than the National Rifle Association. It has grown into a powerful lobbying campaign, #NeverAgain, and inspired more than 1.2 million people to march for gun control.

The NRA went after them with a vengeance. Among other things, it accused them of not understanding the ins and outs of gun control and of simply wanting to be celebrities, or even of being paid actors. But they learned quickly. I can’t imagine a better combination of actions than immediately occupying media space, disrupting the status quo, mounting a grass-roots campaign and getting educated and educating others.

Capturing attention in what might appear unseemly ways is an integral part of activism today, and, crucially, it need not be organised or even collective.

One of the recommendations Timothy Snyder makes in his 2017 book, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, is to “stand out”: “The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.”

In this light, consider the famous case of the “Plaid Shirt Guy”. A year ago, at a Donald Trump rally in Montana, the president was performing before his usual exuberant crowd, which filled the television screen as a raucous backdrop. But if you looked over Trump’s right shoulder, you could see a young man wearing an ordinary plaid shirt. Nothing remarkable – except that as the president gathered more steam and the crowd correspondingly grew more vociferous, the young man’s eyebrows arched up. You did not have to be a professional lip-reader to understand that he was uttering, over and over again, one word: “What?”

He was not flamboyant or even “active”. He was simply and spontaneously expressing the incredulity that many people also felt at the nonsense that Trump was spewing out. That “emperor’s new clothes” moment provided an important reality check – which Trump’s handlers caught on to pretty quickly, removing the Plaid Shirt Guy from view and replacing him with an avid Trump fan who knew what to do.

So let’s not automatically discount the political efficacy of spontaneous, unplanned subversion, of whatever kind. Such intrusions upon public space can serve to be the beginnings of a different, and powerful, sort of education.

Publicație : The Times

Treatment of innocent students in cheating scandal ‘staggering’, say MPs

Committee compares Home Office attitude in ETS crackdown to Windrush scandal

A committee of MPs says that it is “staggered” that the Home Office had “so little regard” for the plight of innocent students caught up in the crackdown that followed an English language test cheating scandal.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says that the department relied too much on “imperfect evidence” that led to about 50,000 students being implicated in widespread fraud at test centres conducting exams for the Education Testing Service (ETS).

In total, more than 11,000 people have voluntarily left the UK since the crackdown – which started while former prime minister Theresa May was home secretary – while almost 3,000 have been forced to leave or refused reentry. However, “hundreds, possibly thousands, continue to protest their innocence”, the PAC report says.

The decision about which students should face action was based on information provided by ETS, which used voice recognition software to try to establish which students may have paid other people to sit the test, a core part of the fraud exposed by a BBC Panorama investigation in 2014.

Although the Home Office “acted swiftly” against the individuals identified, the PAC report says, “it did not conduct a thorough investigation of what had happened or whether the evidence ETS provided was reliable”.

It has called on the department to set up a “fair and trustworthy” way for all those claiming to have been wrongly accused to be able to clear their names without having to go through the courts.

The committee compares the situation to the Windrush scandal, where people who had moved to the UK from the Commonwealth decades ago were wrongly accused of being illegal immigrants, saying that the Home Office had “made no effort” to identify which students were innocent.

This was despite the courts hearing 12,500 appeals involving students accused of cheating with 40 per cent winning their cases at the first tier of the tribunal process.

“The Department recognises that hundreds of students maintain their innocence but continues to suggest that there is only a small risk that people have been wrongly caught up in their actions,” the committee’s report says.

“We are staggered that the Department thinks it is acceptable to have so little regard for the impact its actions might have on innocent people.”

As well as its failure to help potentially innocent students, the report also criticises the design of the student visa system at the time and the commercial relationship that the Home Office had with ETS, which was under licence to provide the tests.

Since the scandal, the Home Office is estimated to have spent £21 million on dealing with the fallout from the fraud but has only won £1.6 million in compensation from ETS, according to a National Audit Office report that preceded the PAC inquiry.

Labour MP Meg Hillier, chair of the committee, said: “It beggars belief that despite known flaws in the Tier 4 student visa system, the Home Office designed an English language testing system that failed to recognise the potential incentive for cheating. It was then shocked when widespread cheating did take place.

“However, despite the scale of the abuse, many hundreds of people continue to protest their innocence at great personal cost.”

A total of 31 defendants from six organised crime groups have stood trial and 25 have been convicted over the fraud, according to the NAO report.

Publicație : The Times

New journal to publish ‘negative’ results and reproducibility disputes

Open access journal will publish results from studies sometimes dismissed as ‘failures’ as well as replication attempts

A new journal is breaking with tradition by publishing stand-alone results viewed as inconclusive or negative, along with papers that challenge previous research findings.

Experimental Results, which has been launched by Cambridge University Press, will also publish the outcome of attempts to reproduce previously published experiments, including those that dispute past findings, amid concerns that many studies that cannot be replicated go unchallenged.

The new title will be overseen by former cancer scientist Fiona Hutton, the press’ head of science, technology and medicine (STM) open access publishing, and addresses concerns that she has had since her days in the laboratory.

“There are so many times in a lab when an important paper is published in a high-impact journal and people will say ‘we tried something very like that but didn’t get the same outcome’,” Dr Hutton told Times Higher Education.

“This journal will allow people to put forward this work as an alternative version and dispute a particular finding, rather than waiting for a couple of years to get a correction or retraction,” she added.

Having openly available raw results for these experiments meant that other scientists could use and interrogate them in different ways that the original researcher did not identify, Dr Hutton said.

Offering scientists the chance to publish inconclusive or negative results would also be “really important for the scientific record” because such results often go unpublished, potentially leading to a duplication of near-identical studies in future, she added.

Dr Hutton acknowledged that the new journal was “not following the traditional model of publishing” which favoured eye-catching positive results or novel experiments over inconclusive results, but argued that its inclusion of such results was closer to the reality of scientific research.

“A lot of publishing is about creating a story – we are just trying to tell the truth rather than publish something that catches the imagination,” said Dr Hutton.

“The reality is that research results are often confusing, inconclusive or don’t fit a narrative,” she added, concluding that “discovery is damaged when the focus becomes the research paper rather than the research output itself.”

In addition, Experimental Results, which is now open for submissions, will use a new system of peer review, with each reviewer identified by name and each review published alongside the article in question with its own identifying code, which will allow the journal’s reviewers to have their work recognised.

They will also be given discounts on the cost of publishing their own articles in Experimental Results.

“Our goal is to be progressive and ensure research outputs are correctly reviewed, and to ensure the reviewers we rely on so heavily are rewarded,” said Dr Hutton.

Caroline Black, the press’ STM publishing director, said the journal reflected that “all research outputs – not just the positive, exciting results – should be part of the published record for the advancement of knowledge and reduction of wasted time on redoing work unnecessarily.”

“In the past it would have been difficult to publish negative, confirmatory or inconclusive results, as journal editors made decisions on the basis of innovation, interest level and potential for citations,” she said, adding that “people are looking for alternative types of publication.”

Publicație : The Times

US university requires quarter of new students to begin abroad

In move that leaves other institutions wary, Northeastern pushing new students to foreign posts

A US university is requiring more than a quarter of its new students to go abroad for their first semester, a strategy which has the stated aim of embracing globalism but which other institutions reject as a risky imposition on inexperienced freshers.

Each autumn Northeastern University welcomes about 2,800 students to its main campus in Boston, and enrols another 1,100 at one of nine partner institutions worldwide.

Last year, Northeastern announced that it would buy the New College of the Humanities, the previously for-profit UK institution established by philosopher A. C. Grayling, as part of its aim to build a “global university system”.

Northeastern is one of a small but growing number of US universities that accept students on condition that they defer their arrival on campus, as a way of tackling the financial and logistical problems of lower spring semester attendance rates.

Some others offer a study abroad experience as one option for the autumn semester. But Northeastern has revised its programme to the point where spending the start of the first year abroad is not just an option but a condition of acceptance for some students.

Northeastern views its students as more mature than average, said Elizabeth Cheron, the university’s dean of undergraduate admissions. “This is an opportunity to step out of the ordinary and to do something unique with that first semester,” she said.

But others in the sector expressed concern about making spending the first term abroad mandatory, given the stress that teenagers face during the already challenging transition to college.

They included Jessica Frey Nielsen, director of student development programmes at the University of Southern California, which has been admitting students conditional on a spring start date for more than 30 years.

USC admits about 3,000 students each autumn, and offers spring start dates to about 1,300 more, of which about 400 to 500 accept, Ms Frey Nielsen said. And of those several hundred, she said, most choose to spend that first semester at a community college, while about a quarter choose to study abroad.

On the idea of requiring attendance at a foreign institution, Ms Frey Nielsen cautioned that “every student developmentally is at a different stage in their lives”. Study abroad appears especially problematic for students in the sciences, Ms Frey Nielsen said, given their need to quickly begin work in specialised courses.

Many US universities, however, do face the problem of higher demand for seats in classrooms and rooms in dormitories during the autumn than later in the year because of factors that include student attrition, early or late graduation, and study abroad absences for third-year students.

The problem is especially acute at an institution such as Northeastern, given the high price of real estate around its downtown Boston campus, and the university’s century-old cooperative education programme, in which students spend entire semesters away from classes working jobs related to their field of study.

Northeastern chose to make foreign enrolment a mandatory part of the spring admission programme, Ms Cheron said, after seeing that those who chose that option “had the strongest outcomes” among all spring-admit students.

The university’s leadership also felt that a foreign component best fit Northeastern’s “ethos” as a global institution, she added.

In recognition of the limited experience levels of such students, she said, Northeastern chooses the eligible foreign partner institutions, ensures that all courses are English language, and provides additional staff and guidance to assist the students.

“This is a much more supportive study abroad experience than what you would see as that sort of typical junior year study abroad,” Ms Cheron said.

Publicație : The Times

A Saint-Etienne, une salle d’hôpital numérique pour former des étudiants

L’école des Mines et le CHU de Saint-Etienne ont développé la « jumelle » d’une salle d’urgence qui permet à des étudiants, munis de casques de réalité virtuelle, de comprendre la gestion des flux.

Les technologies utilisant la réalité virtuelle se développent dans l’enseignement supérieur, en particulier dans les cursus de médecine Andrew Brookes/Westend61 / Photononstop

Par centaines, les blessés affluent. L’attentat a eu lieu il y a moins d’une heure et le service des urgences du CHU de Saint-Etienne est totalement saturé. A cet instant, la gestion des flux est cruciale pour prendre en charge au plus vite toutes les victimes.

Derrière son casque de réalité virtuelle, Jémil tente de saisir au mieux ce qui se passe. Heureusement, cet attentat n’est qu’une simulation. En ce jour de rentrée à l’école des Mines de Saint-Etienne (Loire), les élèves de deuxième année spécialité ingénierie biomédicale s’essaient à une nouvelle pratique pédagogique, sous la houlette de leur professeur en ingénierie des systèmes de santé, Vincent Augusto.

En 2017, celui-ci a entrepris avec le CHU de Saint-Etienne un programme de réalité virtuelle dont les élèves vont s’emparer pour la première fois cette année : le « jumeau digital » de l’hôpital, qui combine simulation et suivi en temps réel du service des urgences. Objectif : savoir diagnostiquer une situation, la retranscrire, la modéliser et proposer des solutions d’optimisation des ressources. Grâce aux indicateurs réels fournis par le CHU, les étudiants ingénieurs connaissent le nombre de patients en attente, leur heure d’arrivée, l’état de surcharge de tel ou tel médecin…

« C’est vraiment très réaliste, je reconnais tout à fait les lieux », commente tout haut Jémil qui, inscrit dans un double cursus Ecole des Mines/fac de médecine, a passé deux mois en stage comme aide-soignant aux urgences. « Il serait intéressant de connaître la raison de la venue des patients. On pourrait évaluer la durée d’attente en fonction des affections déclarées », observe-t-il. « Pour l’instant on ne s’occupe que de la gestion des flux, explique Vincent Augusto. Mais dans un second temps, nous demanderons l’autorisation à la Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL) d’enrichir nos simulations avec les données médicales. »

Avec la médecine, les technologies de réalité virtuelle semblent avoir trouvé un solide point d’entrée dans l’enseignement supérieur. Pour Maxime Ros, neurochirurgien et président de la start-up de réalité virtuelle Revinax, les étudiants y ont tout à gagner. « Tous les supports pédagogiques s’approchent de la réalité mais pas suffisamment pour permettre de reproduire parfaitement une procédure, explique-t-il. En neurochirurgie pédiatrique par exemple, les experts sont très peu nombreux. Pour apprendre de nouvelles techniques, on s’appuie surtout sur du compagnonnage, de l’artisanat. Et lorsqu’on a soi-même à réaliser une opération peu de temps après, il est difficile de compter sur sa seule mémoire, notre cerveau ayant perçu les gestes de manière biaisée. » Le cerveau commettrait ainsi jusqu’à 50 % d’erreurs quand il reproduit une procédure observée auparavant. Transmettre une technique, hors réalité virtuelle, n’est donc pas simple, malgré le temps que passent les étudiants auprès de leurs enseignants. En revanche, « le message transmis par la réalité virtuelle présente un atout énorme : il est constant. Tout le monde le perçoit et est en mesure de le restituer de la même façon, ce qui homogénéise la compréhension et les pratiques », affirme Maxime Ros.

Publicație : Le Monde

« Les universités et grandes écoles doivent intégrer l’urgence climatique dans leur stratégie »

Un collectif de représentants des organisations étudiantes et lycéennes, scientifiques, responsables associatifs et dirigeants de l’enseignement supérieur appelle, dans une tribune au « Monde », à agir face aux enjeux écologiques.

Tribune. Le changement climatique et l’érosion de la biodiversité, deux enjeux majeurs et étroitement liés, vont transformer nos sociétés. Les conclusions du rapport « 1,5 °C » du Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat (GIEC) et du dernier rapport de la Plate-forme intergouvernementale scientifique et politique sur la biodiversité et les services écosystémiques (IPBES) sont sans appel : il faut agir maintenant. Pourtant, les engagements des pays dans le cadre de l’accord de Paris sont insuffisants pour permettre de limiter le réchauffement à 1,5 °C, et encore loin d’être respectés, notamment par la France, comme l’a récemment montré le rapport du Haut Conseil pour le climat. Or, il n’est pas trop tard, et une action immédiate peut encore infléchir la tendance.

Nous, étudiantes et étudiants, personnels de l’enseignement supérieur, scientifiques, aux côtés des associations, des organisations et des lycéennes et lycéens engagés, lançons un appel pour que chacune et chacun à son niveau de responsabilité s’engage en faveur de la transformation massive, rapide et efficace de l’enseignement supérieur.

Il faut encourager et accompagner les étudiantes et les étudiants à s’impliquer massivement dans les transformations écologiques, économiques et sociétales et permettre à chacun d’acquérir les capacités de réflexion et de compréhension de ces enjeux. Il est primordial que les jeunes générations acquièrent les savoirs et les compétences adaptés à une transformation globale et durable de la société.

Ambition nationale

Les établissements d’enseignement supérieur et de recherche sont conscients de l’urgence climatique et veulent s’engager sur ces questions. Des universités et des écoles ont déjà intégré ces enjeux dans leur stratégie de fonctionnement et leurs missions, malgré des moyens souvent limités. Là où se concentre l’essentiel des forces de recherche de notre pays, le système d’allocation des moyens actuel met en très grande tension les établissements. Ils ont besoin de mesures incitatives et de moyens spécifiques facilitant leur fonctionnement quotidien dans ces transformations nécessaires.

Publicație : Le Monde

Comment financer ses études

Pour financer leurs études, les jeunes de 18 à 28 ans, voire 30 ans, peuvent emprunter jusqu’à 120 000 euros sur dix à douze ans. Avec un taux parfois inférieur à 1 %.

C’est une très bonne nouvelle qui se transforme en angoisse. Laura a décroché son bac en juin et est admise au Bachelor in Management de l’ESPC Europe. Les frais de scolarité annuels de ce diplôme post-bac en trois ans s’élèvent à 14 000 euros, auxquels s’ajoutent le logement, les transports et les dépenses du quotidien, à Paris mais aussi à Londres et à Madrid, où se déroule une partie du cursus. La solution ? Laura a souscrit un crédit étudiant pour financer ses études. La plupart des banques affichent des taux très avantageux puisqu’ils sont inférieurs à 1 % jusqu’au 31 octobre, comme à la Société générale (0,89 %), au Crédit mutuel de Bretagne (0,95 %) et à La Banque postale (0,90 %).

De nombreuses écoles ont signé des partenariats avec des banques qui s’engagent à proposer un taux privilégié à leurs étudiants. Ainsi, les élèves de 110 écoles partenaires peuvent souscrire un crédit à 0,80 % au lieu de 0,90 % à La Banque postale. Même fonctionnement chez BNP Paribas, qui propose entre 0,80 % et 1 % en fonction des accords, soit moins que son taux standard de 1,50 %.

Chez LCL, la fourchette de taux s’établit entre 0,80 % et 2,50 %. « Nous avons signé 300 partenariats avec des écoles dont les étudiants bénéficient d’un taux avantageux. Par ailleurs, nous proposons actuellement un taux pouvant atteindre 0,80 % aux enfants de nos clients », indique Arnaud Mehn, chef de produit marketing sur le segment des jeunes et étudiants chez LCL. A noter, les banques en ligne ne proposent pas de crédit étudiant.

Pas de frais de dossier

Le faible niveau des taux incite d’ailleurs de nombreux parents à faire souscrire un crédit étudiant par leur enfant quand bien même ils disposent d’une épargne suffisante pour financer ses études. Le crédit est toujours souscrit par l’étudiant, qui doit être majeur, mais il est fréquent qu’il soit remboursé par les parents. Par ailleurs, les banques ne facturent pas de frais de dossier, et l’assurance de prêt, couvrant le décès, l’invalidité ou l’incapacité n’est pas obligatoire (0,20 % à 0,50 % du capital emprunté).

Il est possible d’emprunter jusqu’à 50 000 euros à La Banque postale et au Crédit agricole d’Ile-de-France, jusqu’à 60 000 euros chez LCL, 75 000 euros chez BNP Paribas et 120 000 euros à la Société générale, sur des durées pouvant aller jusqu’à dix ou douze ans. Mais dans la pratique, le montant moyen est plus raisonnable : il s’élève, par exemple, à 15 500 euros chez LCL.

Publicație : Le Monde