UAIC a inaugurat o grădină senzorială pentru copii de până în 11 ani
Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iaşi (UAIC) a inaugurat marţi, 28 iulie, Grădina Senzorială „Magic”, amenajată în parcul „Titu Maiorescu” în cadrul proiectului „Spaţii inovatoare de învăţare pentru copiii cu vârste cuprinse între 0 şi 10/11 ani (TELESPA)”.
La eveniment au participat prof.dr. Tudorel Toader, rectorul UAIC, Mihai Chirica, primarul Municipiului Iaşi şi conf.dr. Gianina-Ana Massari, coordonatorul proiectului TELESPA. Grădina Senzorială „Magic” este dedicată copiilor cu vârste cuprinse între 0 şi 11 ani şi conţine materiale educaţionale de exterior destinate procesului de învăţare, structurate pe domenii de dezvoltare specifice vârstelor mici prin integrarea tuturor simţurilor. Astfel, copiii îşi pot exersa simţul tactil pe spirale senzoriale de diferite texturi, un glob pământesc gigant, panouri tip staţie meteo sau pot juca diferite jocuri educative. Simţul auditiv poate fi stimulat prin staţia muzicală dotată cu tobe Bongo sau cu xilofonul gigant. Simţul vizual va fi pus la încercare în tunelul culorilor, la băncuţa curcubeu sau la panourile cu iluzii optice.
Jardinierele cu flori sau panourile cu plante aromatice vor solicita din plin simţuloflactiv, iar mini-bar-ul pentru ververiţe sau căsuţa pentru păsări vor provoca simţul gustativ. De asemenea, grădina mai conţine echipamente care stimulează termocepţia (termometre, stropitori, măsuţă pentru nisip şi apă), cronocepţia (ceas solar, clepsidre), echilibriocepţia (tobogane, fotolii suspendate, balansoare) sau sensibilitatea proprioceptivă (oglinzi deformatoare, oglinzi convexe). Investiţia alocată prin fondurile proiectului pentru amenajarea Grădinii Senzoriale „Magic” este în valoare de 25.146 lei.
În cadrul proiectului TELESPA au fost amenajate şi urmează a fi deschise grădini similare şi la două instituţii partenere. Accesul în Grădina Senzorială „Magic” este gratuit pentru copiii angajaţilor şi studenţilor UAIC şi copiii de la Grădiniţa şi Şcoala „Junior”.
Publicație : Ziarul de Iași și Bună Ziua Iași
Rezultatele admiterii de la UMF. Doi candidaţi au intrat cu 10 la Medicină Generală
Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie „Grigore T. Popa” din Iaşi a publicat rezultatul concursului de admitere dat duminică în condiţii istorice: aproape 2.400 de studenţi au susţinut în testul grilă de 3 ore în 96 de amfiteatre de la patru universităţi din Iaşi, supravegheaţi de 600 profesori şi alţi angajaţi ai UMF Iaşi. Mediile de admitere nu sunt foarte ridicate, ceea ce arată că, după introducerea celei de-a doua disciplină în examinare, nu doar una singură cum era până în prezent, a crescut şi nivelul de dificultate al testelor.
Astfel, la Facultatea de Medicină Generală, unde a fost şi cea mai mare concurenţă din ţară la universităţile de profil pe locurile de buget, mai exact 4,22 candidaţi / loc bugetat, ultima medie de la buget a fost de 9,11, în timp ce la taxă s-a intrat cu medii mai mari sau egale cu 8,65. Şase zecişti la bacalaureat au vrut să se înscrie la Facultatea de Medicină Generală, doi dintre aceştia având şi nota maximă la testul dat intrând astfel pe primele două poziţii cu media generală 10. În total au fost 11 note de 10 luate la testul grilă de cei care au intrat la Facultatea de Medicină Generală.
Cu excepţia celor care au fost într-o situaţie aparte (au mai urmat o facultate la regim de buget, spre exemplu) şi au intrat automat pe locurile cu taxă, se observă faptul că diferenţa între primul de la taxă şi ultimul a fost de doar 0,46 de puncte la media generală şi 0,50 de sutimi la nota de la testul grilă. Practic, un răspuns greşit la o întrebare putea să schimbe complet clasamentul pentru unul dintre candidaţii, marfa de eroare fiind foarte mică – 187 de persoane au avut mediile cuprinse între cele două intervale.
La Facultatea de Asistenţă Medicală Generală, unde a fost şi cea mai mare concurenţă din universitate – 5.57 candidat / loc bugetat – s-a intrat cu ultima media 8,47 la buget şi la taxă cu 6,2.
La Nutriţie şi Dietetică s-a intrat la buget cu medii mai mari de 8,19, iar la taxă începând cu 5,31, iar mediile de la cele trei specializări de la Facultatea de Medicină Dentară au variat de la 7,73 – cea mai mare la buget la Asistenţă de profilaxie stomatologică – la 5.31, cea mai mică, la taxă, la Tehnică Dentară.
Facultatea de Farmacie, care a avut şi cea mai mică adresabilitate, a avut ultima medie la buget 5,44 şi ultima la taxă 5,5, diferenţa fiind dată de faptul că cei înscrişi la taxă nu pot urma facultatea în regim bugetat.
Publicație : Ziarul de Iași
Parteneriate ale Primăriei Iaşi cu USAMV şi Spitalul Clinic Județean de Urgență „Sf. Spiridon”
Universitatea ieşeană va realiza împăduriri și perdele de protecție în Municipiul Iași, în timp ce parteneriatul cu unitatea medicală presupune realizarea unui centru regional de excelență în medicină
Primăria Municipiului Iași va încheia un important acord cu Universitatea de Științe Agricole și Medicină Veterinară „Ion Ionescu de la Brad” Iași (USAMV). Obiectul acordului îl constituie creșterea calității mediului din Municipiul Iași. Concret, USAMV, prin intermediul Institutului de Cercetări pentru Agricultură și Mediu Iași (ICAM), se angajează să vină în sprijinul comunității locale prin experiența și expertiza în domeniul solului, plantelor și aerului prin creșterea și îmbunătățirea calității mediului, prin studii pedologice și de bonitare ale solului necesar pentru fundamentarea proiectelor de sistematizare, studii privind stabilizarea solurilor pentru realizarea unor împăduriri și perdele de protecție în Municipiul Iași, strategii pe termen lung de îmbunătățire a calității solului, organizarea și dezvoltarea unor împăduriri și perdele de protecție în Municipiul Iași.
Prin acordul menționat municipalitatea își ia angajamentul de a amenaja spațiile din spațiul universitar al USAMV din aleea Mihail Sadoveanu, nr. 2 – 12, prin lucrări specifice de amenajare a unei oaze de verdeață deschisă publicului (cu spații verzi și alei pietonale). Totodată, punerea în valoare a oazei de verdeață va fi asigurată de un sistem de iluminat arhitectural. Suma alocată pentru acest demers va fi de 300.000 de lei, lucrările urmând a fi realizate de societățile din subordinea Consiliului Local.
Centru regional de excelență în medicină cu 1,3 milioane de euro
Un alt parteneriat al municipalităţii ieşene va fi încheiat cu Spitalul Clinic Județean de Urgență „Sf. Spiridon” Iași și Asociația Clusterul Regional Inovativ de Imagistică Moleculară și Structurală Nord-Est (IMAGO-MOL) în vederea realizării unui centru regional de excelență în medicină. Centrul, care va fi utilizat pentru diagnosticarea personalizată și inteligența artificială în medicină și imagistică, va fi parte a unui proiect finanțat prin intermediul Programului Operațional Competitivitate. Bugetul estimativ al proiectului este de 1,3 milioane de euro, grantul solicitat fiind de 850.000 de euro, restul de 450.000 de euro urmând a fi contribuție proprie prin coparticiparea mai multor membri ai clusterului.
Ca partener în cadrul proiectului, Primăria va pune la dispoziție, cu titlu gratuit, pe o perioadă de șapte ani, un spațiu de 48 de metri pătrați din incinta Spitalului Clinic Județean de Urgență „Sf. Spiridon”, aflat în cadrul Laboratorului de Medicină Nucleară (parter, corp C22).
Clusterul IMAGO-MOL este o entitate neguvernamentală, al cărei președinte este șef lucrări dr. Vasile Fotea. Înființat în 2012, clusterul este rezultat al unui proiect european de cercetare, fiind singurul cluster medical din România dedicat imagisticii.
Publicație : Evenimentul
Majority of UK employers have had to cancel work experience due to Covid-19
Three fifths (61%) say they have had to scrap some or all placements for students and graduates, according to poll
UK students hoping to enter the jobs market have had work experience placements postponed, interviews cancelled and job offers withdrawn as businesses struggle in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new survey has revealed.
Three fifths of employers (61%) say they have had to cancel some or all of their work experience placements, with many warning they will be hiring fewer or no graduates in the next year.
A YouGov poll for the Sutton Trust social mobility charity found that small- and medium-sized businesses in Britain were the most likely to be turning away graduates, with almost half (49%) cancelling all internships and work experience placements, compared to just under a third (29%) of bigger employers.
Almost two in five (39%) graduate employers said they expected to hire fewer graduates or none at all in the next 12 months, according to the poll of 1,000 British businesses, and just under half (48%) said there are likely to be fewer work experience opportunities in their businesses.
The findings confirm graduate fears about the impact of Covid on their immediate career prospects. A companion YouthSight poll of 900 students, also for the Sutton Trust, found that almost half (46%) of current undergraduates believe the pandemic has had a negative effect on their chances of finding a job.
Just under a fifth (18%) of students surveyed said that they had had work-experience placements cancelled or postponed, while more than one in 10 (11%) have had interviews cancelled and 4% have had a job offer withdrawn.
With fewer job opportunities available in the aftermath of lockdown, the Sutton Trust says promoting social mobility and fair access must remain priorities for employers
Sir Peter Lampl, the founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “It is crystal clear that young people will bear the brunt for years to come of the massive downturn caused by Covid-19 and young people from poorer backgrounds will be most affected.
“Employers will need policies in place to allow everyone a fair chance of being recruited to the lower number of graduate jobs available. As internships and work-experience placements are declining, employers need to move their programmes online. We need to act now to make sure that all young people have opportunities to enter the labour market.”
Labour’s shadow minister for young people, Cat Smith, said the government had been too slow to act on youth unemployment. “This report demonstrates that there is a clear gap between what the government has promised, and the availability of work experience placements being offered by employers.
“The government must drop its one-size-fits-all approach to youth unemployment and work with local authorities to encourage businesses to take on and train young people.”
Publicație : The Guardian
Around 30,000 jobs may be on the line at universities. We have to fight back
Universities employ armies of casualised staff, who are seen as disposable when a crisis hits. This isn’t fair
As we at the University and College Union (UCU) lobby the Westminster government for an urgently needed bailout, thousands of the most vulnerable university employees are already losing their jobs.
They are vulnerable because the employment model which has developed in higher education in the past 30 years has seen rising levels of casualisation. One third of all academics working in academia are employed on fixed-term contracts, rising to almost half for teaching-only academics (49%) and more than two thirds (67%) for research-only staff. Black and minority ethnic (BAME) academic staff are more likely to be employed on a fixed-term contract, with more than two-fifths (42%) on a fixed-term contract compared to less than a third (31%) of white academic staff.
This reserve army has always been seen as expendable by employers. Every couple of years thousands of researchers are forced to move institutions as their fixed-term contracts end. The summer is an anxious time for casually employed teaching staff as they wait to find out if they have any work in the autumn.
But this year is different. At King’s College London, more than a thousand fixed-term staff have been told their contracts are under review. At the University of Liverpool more than 600 face the sack, while the number is around 400 at Goldsmiths and close to 300 at Essex.
That’s almost 2,300 jobs going at just four institutions we know about. If this picture was repeated across the sector then almost 30,000 fixed-term contracts would be at risk.
If the number of jobs being cut is a problem, so too is the way in which institutions are trying to keep it a secret. UCU has only received reliable figures from a handful of universities, despite repeatedly asking for more information.
Such a lack of candour is hugely counterproductive. People talk. When cuts are made by stealth it leaves a reservoir of bad feeling not just for those forced out, but for those who remain and have to pick up the work.
When the dust settles it will be the institutions which prioritised saving jobs that will emerge from the crisis with their reputations enhanced.
Universities already have a huge amount of ground to make up with their staff. The widely supported strikes of early 2020 may seem like a lifetime ago to some observers, but casualisation was at the heart of the action – reflecting the strong desire of UCU members to fight for a different, fairer future.
We will continue to press for better treatment for the most vulnerable staff. We do so because we recognise that the struggle against casualisation is important for everyone.
Permanent staff face their own pressures, but they also know that attacks on the most vulnerable are just a precursor for a wider assault upon staff terms and conditions in the shadow of the pandemic.
That is why we are today launching 10 practical steps that all staff can take to support their casualised colleagues. The steps range from writing to your MP to lift the lid on casualisation, to joining together with colleagues to raise the issue at department level. Every action is about creating solidarity between all staff.
We believe that casualised staff make a vital contribution to our universities, delivering important research and being responsible for large swathes of teaching. Yet they do so under appalling conditions of insecurity.
This summer many universities are failing to live up to even the most basic commitments to these staff. It’s time for us to fight back.
Publicație : The Guardian
UK’s white female academics are being privileged above women – and men – of colour
Universities take the easy route by addressing gender inequality while sidestepping awkward issue of race
Opportunities for women in academia have improved enormously during my 30-year university career. It seems good news, doesn’t it? But this apparently positive statement needs a health warning. A more accurate declaration would be: some women have found their opportunities much improved; other women have not.
Many white, middle-class women have benefited from pressure to address inequality. But women of colour have still found the door firmly shut in their face.
Some of the stark contrasts in how universities approach institutional inequalities came into focus after the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent global protests, including UK cities and towns. Universities’ social media feeds sprang into action, sensing perhaps the appeal of the Black Lives Matter movement. Public statements were released, signalling institutions’ support for #BLM and their commitment to combating racism, and offering support for staff and students.
These gestures did not, by and large, acknowledge the structural and institutional racism persisting on their campuses. UK universities with the highest attainment gaps – regularly above 20% – between their black, Asian and minority ethnic and white students, were still comfortable proudly to signal their support for #BLM.
It is just possible that racial inequalities will be addressed, but a more likely scenario is that as the summer progresses, life will return to normal. Race, it seems, is still an ephemeral issue, even at a time of overt brutality.
And yet gender equality has remained a priority. In UK higher education, white women have been the main beneficiaries of equalities policymaking. They have gained positions as senior managers, professors and vice-chancellors. About 23.9% of professors are white women; only 2.1% are black and Asian minority ethnic women. There are 40 female vice-chancellors, and only one is black. This precedence of gender over race has resulted in a hierarchy of oppression in which white women’s experiences are privileged above that of women – and men – of colour.
The trouble is that in universities’ equalities work, they conflate gender and race and in doing so give priority to white women. In my own research with Holly Henderson, assistant professor of education at Nottingham University, I compared institutions’ involvement with equality initiatives such as the Athena Swan charter – intended to advance women’s careers in higher education and research – and the race equality charter.
I found that 48 institutions were members of the REC, with 10 of those holding a bronze award. By contrast, 159 were members of the Athena Swan charter, holding a total of 766 institution-wide and departmental awards, ranging from bronze to gold. By investing time, money and resources on gender policies and initiatives, universities could be seen to be addressing structural inequalities, but do so without focusing on race.
The myth often peddled is that we must choose either gender or race equality – we couldn’t possibly look at both at once. One academic told me: “I think there is a greater need to focus on gender than race; that is more justified because women make up over 50% of the academic workforce.” So race takes a back seat.
Researching the subject, I found that when conversations about race are introduced, they are seen as secondary, an “add on” because the standard practice is one where gender is considered more important (and valued) than race. Addressing racial inequalities is seen as time consuming, adding to already overloaded workloads. In contrast, work on gender is seen as worthwhile and contributing directly to an equalities agenda and more deserving than race.
The truth is, many people find women’s career progression and the frustrations they face less awkward to discuss. One academic told me: “It’s an easier conversation to have than about race. People can easily talk about better provision for childcare for women. When it comes to talking about race, it’s harder. No one wants to go there in terms of institutional racism – you know that’s a conversation that institutions don’t really want to have.”
Universities’ knee-jerk outpourings on racial equality are merely rhetoric. They are used as badges, showcasing inclusion, with no evidence in outcomes or practice.
In six months’ time it will be business as usual. Universities will play the “diversity card” yet continue to focus on gender. White people will work to maintain the status quo and protect their own positions of power and privilege.
To make a difference, universities need to acknowledge the shameful, sad, sorry state of affairs they have been complicit in perpetuating. A brave new (equal) world is not on the horizon just yet. If they are serious about issues of social justice, they must set an example to the rest of society. What universities do – or don’t do – matters.
Publicație : The Guardian
« La recherche va bénéficier de dotations plus pérennes »
Un collectif d’une soixantaine de députés de la majorité vole au secours de la loi de programmation pour la recherche, rappelant, dans une tribune au « Monde », que celle-ci va apporter 25 milliards d’euros supplémentaires sur dix ans et permettre l’ouverture de plus 5 000 postes.
Tribune. La Ve République n’a connu à ce jour que quatre lois de programmation pour la recherche. C’est dire si ce projet de loi est un événement en soi. Sous l’impulsion du président de la République, le texte, élaboré par la ministre de l’enseignement supérieur, de la recherche et de l’innovation depuis plus de dix-huit mois, sur la base de rapports de parlementaires et d’acteurs de la recherche, a été présenté, ce 22 juillet, en conseil des ministres.
C’est avec enthousiasme que les députés se saisissent de ce projet de loi sur la recherche, car il porte la volonté de la France de rester au premier rang des nations qui participent à l’accroissement de la connaissance scientifique et technologique. Avec 2,2 % de son produit intérieur brut (PIB) consacré à la dépense intérieure de recherche et développement (DIRD), la France se classe au septième rang à l’échelle de l’Union européenne (UE). Derrière ces chiffres se cache une réalité : la recherche française décroche. Elle peine à se maintenir au niveau des pays les plus avancés, et ce en dépit de l’excellence de ses chercheurs.
Investir dans la recherche et l’innovation est un enjeu de souveraineté nationale et une nécessité pour répondre aux grands défis d’aujourd’hui et de demain. Cette loi de programmation trace une trajectoire de financement à long terme pour donner temps, moyens et visibilité aux chercheurs. Nous parlons là de 25 milliards d’euros supplémentaires sur dix ans, un effort sans précédent de la nation. Alors que le budget de la recherche n’a augmenté que de 50 millions d’euros entre 2012 et 2017, il sera rehaussé de 1,2 milliard d’ici à la fin du quinquennat.
Promouvoir les sciences, toutes les sciences
L’ensemble de l’environnement de recherche va bénéficier de dotations plus pérennes. L’accroissement sensible des « crédits de base » à la main des laboratoires garantira leur liberté en matière de recherche fondamentale. Parallèlement, l’Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR) verra son budget atteindre 1,7 milliard d’euros en 2027, dont une part de 40 % sera consacrée aux frais de fonctionnement des équipes et des établissements de recherche.
Attirer et garder les jeunes chercheurs dans notre pays passe par une meilleure politique salariale et par la suppression des « trappes à précarité » tout au long de la carrière. Nous accueillons donc favorablement la volonté de financer et de revaloriser chaque thèse et d’offrir un statut et un parcours sécurisés à tous les doctorants, postdoctorants et jeunes chercheurs et enseignants-chercheurs. En vue d’attirer des profils très convoités et de conserver nos jeunes talents, nous soutenons également l’instauration de chaires de professeur junior, voie alternative permettant d’accélérer la progression de carrière.
Publicație : Le Monde