(Hamburg 20.11.2009) - Today, the Academic Senate (AS) from the University of Hamburg, confirmed Dieter Lenzen as president. Alone the short notice for the meeting in the heavily secured DESY Bahrenfeld speaks volumes – the whole process was not designed to be democratic or transparent and excluded a college audience completely. The university president should represent the entire university and be able to present him or herself publicly. Nothing like this was the case, although on Thursday more than 1,000 students called for public presentation. Many of the students and staff of the University and also the squatters of the Audimax lecture hall hold the confirmation of Lenzen as unjust – as they do the process and even the candidate Lenzen.
Lenzen himself in his speech to the AS patronizingly gave the impression: that considering he was “popularly” elected, he’ll take the job. This borders on extortion. Certainly we shall once again criticize the insidious tactics of the selection committee led by Albrecht Wagner. Firstly the deletion of certain candidates from the shortlist, before they could present themselves narrowed all margins and put those involved in the decision-making process under pressure. The logic behind this is: whoever rejects any of these candidates will only harm the university further (Eat or Die tactic). With this banal argument every candidate in this “electoral process” has been pushed through. To talk of voting is impossible because elections must always have something to do with choice and transparency. We would like to affirm at this point that we reject the decisions of the committee of the High school board at this time because of it’s lack of democratic legitimacy.
Continuar a ler o artigo...After confirmation some AS members came to the occupied Audimax, to read aloud the official press statement from the university – not a word mentioned the displeasure of many niversity members about procedures or the candidates – and questions were raised. One thing was clear, some of the AS members have had significant concerns about the procedure, which they have not expressed in public. We believe such an attitude to “voting” is fatal – because it is easy in retrospect, to criticize things, but does not allow them to be reversed immediately. The AS-member Prof. Schnapp argued that the hastily made decision dated back to the confusing conditions of the AS session held on Thursday at the Mineralogical Museum. This is a flimsy argument because had there been no protests on Thursday against the procedure and the candidates to be elected Lenzen would have been confirmed on that day. This statement distracts from the fact that procedures have been consciously disregarded, providing for a period of time between the election and confirmation of the Higher Education Council of the AS.
Some members of AS reported that Dieter Lenzen had convinced them of his candidacy, among other things, because he wanted to maintain democratic and transparent higher education regulations and structures at the university. (What does this mean?). In this and other controversial points, we doubt that all the members of AS have conscientiously informed themselves about the candidate Lenzen. A call to the AS-members of the Free University of Berlin would have been enough to learn that they must consistently threaten him with the involvement of the local administrative court to exercise their democratic rights. The current FU presidency at the local bureau in Berlin, acting under Dieter Lenzen is anything but “inclusive”. Rather Lenzen makes use of emergency-type test clauses frequently in the Berlin Higher Education – so that the academic self-government suffers as a result.
We will convert our anger at this decision into energy and ensure that Dieter Lenzen will not stay here long. It would be better if he chose not to accept the position. We also hope that he takes his leave from the students at the Free University Berlin, where he has also been adopted. No university needs Dieter Lenzen!
In Hamburg we are reviewing different strategies. One thing is certain: Lenzen is not our president, so we will speak of him in future only by the title “candidate Lenzen”.
segunda-feira, novembro 23, 2009
domingo, novembro 22, 2009
Third day of fee protests at California Universities
Demonstrators entered their third day of a building takeover at UC Santa Cruz on Saturday in protest of a tuition increase, an undertaking that a school spokesman called futile.The occupation of Kerr Hall is just one of several demonstrations across University of California campuses this week after the regent's board approved a 32 percent increase in tuition Thursday.
University officials said the $505 million to be raised by the tuition increases is needed to prevent even deeper cuts than those already made due to California's persistent financial crisis.
Protesting students said the increase will hurt working and middle-class students who benefit from state-funded education.
On the Santa Cruz campus, where building occupations began last week with a library sit-in, about 100 students staged a sit-in in the second-floor lobby of Kerr Hall soon after hearing that the tuition increase had been approved, according to UC Santa Cruz Provost David Kliger.
The students made a list of 20 "demands" detailing how they want the administration to increase funding, spokesman Barry Shiller said. But the school has no plans to negotiate the demands with the student body, he said. The school just doesn't have the money, he added.
School officials hope the students realize that their demonstration is "not accomplishing anything" and is "just a disruption" to administrative duties on campus, he said.
The administration will continue to wait out the takeover, but Shiller said he is unsure of how long it will last. The school hopes the students will leave voluntarily, he said.
Read More...Are you there? Share your story, video...
Meanwhile, uprisings on other campuses have quieted since earlier mass demonstrations.
At UC Berkeley on Friday night, 41 protesters occupying a building were arrested. Authorities decided to cite them for trespassing and release them rather than take them to jail, per an agreement with student leaders, school spokeswoman Claire Holmes said. Three students were arrested there Friday morning.
Fifty-two students were arrested at UC Davis late Thursday after they refused to vacate the school's administration building.
And UCLA's Campbell Hall was occupied for several hours Thursday evening.
The angry students are condemning a nearly $2,000 tuition increase.
The first change, which takes effect in January, will raise undergraduate tuition to $8,373. The second increase kicks in next fall, raising tuition to $10,302, university spokeswoman Leslie Sepuka said.
Students who live on campus could pay an estimated $17,200 in additional fees that include the annual cost of books and housing, according to the system's July 2008 finance guide.
The January increase of about 15 percent is more than double the average public university tuition increase last year.
On average, tuition and fees at four-year public universities nationwide increased 6.5 percent, or to $7,020, since the previous school year, according to data from College Board.
Students eligible for financial aid and whose families make less than $70,000 will have their tuition covered, the university said.
SAVE the University [@ UC Berkeley]
SAVE the University is a UC Berkeley faculty group dedicated to preserving student access and academic quality at University of California.
- SAVE International Petition: SAVE the University invites academics and researchers affiliated with universities OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES to sign the following petition in support of efforts to save the University of California as a great public university system
- Fight the Fee Hikes: sign the Petition to postpone the Regents Vote on Fee Increases
sábado, novembro 21, 2009
University of California, Santa Cruz: over 500 students are occupying the Kresge Town Hall
Click here to read more infos... Demands:
1. Repeal the 32% fee increase
2. Stop all current construction on campus
3. UC funds and budget are made transparent
4. Verbal and written commitment to Master Plan
5. Total amnesty to all people occupying buildings and involved in student protest concerning budget cuts including: Doug G., and Brian Glasscock and Olivia Egan Rudolph
6. Keep all resource centers open: engaging education, women's resource center, and all other diversity centers
7. Keep the campus child-care center open
8. Repeal cuts to the Community Studies Field Program
9. Re-funding the CMMU field studies coordinator positions
10. Get verbal and written agreement from admins to shut-down campus for one day for the purpose of educating students on the budget cuts
11. Said support for AB656
12. Said commitment to work-study for all who are eligible
13. Making UC Santa Cruz a safe campus for all undocumented (AB540) students and workers
14. Keeping LALS professors Guillermo Delgado & Susan Jonas
15. Repeal all furloughs to all campus employees, renege the 15% cut in labor time for custodians
16. Stop the gutting of funding for fellowships and TAships and the re-instatement of TAs who lost their jobs due the budget cuts from this quarter
17. Re-prioritizing funding so that essential student services i.e. the library get adequate funding to ensure regular library hours
18. Censure Mark Yudof
19. Un-arming UC police of all weapons including tasers
20. NO SCPD police allowed on campus
21. An apology from the regents and the state
22. Creating a free and permanent organizing space on campus for student activists and organizers (first options: Kresge Town Hall)
23. Due process for students:
a. trial by peers
b. constitutional rights for students tried under the UC judicial system
24. Making rent affordable for Family Student Housing, ensuring that the price does not exceed that of operating costs
Long Term:
1. no student fees
2. return to master plan
3. abolition of regents' positions
4. abolition of all student debts
5. tripling of funds from the state to public universities
6. all eligible students get work-study
7. highest UC salaries are tied proportionally to the lowest waged workers
8. Impeach Mark Yudof
9. Representation of students and faculty equal to UCOP/UC Regents
10. All UCSC tuition fees stay at UCSC
11. UC Money is only invested to education
a. cut ties with Lockheed Martin, Los Alamos & Livermore National Labs
signed,
The Occupants
Other strikes links:
Many protests of students across Germany
90,000 lecturers, pupils, students, parents and workers across Germany protested against the increasing commercialisation and privatisation of Education (as well as the implementation of the "Bologna Process").
More info...
More info...- 3,000 protesters on a demonstration in Essen; police attacks demonstration: 154 temporary arrests [lerex.de]
- Further demonstrations took place in the following cities (with the number of protesters in brackets): Aachen (2,000; pix), Wiesbaden (10,000), Berlin (25,000; youtube.com), Heidelberg (2,500), Munich (10,000), Mainz (3,000), Darmstadt (500), Osnabrück (2,000; pix), Düsseldorf (4,000), Potsdam (1,000), Jena (1,500), Bonn (2,500), Bochum (700), Hannover (1,000), Cologne (3,000, pix), Regensburg (1,000), Freiburg (5,000; report), Karlsruhe (500), Duisburg/Essen (3,000) and Nürnberg (5,000) = a total of ~ 83,200 protesters
- Lecture halls were occupied by students in Germany at the following institutions: College of Education in Weingarten, Georg-Simon-Ohm University of Applied Sciences (Erlangen; pix), University of Nürnberg-Erlangen (largest lecture hall "Audimax" in Erlangen), University of Applied Sciences in Kaiserslautern, University of Bonn [but evicted by police force shortly; pix], University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam, University of Augsburg [pix], University of Erfurt, University of Münster [re-occupied after eviction on Nov.6th], University of Jena [although police was using pepper spray on campus], Academy of Fine Arts in Nürnberg, University of Passau, University of Paderborn, University of Cologne, University of Tübingen [re-occupied after eviction on Nov.11th], University of Trier, Otto-Friedrich University of Bamberg, University of Karlsruhe, University of Siegen, Technical University of Braunschweig and Academy of Arts in Braunschweig.
University sit-ins spread throughout Switzerland
Hundreds of students have occupied the biggest lecture hall at Bern University, preventing more than 1,000 other students from attending lectures.The protests have taken place as part of Global Week of Action – motto "Education is not for sale" – which has seen students targeting the educational machine in several European cities. In Switzerland lecture halls have been occupied in Basel, Zurich and Bern.
Continue to read this text..."Around 1,200 students have been affected," said Christoph Pappa, Bern University's general secretary. "The university administration has noted the protests, but we still don't know what their concrete demands are."
Around 100 students spent Tuesday night in the auditorium – something that hadn't been planned but followed on spontaneously from events earlier in the day - International Students' Day - when some 300 students occupied the auditorium.
The main grievances are the implementation of the Bologna reforms, the commercialisation of education (in the form of industry sponsorship), student fees and the fact that university syllabuses are allegedly becoming more like those in schools.
The Bologna educational reforms are part of the European Union's 1999 Bologna Declaration, signed by Switzerland and 45 other countries. The idea behind Bologna is to harmonise qualifications across Europe so that students and staff can move freely between universities, and the degrees they hold are recognised in every country.
Pappa pointed out that surveys last year revealed that most students judged the Bologna reforms positively.
Nevertheless he said he sympathised with criticism of certain elements of the reforms, such as the fact that instead of being given responsibility and encouraged to think for themselves, students were being spoon-fed information for regular tests.
Problems
This "exam factory" complaint was echoed by Daniel, a geography and history student.
"The big problem is that the Bologna process stops education," he told swissinfo.ch beneath a hammock in Bern University's auditorium on Wednesday.
"You can't reflect on things because you no longer have time to think and to try to go really deeply into a subject. It's not an education."
He added that another big problem in Switzerland was that the Bologna process had been in force for ten years "so people are used to it – it's not like in Germany where everything is new".
"I've been into politics for a long time so I have a solid understanding about why things are going wrong – neo-liberalisation and capitalist structures – but I think a lot of people have a feeling that things are no longer what they should be but they can't really articulate what they think, and that's a big problem."
Commercialisation
Another issue discussed in the auditorium was whether the public education system was still serving the interests of the public, or whether the focus was shifting to implement education systems that primarily serve private and business interests.
"We're concerned that the university is becoming a place where economics comes first and then education. We want a free and critical education – not some sort of training for employment," Luca, a sociology student, told swissinfo.ch.
He added that this creeping commercialisation of education was more of a problem in natural sciences "where Novartis and companies like that sponsor [courses]", but he feared that "if nothing changes, we'll see other companies trying to influence what is taught".
On Wednesday the Swiss Trade Union Federation said in a statement it was delighted by the strong participation and expressed solidarity with the students in Basel, Zurich and Bern in particular.
Support
Michael, studying economics and political science, told swissinfo.ch he wasn't surprised by the level of support.
"I think there are many students who are angry. You can't see it in everyday life as you have a tough programme and exams, but then things happen that make people angry," he said.
"For example, the political sciences institute has just scrapped a module on the social sciences BA without telling the students who subscribed [to that course]. They are now arriving without knowing that they are in fact studying something else."
He believed many people were interested in the issues, but never got around to doing anything about it.
"But when you have something like this, you see many people protesting – and not just people who normally demonstrate but a wide variety of students. This is very important and positive."
Daniel, when asked how long the occupation of the auditorium would continue, was philosophical.
"It depends how long people want to stay.
Student protests all over Italy
According to Unione degli Studenti (UdS), 150 000 pupils and students in more than 50 cities across Italy took to the streets to protest education reforms and the increasing commercialisation and privatisation of public education.
More infos...The following list of cities (and number of protesters in brackets) was published by UdS: Rome (10,000), Turin (15,000), Genoa (5,000), Naples (10,000), Bari (7,000), Lecce (2,000), Florence (3,000), Cosenza (3,000), Salerno (8,000) and many other cities.
More infos...The following list of cities (and number of protesters in brackets) was published by UdS: Rome (10,000), Turin (15,000), Genoa (5,000), Naples (10,000), Bari (7,000), Lecce (2,000), Florence (3,000), Cosenza (3,000), Salerno (8,000) and many other cities.
sexta-feira, novembro 20, 2009
quinta-feira, novembro 19, 2009
segunda-feira, novembro 16, 2009
domingo, novembro 15, 2009
Mass student protests in Denmark
On the 6th of October, 30 000 students gathered in the cities of Copenhagen, Aarhus, Viborg, Odense, Sønderborg and Aalborg, to protest against budget cuts in Danish school. Furthermore 60 schools were occupied by the students at least one day before the demonstration. The name of the campaign and the initiative organizing the protests is called Out of the crisis – into the future and consists of all the students organizations of Denmark and the young trade-union movement.
“The government has made cut downs every year for the last 10 years and it’s the wrong way to go in an economic crisis”, says the spoke man of the initiative and the president of the organization of Danish upper secondary school students (DGS) Bjarke Dahl Mogensen. “Education is the future and to inject money to education is an investment. The vocational school students don’t have training places and in upper secondary school we sit way too many students in the class rooms. The unemployment of youth is increasing enormously – we don’t want to be garbage generation, we need investments and action from the politicians!”
Since the demonstration in the beginning of October more money have been promised to the university students and party of the opposition have said that they will vote for a limit of size of the classrooms – so now there is majority for a limit if we get a new government. The supporting party of the Danish government has said that they will not vote for budget cuts on education. But if they do what they have promised is doubtful, since the final reading of the Budget proposal is still waiting. So the Danish students continue the fight.
“The government has made cut downs every year for the last 10 years and it’s the wrong way to go in an economic crisis”, says the spoke man of the initiative and the president of the organization of Danish upper secondary school students (DGS) Bjarke Dahl Mogensen. “Education is the future and to inject money to education is an investment. The vocational school students don’t have training places and in upper secondary school we sit way too many students in the class rooms. The unemployment of youth is increasing enormously – we don’t want to be garbage generation, we need investments and action from the politicians!”Since the demonstration in the beginning of October more money have been promised to the university students and party of the opposition have said that they will vote for a limit of size of the classrooms – so now there is majority for a limit if we get a new government. The supporting party of the Danish government has said that they will not vote for budget cuts on education. But if they do what they have promised is doubtful, since the final reading of the Budget proposal is still waiting. So the Danish students continue the fight.
«Equidade no Ensino Superior», opinião de Sandra Monteiro (directora do «Monde Diplomatique» PT)
Nos últimos vinte anos, o ensino superior em Portugal passou por profundas transformações, do modelo de financiamento ao novo regime jurídico das instituições do ensino superior, passando pela reforma de Bolonha e pelas alterações do estatuto da carreira docente. O início da nova legislatura, até porque combina uma solução de continuidade na pasta do Ensino Superior com uma previsível revitalização do debate político e parlamentar, é um bom momento para a sociedade reflectir criticamente sobre todas estas alterações, para fazer um balanço que tenha em conta os dados empíricos entretanto disponíveis e para ajustar os caminhos futuros de um ensino superior democrático e de qualidade.
Poderá começar-se pelo modelo de financiamento. Há quase duas décadas opuseram-se duas concepções. A primeira correspondia à defesa do contrato social até então em vigor e apoiava-se no texto Constitucional, que prevê que o Estado deve assegurar o carácter universal e tendencialmente gratuito do ensino. Afirmava que o ensino superior deve constituir um serviço público cujo funcionamento corrente deve ser financiado pelo orçamento de Estado, de modo a que uma fiscalidade progressiva actue como mecanismo de redistribuição do rendimento e de promoção da justiça social, propiciando a todos, independentemente da origem socioeconómica da família em que se nasceu, condições de maior equidade no acesso ao saber e ao desenvolvimento das competências susceptíveis de propiciar uma sociedade menos desigual. Um regime de bolsas e de apoio social deveria ajudar a superar as situações de exclusão prevalecentes.
A segunda concepção defendia o fim da «gratuitidade» do ensino superior – que supostamente desresponsabilizava o aluno e desvalorizava o grau –, o que devia ser feito através da introdução de propinas, mais ou menos aproximadas do custo real do ensino, segundo as versões, como forma de assegurar o aumento da qualidade das formações e dos diplomas. Esta perspectiva sustentava ainda que o novo modelo de financiamento, através de diferentes escalões de pagamentos e isenções, faria com que os estudantes de maiores rendimentos pagassem propinas mais elevadas, para financiar o ensino dos estudantes mais pobres. A Lei 20/92, de 14 de Agosto, promulgada durante o governo de Aníbal Cavaco Silva no quadro de uma intensa contestação estudantil, fez até questão de sublinhar a ideia de que as propinas não serviriam para desresponsabilizar o Estado e pagar as despesas correntes (salários, etc.), definindo-as como receitas «a afectar, prioritariamente, à prossecução de uma política de acção social e às acções que visem promover o sucesso educativo». Prioritariamente... A cada instituição incumbia a fixação anual do montante das propinas, com base num valor máximo definido pelo Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Portuguesas (CRUP), e pelo órgão equivalente no ensino politécnico.
Do preço simbólico de 1200 escudos (cerca de 6 euros) antes da nova lei, as propinas passaram a ter um valor médio de 300 euros em 1995 e de 900 euros em 2005. Hoje, quase todos os estabelecimentos públicos, confrontados com um crónico subfinanciamento estatal que põe em causa o normal funcionamento das instituições, aplicam a propina máxima (972,14 euros), uma das mais altas da União Europeia (só dois países praticam valores mais elevados e sete não cobram qualquer montante). O modelo de financiamento com propinas, além de não ter contribuído para melhorar a qualidade do ensino, promoveu o recurso ao crédito bancário por parte de muitos estudantes que, não podendo agora cumprir com os pagamentos, são forçados a desistir do ensino superior.
Poder-se-ia pensar que esta é uma situação nova, mas um estudo de Belmiro Cabrito, professor no Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Lisboa, intitulado «Equidade no Ensino Superior – 1995-2005: Uma Década Perdida?», veio recentemente demonstrar que, já antes da crise, «o elitismo da universidade portuguesa agravou-se», afastando numa década um terço dos alunos mais pobres (a percentagem passou de 12,5 para 8,5 por cento). O estudo verificou também que «o aumento do número de bolseiros (no privado, sobretudo) não teve efeitos positivos na equidade do ensino universitário», que permanece bastante baixa.
Poderá este ser o caminho de uma modernização assente na formação de competências e na justiça social? Se a prioridade «é desenvolver as políticas sociais, é qualificar os serviços públicos, é reduzir as desigualdades na sociedade portuguesa», então não podemos perder mais décadas.
Poderá começar-se pelo modelo de financiamento. Há quase duas décadas opuseram-se duas concepções. A primeira correspondia à defesa do contrato social até então em vigor e apoiava-se no texto Constitucional, que prevê que o Estado deve assegurar o carácter universal e tendencialmente gratuito do ensino. Afirmava que o ensino superior deve constituir um serviço público cujo funcionamento corrente deve ser financiado pelo orçamento de Estado, de modo a que uma fiscalidade progressiva actue como mecanismo de redistribuição do rendimento e de promoção da justiça social, propiciando a todos, independentemente da origem socioeconómica da família em que se nasceu, condições de maior equidade no acesso ao saber e ao desenvolvimento das competências susceptíveis de propiciar uma sociedade menos desigual. Um regime de bolsas e de apoio social deveria ajudar a superar as situações de exclusão prevalecentes.
A segunda concepção defendia o fim da «gratuitidade» do ensino superior – que supostamente desresponsabilizava o aluno e desvalorizava o grau –, o que devia ser feito através da introdução de propinas, mais ou menos aproximadas do custo real do ensino, segundo as versões, como forma de assegurar o aumento da qualidade das formações e dos diplomas. Esta perspectiva sustentava ainda que o novo modelo de financiamento, através de diferentes escalões de pagamentos e isenções, faria com que os estudantes de maiores rendimentos pagassem propinas mais elevadas, para financiar o ensino dos estudantes mais pobres. A Lei 20/92, de 14 de Agosto, promulgada durante o governo de Aníbal Cavaco Silva no quadro de uma intensa contestação estudantil, fez até questão de sublinhar a ideia de que as propinas não serviriam para desresponsabilizar o Estado e pagar as despesas correntes (salários, etc.), definindo-as como receitas «a afectar, prioritariamente, à prossecução de uma política de acção social e às acções que visem promover o sucesso educativo». Prioritariamente... A cada instituição incumbia a fixação anual do montante das propinas, com base num valor máximo definido pelo Conselho de Reitores das Universidades Portuguesas (CRUP), e pelo órgão equivalente no ensino politécnico.
Do preço simbólico de 1200 escudos (cerca de 6 euros) antes da nova lei, as propinas passaram a ter um valor médio de 300 euros em 1995 e de 900 euros em 2005. Hoje, quase todos os estabelecimentos públicos, confrontados com um crónico subfinanciamento estatal que põe em causa o normal funcionamento das instituições, aplicam a propina máxima (972,14 euros), uma das mais altas da União Europeia (só dois países praticam valores mais elevados e sete não cobram qualquer montante). O modelo de financiamento com propinas, além de não ter contribuído para melhorar a qualidade do ensino, promoveu o recurso ao crédito bancário por parte de muitos estudantes que, não podendo agora cumprir com os pagamentos, são forçados a desistir do ensino superior.
Poder-se-ia pensar que esta é uma situação nova, mas um estudo de Belmiro Cabrito, professor no Instituto de Educação da Universidade de Lisboa, intitulado «Equidade no Ensino Superior – 1995-2005: Uma Década Perdida?», veio recentemente demonstrar que, já antes da crise, «o elitismo da universidade portuguesa agravou-se», afastando numa década um terço dos alunos mais pobres (a percentagem passou de 12,5 para 8,5 por cento). O estudo verificou também que «o aumento do número de bolseiros (no privado, sobretudo) não teve efeitos positivos na equidade do ensino universitário», que permanece bastante baixa.
Poderá este ser o caminho de uma modernização assente na formação de competências e na justiça social? Se a prioridade «é desenvolver as políticas sociais, é qualificar os serviços públicos, é reduzir as desigualdades na sociedade portuguesa», então não podemos perder mais décadas.
É absolutamente de LEITURA OBRIGATÓRIA este artigo de opinião de Sandra Monteiro, publicado na edição de Novembro do «Le Monde Diplomatique - edição portuguesa».
Subscrever:
Mensagens (Atom)
