Campus Europae Newsletter, May 2008
Table of contents
- 68, Utopia and Higher Education Policy
- Fast Facts
- New living cost database and pocket guides for exchange students
- Marketing Campus Europae
- Engineering and Natural Sciences subject committee meetings
- University of Novi Sad organized CE Certificate awarding ceremony
- Campus Europae Promotion at Gazi University
- Upcoming events
- Business Subject Committee Meeting
- Teacher Training Subject Committee Meeting
68, Utopia and Higher Education Policy
40 years after the seismic events of 1968 most commentators and publications emphasize the differences between what happened in Prague and Paris, in Berlin, Frankfurt and Warsaw, in Madrid and Athens, Berkeley, or Tokyo. No discussion in this respect, there has been differences in what finally led to the riots and movements in countries all over the world.
However even if we agree that the occasions have been different we have to notice that this all happened within a very short period of time between two to three years. Earlier and later there have been a lot of local events and demonstrations, but never such a widespread worldwide explosion at the same time.
The second common trait was that in the main the core movement emanated from the state universities. Students have been the leaders of the movements, but in some cases together with young scientists. It was a typical sign that intellectuals were part of this opposition. It was not a workers rebellion; the leaders have not been the officials of trade unions. On the contrary the students wanted to liberate the workers from their labour masters, whom they mostly denunciated as pillars of the old systems.
And the third important component was that it had become a cohesive movement. It was not a spontaneous riot as we have seen it in some French baneluies in 2005 or at some German universities for two months in the winter of 1998.
Movements can only continue if there is a core idea and belief which sustains them in the long term. This common idea was the protest against entrenched authorities and structures, or in a positive sense, a more participative engagement by people After the end of the 2nd World War and the Stalinist period there was a short cooling off-period which led people to hope for more participation at all levels of their social life. Then in the beginning of the 60s policy made steps backwards.
These entrenched authorities have been not very different from country to country as some others tried to point it out in the actual discussion: The Communist Party in Prague was as entrenched as the Franco-regime. The students in Warsaw have been confronted by a more or less open anti-Semitism, while in Germany as the first and only time after the Third Reich a Chancellor came to power who had been a member of the Nazi-Party. The students in Berkeley attacked a government which supported dictators in Spain, in Vietnam and Iran. And in Berlin the police protected one of these dictators – and killed a student who was demonstrating against the visit of Shah-in-Shah Reza Pahlevi.
The movement had an international dimension from the beginning on and the students used their language potential. The Vietnam War was one aspect, the old (especially Portuguese) and the new (economical) colonialism another one. Therefore in contrary to other youth movements in the first half of the 20th century the 68er have been far away from any nationalistic emotion. It was a contribution to internationalism – and in some aspects to the process of the European unification.
Students had been confronted each day with – at that time - one of the most entrenched and hierarchical institutions in each state: the universities. Eastern and Western European university representatives had the same mentality, expressed in the same outlook: During their European Rectors Conferences the rectors worn the same gowns, which seemed to be the coats of old dukes, with a lot of opulent furs – even if most of these habits have been designed not in the middle ages, but in the 19th and even in the 20th century. They looked like Hamburg Student Representatives had written it on a poster: “Under the gowns the mustiness of 1000 years”. In saying this university officials wanted to regulate not only the academic life of the students but also their very private life in the dormitories, for example. And they taught a very special interpretation of the history of the last 50, 60 years in Europe: Either in the east or in the west. They told history with “some gaps“. Participation of students in university therefore meant also to have the right to learn the whole truth.
This teaching with gaps was not only in spite of history. The appearance of the rectors symbolized the social structure of these universities in Europe: Also in Eastern Europe, where workers and farmers should be the leading groups the percentage of students with workers-family background has been very low. For the western universities the OECD documented it in its country-exams at the end of the 60s. The entrenched structure of the educational system had stabilised in all European societies the old social injustice, with very small modifications.
The fight of the students to reform the university system was an integral part of the general fight for a social and justice society in a new world. The 68er have been utopian in vision. About ten years later the German chancellor Helmut Schmidt would said: „If you have a utopian vision, then you have to go to a psychotherapist. “
40 years later?
Since the 70s the number of students increased in all countries significantly. In saying that social disparity remained, the social selection happens before young men and women reached the entrance door of universities. Until today one core goal of the Bologna-process has been to widen access to universities for all social groups.
The number of private universities increased. They were also seen as a possibility to discipline the students: If students have to pay they have to hurry up and will have no time for student policy and demonstrations. The same result politicians hope to reach with study fees - as collateral effect.
All governments and parliaments made a lot of university reform laws after. In all of these laws the participation of students at all levels was fixed. At the same time universities become more and more objects of central planning. Therefore even if students are represented in central agencies also at European level this minimised the influence and engagement of the representatives in the daily affairs of their university.
The most important outcome: That state universities all over Europe are at least up to now never became again a sprinkling and influential source of reactionary thinking like they have been in the first 30 years and sometimes even in the 50s of the 20th century.
Prof. Christoph Ehmann
Secretary General of European University Foundation - Campus Europae, former President of the German National Union of Students 1968/1969
Fast Facts
New living cost database and pocket guides for exchange students
With the CE movers 08/09 in mind the Campus Europae “living cost information system” (LIVIS) and “pocket guides” 2008 edition are now available online.
The rationale of LIVIS is to determine living cost differences amongst all universities of the network and its main purpose is to make such information easily available to prospective exchange students, thus empowering them to objectively consider and plan their stay abroad. Studies abroad are commonly perceived as an expensive option and this persistent popular belief deters many from seriously considering such possibilities. In fact costs can vary greatly, sometimes within the same country, and such variations can be put to use to the students advantage to enhance the financial situation of mobile students.
The 2008 incarnation of LIVIS not only aims to shed light on such complicated matters as it features an improved graphic user interface which will allow for more layers of information to be added overtime (i.e., with regards rent there are often considerable differences in the average costs of university residences and private accommodation). The 2009 edition is already being prepared and will bring about a significant change in the source of information: from 2005 to 2008 LIVIS has been compiled and updated based upon feedback from student representatives, while from 2009 onwards exchange students themselves will be the main sources of information for the reason that, being newcomers, they experience living costs in a way differently from their native colleagues. The cost perception of their stay abroad will be monitored in order to understand how it evolves throughout the first months upon arrival.
From a methodological viewpoint the main difficulty that LIVIS is confronted with is to reduce the bias produced by respondents with different social/economic backgrounds. Students from a socio economically higher income bracket will produce cost indicators that can easily be misleading for others. In order to assuage this problem respondents are asked to provide information on living costs from a relatively modest perspective. These students from all social backgrounds should be able to retrieve useful information from LIVIS, knowing that the indicatory budgets provided will indeed allow for their stay abroad. It goes without saying that a larger budget will provide higher levels of comfort by student standards and open up wider possibilities travel or entertainment wise. LIVIS is available online here.
Also worth of note is the update performed on the Pocket Guides which are yearly produced by the Student Council. The Pocket Guides are meant as a complement to the Buddy System with regards smoothing integration of newly arrived students who are being exchanged among the Campus Europae universities. They are a compilation of practical information written by students to fellow students – thus they do not replace the formal/administrative workflows in any way, and may even be lacking information on such matters, but on the other hand reach beyond the normal scope of information provided of most International Offices.
Pocket Guides are available online since this week, with the 2008 edition covering all the universities in the CE network, thus CE movers can starting already planning their adventurous year abroad by downloading them here.
Marketing Campus Europae
On the 9th and 10th of May a task force convened at the University of Aveiro aiming to deal with the problematic of marketing and branding in so far as Campus Europae is concerned. The task force was composed by the PR officers of the Universities of Novi Sad, Vytautas Magnus and the
During the first half of the meeting existing information materials, the completeness of information available on the websites of partner universities and promotional actions held in 06/07 and 07/08 were thoroughly reviewed; furthermore guidelines for future events drawing on best practices and aiming to improve their impact and cost-efficiency were then outlined and linked with a co-financing scheme for 08/09 where emphasis is put on the availability of information materials on the local language. This toolkit will soon by ready for wider circulation within the network.
Other short and mid-term possibilities looked upon concerned the usage of the CE brand vis-à-vis each university’s information materials and image management practices and as a distinctive feature with regards educational fairs and school promotional actions, the organization of joint events and offering CE study programmes to overseas students. The meeting reflections and conclusions will ease the updating of the 2006 “lobbying and public relations mid-term plan”.
Engineering and Natural Sciences subject committee meetings
The subject committees of Engineering and Natural Sciences convened in the University of Joensuu on the 18th of April, with the most important points on both meetings agenda being the preparation of the upcoming academic year. Considerable work has been put in reviewing compatibility matrices: exchanges in Natural Sciences are to happen in the areas of Biology, Biochemistry and Physics, with Mathematics and Chemistry avenues due to be explored in the next meetings; Engineering is focusing students exchange in the areas of electronic and electric engineering, although students of mechanics, civil, environmental and management engineering will be able to join on the short term. Interestingly it was found that, upon significant curricular changes having been completed in most partner universities, the convergence of the degrees seems to be converging, notably in natural sciences, which may allow for even higher degrees of cooperation in the future.
University of Novi Sad organized CE Certificate awarding ceremony
The University of Novi Sad organized the Campus Europae Certificate awarding ceremony on the on the 23rd of April. The ceremony was presided by Rector Prof. Radmila Marinkovic-Neducin and was attended by Vice-Rector Prof. Miroslav Plancak, professors engaged in the CE Subject Committees and the press, and at the heart of the ceremony were the UNS students who have studied abroad in the academic years and 2006/2007.
The CE Certificate is awarded yearly to all students who have spent a year abroad with Campus Europae, have attained 45 ECTS credits and a B1 certificate in the language of the country of destination and gives prove of the extraordinary European experiences that the student in question underwent.
Campus Europae Promotion at Gazi University
On 1 May 2008 Gazi University held a promotion event for Campus Europae exchange. Gladly following the invitation by the University the President of the Student Council, Bernd Justin Jütte, together with João Almeida from the University of Aveiro and Elena Yarmanova from St. Petersburg State University paid a visit to the Gazi University campus.
Approximately 60 students followed with interest the presentations on CE and the represented universities.After a warm welcome by Sevgi Baykaldi and Gazi student representative Tamer Aslan, Jütte and Almeida introduced the concept of Campus Europae to the students. Highlighting the distinguishing aspects regarding other European exchange programs Jütte and Almeida touched inter alia on the CE language policy, which should enable CE movers to acquire the language of their host country in less than a year. Before answering questions and embarking on discussions with the local students each guest introduced his or her own university to Gazi students.
The discussion revealed a genuine interest of Gazi students to take part in European student exchange, but some concerns as well. Among the latter were skepticism to learn a new language in a relatively short period of time and ways of financing a year in another European country, concerns that the CE representatives tried to dispel drawing on the special concepts developed by CE.
Upcoming events
Business Subject Committee Meeting
University of Latvia, 23rd May
Teacher Training Subject Committee Meeting
University of Latvia, 23rd May
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