Welcome to the February ebulletin with the latest news and items of interest to staff and students across the Universitas 21 network.
Headlines
(scroll down to read the full story)
| U21 Social Entrepreneur Corps launched |
| UCD offering collaboration on U21 TLN fellowship programme |
| U21 to present at Going Global conference |
| Teaching & Learning Workshop on Ethics & Citizenship |
| Research Universities and their Regions – opportunity for international collaboration |
| U21 Summer School and URC information released |
| Second ECR workshop report now online |
| University of Connecticut Provost to step down |
| UN Blurring Boundaries conference |
| Chair of U21 to give inaugural U21 Lecture at Dearing Conference in Nottingham |
| Photography collaboration sought |
| Summer Opportunities at Nottingham |
| Congratulations to U21 Deputy Secretary General! |
U21 Social Entrepreneur Corps launched
U21 is pleased to announce an opportunity for students to take part in a month-long programme in Guatemala, working with social entrepreneurs to help establish new and growing businesses. The U21 Social Entrepreneur Corps in Guatemala programme builds on U21 institutions’ expertise in social entrepreneurship, online and blended learning, international collaboration and service learning, as well as on our common commitment to global citizenship. Social entrepreneurship as a topic and Guatemala as a location are already part of individual U21 members’ study abroad programme offerings. The proposed U21 Social Entrepreneur Corps programme is a tailored approach to study abroad that combines global collaboration, new technologies and impact-oriented learning activities.
More details can be found at www.unviersitas21.com/link/SEC
UCD offering collaboration on U21 TLN fellowship programme
To compliment the exiting U21 TLN fellowships programme, University College Dublin is welcoming expressions of interest and queries from applicants for the U21 Fellowships whose interests are in broadly similar areas to the UCD Fellows. UCD has an active Fellowship in Teaching and Academic Development scheme in existence since 2007. These UCD Fellows have been working on individual and group projects whose themes are closely related to the Grand Challenges identified by the U21 TLN Steering Committee. Details on the Fellows and their work can be found at http://www.ucd.ie/teaching/fellowships/. UCD will offer subsidised on-campus accommodation to a successful U21 TLN Fellow for a study visit to UCD. A structured visiting programme will also be designed in consultation with a successful U21 Fellow, offering opportunities to work and share best practice with UCD’s own Fellows.
For initial queries, please email Professor Bairbre Redmond, Dean of Undergraduate Students & Deputy Registrar Teaching & Learning (bairbre.redmond@ucd.ie) with a copy to Judith.archbold@ucd.ie
www.universitas21.com/link/TLNfellowships
U21 to present at Going Global conference
Helen Foster, Head of Partnership Development at the University of Nottingham and Dr Gemma Marakas, Research & Projects Coordinator for U21, have been accepted to present at this year’s Going Global conference in March. Their poster presentation, Universitas 21 joint PhD programme: steps toward creating global citizens will document U21’s joint PhD programme, the universities active in it and the joint PhD agreements they have in place. This is an opportunity for U21 to showcase the opportunities available to help early career researchers gain a truly international perspective and the benefits which this particular process has to PhD students and academic staff alike. Helen will also be discussing Nottingham’s recent MOA with Korea University, emphasising the success in creating wide-reaching partnerships across two very different cultures.
If you plan to be at this year’s conference which runs from 13 to 15 March in London with the theme Changing education for a changing world please do drop by and support them!
Teaching & Learning Workshop on Ethics & Citizenship
Expressions of interest are invited for the next U21 T&L Workshop, entitled Ethics and Citizenship in the Curriculum. The workshop will take place from 12 to 14 March 2012 at Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Mexico City campus. The workshop is aimed at practitioners and those interested in developing and integrating an Ethics and Citizenship programme into their own curriculum and Tecnológico de Monterrey is at the forefront of developments in this area. It will be limited to around 25 participants.
An outline of the workshop can be found at http://www.universitas21.com/link/TLNworkshop and expressions of interest should be sent to Lavinia Johns (law6x@virginia.edu) by Wednesday 1 March (note extended deadline!)
Research Universities and their Regions – opportunity for international collaboration
In 2009, the Universities of Auckland, Glasgow and Melbourne were awarded funding to establish a U21 collaboration in the fields of lifelong learning, regional development and cognate disciplines, known as Research Universities and their Regions (RUR), and RUR is now looking to welcome members from across the wider U21 network. The group will be of interest to people working in many different areas and they are looking for new members who are interested in connecting with the community in its broadest sense, including those that work in the following fields:
· Lifelong learning
· Community education and outreach
· Public engagement
· Museums and galleries
· Local sport
· Businesses, charities and public bodies
The group’s aim is to provide a forum to strengthen the connection between the work of universities and society. Further details can be found at www.universitas21.com/link/RUR.
In addition, the group is holding a Lifelong Learning & Research Workshop at the University of Glasgow on 14-15 May 2012 and convenor Mike Osborne at the University of Glasgow would be pleased to receive expressions of interest. www.universitas21.com/link/LLRworkshop
U21 Summer School and URC information released
Details of U21’s flagship undergraduate events for 2012 are now online. The Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) takes place at Waseda University from 1 to 6 July under the broad theme of “Connecting to the Future” while the Summer School is being hosted this year by Tecnológico de Monterrey at its Querétaro campus from 7 to 18 July.
Information can be found at www.universitas21.com/link/URC2012 and www.universitas21.com/link/summerschool2012 respectively.
Second ECR workshop report now online
A report from the second workshop for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) which took place in Birmingham at the end of 2011 is now online. Forty-one participants from 10 countries and 16 U21 member universities attended, and a range of speakers and trainers from across the UK presented at the event. Topics for invited speakers and the keynote address were selected from the key issues within the workshop theme of Healthy Living, namely nutrition and ageing, exercise, sleep, and stress. These were presented by established career academics and included advice and tips for early career researchers as well as coverage of their subjects and latest cutting-edge research. Early career development training sessions were identified from the range of training needs faced by researchers. These included editing academic journals, interacting with the media, licensing and spin-offs, personal wellbeing, networking and communication, grant writing, collaborative design of research proposals, and career development. It was heralded as a highly successful event with a great deal of positive feedback.
The next ECR Workshop will take place at Shanghai Jiao Tong University from 4 to 6 December 2012.
www.universitas21.com/link/ECR2011
www.universitas21.com/link/ECRworkshops
University of Connecticut Provost to step down
Dr Peter Nicholls, Provost and Executive Vice President at the University of Connecticut for the last six years, will be stepping down from that position at the end of May. Dr Nicholls was instrumental in introducing UConn to the Universitas 21 and has enthused a great many staff and faculty at the university to take up the varied opportunities the U21 has to offer and become an important member of the network. We wish him well as he continues his career at UConn and look forward to meeting his successor in the months ahead.
UN Blurring Boundaries Conference
U21 has consultative status with the UN and is a part of its Academic Impact programme and as such is invited to attend various conferences and seminars during the year. From 10 to 11 April, a conference entitled Blurring Boundaries is taking place in Atlanta, USA to which U21 members are invited.
Many countries, provinces, municipalities and other governing bodies have requested, indeed mandated, that their universities serve as levers of change for educational improvement in their communities. Colleges and universities are being asked to use their formidable intellectual and human resources to expedite the development of education and educational capacity for children and adolescents. For many universities, however, active involvement in school improvement has proven challenging because a template for such work does not exist – at least not one that is readily applicable to a variety of cultures. The Blurring Boundaries conference, co-sponsored by the United Nations Academic Impact and the Committee for Teaching about the United Nations, will offer two days of panel sessions, symposia and keynote addresses, allowing scholars and leaders to gather and exchange international research on child development, health and mental health, schooling, indigenous education, neuroscience and other relevant topics, which will inform the partnership work of universities worldwide in their educational development efforts.
For further details please see http://education.gsu.edu/main/6791.html
Chair of U21 to give inaugural U21 Lecture at Dearing Conference in Nottingham
Professor Glyn Davis, Chair of the U21 network and Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne is to give the inaugural U21 Lecture, part of the annual Dearing Conference to be held at the University of Nottingham on 23 February 2012. He will be considering how globalised higher education and worldwide collaborative networks can deliver life-changing benefits to millions through improved education, shared expertise and accelerated innovation. Fellow speakers at the conference include the Rt Hon David Willetts MP, UK Minister of State for Universities and Science; Mr John Cridland CBE, Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry; and Ms Amanda Nevill, Director of the British Film Institute, a line-up which promises to be both stimulating and thought-provoking.
Further information can be found at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/lorddearing/index.aspx
Photography collaboration sought
Liz Hingley, an Assistant Research Fellow in the University of Birmingham’s Theology department, is undertaking an exhibition project at the university and is now looking for potential international collaboration through Universitas 21. Entitled Under Gods it explores the everyday religious experiences of the complex and multifaceted communities that live around one road in Birmingham and speaks about wider issues in contemporary urban experience, such as immigration, secularism and religious revival. Liz now wishes to extend the project and is seeking contact with university museums, theology departments or outreach projects who might be interested in collaboration.
For the full series of 40 images see www.lizhingley.com and contact Liz Hingley via Dr Andrew Davies, Senior Lecturer in Theology (a.davies.4@bham.ac.uk)
Summer Opportunities at Nottingham
Further to the summer study opportunities at Korea, Amsterdam and SJTU which have already been advertised, the University of Nottingham, which has campuses in both China and Malaysia, is proud to be running International Summer School courses at both campuses for the second year. These two week programmes, which can be optionally taken as credit bearing, will provide a fantastic opportunity for students to be introduced to either China or Malaysia and will include a full social and cultural programme and accommodation. All students from U21 universities will be offered a £250 scholarship towards the cost of the fee.
The following two-week courses are offered in China from Saturday 23 June – Saturday 7 July 2012: Digital Media, Culture and Creative Industries In China; How To Do Business in China; China’s Encounter with the World.
Similar these two-week courses will be offered in Malaysia from Monday 9 July – Monday 23 July 2012: Doing Business in Asia; Politics, Culture and the Media in Southeast Asia.
Information online gives further details about the courses and the application procedure at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/internationalstudents/exchanges/summerschools/china-and-malaysia-summer-schools/howtoapply.aspx
Contact Helen Foster on Helen.Foster@nottingham.ac.uk or +44 (0) 115 846 7145 for further information.
Congratulations to U21 Deputy Secretary General!
Colleagues around the network may have recently received correspondence from Lavinia Winegar Gott. This is because our Deputy Secretary General, formerly known as Lavinia Johns got married last month! Thankfully, due to the way the University’s of Virginia’s email system works, there’s no need to update your address books – her email address remains Lavinia@virginia.edu. We hope you will join us in sending her and her new husband Steve many congratulations for a long and happy marriage.