UNIVERSITY. EFFICIENCY IS NO LONGER ENOUGH

 We need 

to integrate teaching, 

research 

and 

civic engagement”

The university as an institution is in serious crisis and if we want to save it we need to rethink it. The current model based on efficiency must be overcome

Alexandra Luna Navarro

 Modern science has often had to grow amidst patronage, public office, and limited autonomy. But the university as we know it today – secular, public, oriented toward the production and transmission of knowledge – was born in the Middle Ages as universitas magistrorum et scholarium , an autonomous corporation of teachers and students.

The first studia generalia , such as Bologna and Paris, were cosmopolitan centers of learning, open to students of all origins, where law, medicine, philosophy and theology were taught. With the Humboldtian model of the 19th century, especially in Germany, the university emancipated itself from teaching alone and took on research as its founding mission, in the name of academic freedom and the unity of knowledge.

In the post-war period, European universities became public infrastructures at the service of democracy, social equity and development. Today, unfortunately, this model is faltering.

In the Netherlands, the government announced cuts to research and higher education of more than €1.2 billion. In the United Kingdom, academia is facing the combined consequences of Brexit and inflation. In Brussels, the European Commission has cut the budget of Horizon Europe by €2.1 billion, reallocating €1.5 billion to defense research.

This leads to increasingly crowded research calls, with success rates sometimes around 2%. In the United States, unfortunately, the situation is even worse. The new Trump presidency is reducing funding and, even worse, imposing control on the topics covered by researchers.

But the issue is not only quantitative. It is epistemological . Today, to obtain funding, you have to demonstrate that you already have preliminary results, a consolidated network and verifiable impacts . In other words: you have to already know what you intend to discover. A paradox that penalizes the riskiest ideas, often the most promising.

For example, David Baker, winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on the computational design of proteins, says that he would never have been able to come up with the idea of predicting the structure of proteins with artificial intelligence, if he had not received a “non-repayable” funding through a personal fellowship to explore a risky and unconventional idea.

This is not an isolated case. A study published in Nature in 2023 shows that disruptiveness – the ability of articles and patents to radically change existing knowledge – has been in decline for decades. Research proceeds by accumulation, rarely by deviation. Evaluation systems incentivize productivity, not surprise. Hyper-specialization reduces interdisciplinarity. Bibliometric metrics risk compressing imagination.

Already in 2011, Harvard Magazine warned that universities were in danger of becoming knowledge companies, attentive to short-term results, measured by quantifiable performance, and disconnected from the great questions of our time. A risk that is now evident also in Europe.

Yet, something is moving. The DORA (San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment) framework , adopted by hundreds of academic institutions around the world, proposes to overcome the impact factor as a central indicator to instead evaluate the methodological quality, the openness of data, the variety of results and the social impact of research.

But it is not enough to rethink evaluation. We need to redefine the very role of universities. In Creating the University of the Future (Springer, 2024), the German researcher Wolfgang Stark proposes the concept of universities as spaces of resonance: places where transformations are activated, where knowledge is built in the relationship with society. It is the “third mission” understood not as transfer, but as co-production together with local authorities, schools, social enterprises and active citizenship.

Community Service Learning experiences , described by Stark, show how teaching, research and civic engagement can be integrated. Students do not only learn content, but the ability to act responsibly in complex contexts. The university then becomes not only a center of excellence, but a civic hub , a laboratory of the future, a lens for imagining what is not yet there.

The future of the university cannot be reduced to a question of management or efficiency. It is a political and cultural issue. It means deciding whether we want universities reduced to patent incubators, or places where we think critically , make legitimate mistakes, and take collective risks. As Galileo, Newton, and Marie Curie did yesterday, and as Giorgio Parisi, David Baker and many others have done in more recent times.

Defending the university today means defending the very possibility of imagining a shared, just and creative future. It means creating conditions in which knowledge can continue to ask unexpected questions. Even when the answers are not yet within reach.

Il Sussidiario 

UNIVERSITY and SOUL

 by Benedetta Capelli

If there is a key word that has crossed the Dies Academicus, the beginning of the 2024-2025 academic year of the Pontifical Lateran University, it is “soul”.

A term that for the rector of the university, Monsignor Alfonso Amarante, implies a constant work of dialogue and meeting between teachers and students but also the need to dare by starting virtuous paths, exploring roads that others have not traveled and that is not just an occupation of spaces. There are three steps indicated, also the result of the commitment of a new Superior Coordination Council made official only last Saturday, November 9.

The first concerns the growth of the training path, looking at the quality of the teaching staff which last year numbered 139 professors and 1137 students; followed by the search for new communication strategies to spread the Pul's offer and finally the development of a three-year plan that includes the identification of possible donors/contributors in Italy and abroad.

"Soul" is also the word that Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, emphasized in his speech, declining together with wonder, creativity and freedom of thought. "The university," he stated, "is a space in which the individual finds the conditions to become the protagonist of his own history, an extraordinary interweaving of dialogue." The cardinal also did not fail to call for a change in the university, speaking of courage and audacity which are the right ingredients to dare and not lose the ability to be "the salt of the earth and the light of the world." "The university is a laboratory of dialogue also with Christ and needs interlocutors, inspired teachers and credible witnesses."

The prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education then wanted to thank Giacomo Poretti, a comic actor and successful protagonist of several films made by the trio Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, for the beautiful and intense reflection on the soul that he gave to attentive students and teachers interested in the novelty of a comedian who engages in a sort of Lectio Magistralis. Poretti drew from his repertoire, summarizing parts of a 2018 show entitled Fare l’anima. And he also drew from his private life, talking about the birth of his son Emanuele, about the visit to the hospital by Don Bruno, the priest who had married him. That phrase thrown out there after playing with the little newborn was disconcerting: «well, you have made a body, now you have to make the soul».

But how is the soul made? What is it? Where is it? When is it born? These are «childish questions» said Don Davide Milani, official of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, introducing Giacomo Poretti. Questions that each of us has asked ourselves in life and to which the actor obviously does not offer an answer, his merit is to show the strength or rather the weakness of this word.

A word, he said, that has settled in his heart, generating a slight annoyance but also anxiety. "It made me tender," he explained, "and it seemed to me that it had the painful lament of abandonment, that I had never deigned to sympathize with it, to listen to it. I thought about the solitude of words, perhaps a word must be frequented, it needs care, if they are not spoken, words are forgotten and disappear. Dictionaries can then be the cemetery of words, think of terms such as meekness, villeggiatura, paltò, infinito, speme and indeed anima".

For Poretti, today's man seeks reassurance in what he sees, in technology for example, in the algorithm that chooses for us, in big data but with the soul we must deal. "Priests can turn your life upside down", nothing more true, as it is true - continued the actor - that the choice to dedicate himself to the priesthood makes one think. For him, priests are "stubborn men" who have not given in to the charm of influencers, "who have the nerve to wake up every morning and dress in black, these poor devils try to tattoo something precious and mysterious in our hearts". Precious and mysterious like the soul.

Osservatore Romano

ITALIAN

PHILIPPINES - RECOLLECTION FOR GRADUATING

  CTGP Facilitates Recollection

Recollection for graduating students & Faculty  for graduating senior high school and for the Faculty members of Allen National High School, Catarman, Samar

 Some 350 graduating senior high school of Allen National High School, Catarman Samar, Philippines had their first Recollection a week before graduation exercises. This was facilitated by Dr. Belén L. Tangco,OP,  National President of the Catholic Teachers’ Guild of the Philippines ( CTGP), Ms. Imelda Emoylan, OP and Bro. Melencio Garcia, OP on June 26, 2023.  The academic staff / Faculty had their recollection in the afternoon with Belén Tangco as resource speaker, sharing best  experiences in teaching.

 Ms. EMOYLAN shared her best experiences in catechetical classes in basic education, and Bro. Melencio served as main Facilitator, being Assistant Promoter of vocations and Pastoral Director of UST Central Seminary.

 More recollections have been scheduled as per request of the Principals of the Junior and Senior High School.

PHILIPPINES - WEBINAR

 

WEBINAR CTGP – Philippines – 27th August 2022 

Distinguished colleagues and friends, thank you for the invitation and congratulations on your generous work to the university and the association.

The Catholic Teachers' Guild of the Philippines, through the generous commitment of its leaders and members, has always been a great resource for UMEC-WUCT.

I would like to thank, also on behalf of the Ecclesiastical Assistant, Archbishop Dollmann, and President Bourdeaud'hui, especially the President, Professor Belen Tangco, with whom I have had the good opportunity to collaborative for many years.

In the face of a rapidly changing world that confronts us with new and unpredictable situations: pandemics, wars, major migrations, new poverty, the crisis of democracies and values, the crisis of families, etc., our school and university institutions put much therefore in finding the most appropriate contents and strategies to respond adequately to the many educational challenges. In fact, new visions, new paths, and appropriate pathways are needed, especially to help the most fragile and guarantee the full quality of education for all. The world needs values and quality more than quantity.

Education cannot stop at the occasional and contingent but must have horizons open to the future and transcendence.

The papal project of the Global Compact on Education gives us appropriate indications to give vitality to the educational path, to create educational alliances suitable to foster the integral education of each person,

Our young generation, right from early childhood, are placed in new environments and among novel communication tools, which they must learn to master to avoid being over-whelmed and suffocated by the enormous flow of frequent communication hurricanes.

Communicating, as we well know, means entering relationships, knowing how to listen, knowing how to reflect, knowing how to discern, knowing how to dialogue. It is, therefore, appropriate to improve the quality of communication, so that it might lead to good, every form of communication brings out the good,  beautiful and  true outcomes.

For this to happen, it is necessary to review and improve the quality of teacher training and stimulate the ways of educating.

The UMEC-WUCT can and must be a space for growth and the meeting place where everyone’s ideas bear fruit.

Cordial greetings and best wishes to all.

  Giovanni Perrone, Secretary General

PHILPPINES WEBINAR - Greetings SG - it-en-es

SEAMLESS TEACHING

    INTEGRATIVE PERFORMANCE

FACILITATING STUDENT

 

CATHOLIC EDUCATION . IDENTITY AND CHALLENGES

 -en  - it – fr – es - de-

The Congregation for Catholic Education releases a new “Instruction” for Catholic educational institutions focusing on the identity of Catholic schools and on current challenges.

-         By Isabella Piro

 The underlying principle of the new “Instruction” issued by the Congregation for Catholic Education is that educating is a passion that is always renewed. The document released today by the Congregation is entitled "The Identity of Catholic Schools for a Culture of Dialogue". It is a concise and practical tool based on two motivations: "the need for a clearer awareness and consistency of the Catholic identity of the Church's educational institutions throughout the world," and the prevention of "conflicts and divisions in the essential sector of education". The document falls within the goals of the Global Compact on Educational, desired by Pope Francis, so that the Church may remain strong and united in the field of education, and thus carry out its evangelizing mission and contribute to the construction of a more fraternal world.

The Church is mother and teacher

In particular, the Instruction highlights that the Church is "mother and teacher": its educational action, therefore, is not "philanthropic work", but an essential part of its mission, based on fundamental principles, first and foremost the universal right to education. The other principles that are developed are: the responsibility of everyone - first of all of the parents, who have the right to make educational choices for their children in full freedom and according to conscience, and of the State which has the duty to make different educational options available within the framework of the law – and within these, the Church’s basic principle for education in which evangelization and integral human promotion are intertwined. Also considered is the formation of teachers, so that they may be witnesses of Christ; collaboration between parents and teachers and between Catholic and non-Catholic schools; the concept of Catholic schools as "communities" permeated by the evangelical spirit of freedom and charity, thus providing formation and promoting solidarity. In a multicultural world, we are also reminded of "a positive and prudent sex education," a not insignificant element that students must receive as they grow up.

The culture of care

Catholic schools, the document highlights, also have the task of educating for a "culture of care," in order to convey those values based on the recognition of the dignity of every person, community, language, ethnicity, religion, peoples, and all the fundamental rights that derive from it. A culture of care is precious "compass" for society, forming people dedicated to listening, constructive dialogue and mutual understanding.

In constant dialogue with the community

In constant dialogue with the entire community, Catholic educational institutions must not be a closed model, in which there is no room for those who are not "totally" Catholic. Warning against this attitude, the Instruction recalls the model of an "outgoing Church": "We must not lose the missionary impulse to close ourselves in an island - the document reads - and at the same time we need the courage to witness to a Catholic "culture" that is universal, cultivating a healthy awareness of our own Christian identity".

Clear qualifications and legislation

Another focal point of the document is the need for clarity of competencies and legislation: it can happen, in fact, that the State imposes on Catholic public institutions "behaviors that are not in keeping" with the doctrinal and disciplinary credibility of the Church, or choices that are in contrast with religious freedom and with the very Catholic identity of a school. In such cases, it is recommended that "reasonable action be taken to defend the rights of Catholics and their schools, both through dialogue with state authorities and through recourse to the competent courts."

To educate is always an act of hope

The Instruction concludes by emphasizing that Catholic schools "constitute a very valid contribution to the evangelization of culture, even in countries and cities where an adverse situation stimulates the use of creativity to find adequate paths," because, as Pope Francis says, "to educate is always an act of hope."

 

Vatican News  - en  - it – fr – es - de

Testo in lingua italiana

Traduzione in lingua francese

Traduzione in lingua inglese

Traduzione in lingua spagnola

Traduzione in lingua portoghese

 

 

 

 

EDUCATION A GLANCE 2021

OECD Indicators

Education at a Glance is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances and performance of education systems across OECD countries and a number of partner economies. 

More than 100 charts and tables in this publication – as well as links to much more available on the educational database – provide key information on the output of educational institutions; the impact of learning across countries; access, participation and progression in education; the financial resources invested in education; and teachers, the learning environment and the organisation of schools. 

The 2021 edition includes a focus on equity, investigating how progress through education and the associated learning and labour market outcomes are impacted by dimensions such as gender, socio-economic status, country of birth and regional location.

 A specific chapter is dedicated to Target 4.5 of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 on equity in education, providing an assessment of where OECD and partner countries stand in providing equal access to quality education at all levels. 

Two new indicators on the mechanisms and formulas used to allocate public funding to schools and on teacher attrition rate complement this year's edition.

Also available in: German, French

EDUCATION A GLANGE

PHILIPPINES - A LANGUAGE OF LOVE AND MERCY

 

RD CONGO - LA REPRISE DE L'ENSEIGNEMENT UNIVERSITAIRE

 

 

RDC: Les établissements supérieurs et universitaires du Grand Katanga prêts à reprendre les cours le 10 août 

Au cours d'une réunion tenue ce mercredi 29 juillet 2020, au building administratif de l'Université de Lubumbashi, les responsables des universités du Likasi, Kolwezi, Lomami, Tanganyika et Lubumbashi se sont dits prêts à reprendre les enseignements le 10 août prochain.

Selon le professeur Emmanuel Banywesize, secrétaire de cette conférence, les recteurs des universités et directeurs généraux des instituts supérieurs ont analysé les modalités contenues dans la note circulaire du ministre de l'Enseignement Supérieur et Universitaire (ESU).

« Chaque établissement a rendu compte de ce qui se fait et de ce qui doit se faire avant la reprise des cours. Nous invitons tous les étudiants qui seront sensibilisés dans les travaux d'assainissement pour qu'ils puissent s'impliquer davantage pour sensibiliser les autres au fait que le chef de l'État a pris cette mesure pour leur permettre de finir l'année académique. Par conséquent, il faudrait qu'ils prennent toutes les mesures barrières possibles à l'entrée des auditoires de telle sorte qu'il n y ait pas de contaminations », a-t-il expliqué.

La spoliation des patrimoines des institutions universitaires était le second point à l'ordre du jour dans cette rencontre. D'après la même source, l'accent était mis sur les cas de l'institution supérieur des statistiques, de l'ISTM et ISTA de Lubumbashi.

Les conférenciers se sont entendus pour rencontrer le gouverneur de la province du Haut-Katanga pour lui faire part de decisions prises en rapport avec ces dossiers de spoliations et demander son accompagnement.

Cette réunion a réuni les responsables de l'ISTM/Lubumbashi, ISP, ISC, ISES, ISTA, ISAM de Lubumbashi, de l'Université Nouveaux Horizons, de l'ECOPO et de l'institution supérieur informatique Salama. C'est le recteur de l'UNILU qui a présidé cette conférence des chefs d'établissement du Grand Katanga.

Patient Lukusa depuis Lubumbashi

WEBINAR : TO EDUCATE IN PANDEMIC TIME, TO COMPARE EXPERIENCES, WHAT AFTER CORONA? - Invitation and registration

WEBINAR INVITATION

"To educate in pandemic time,  to compare experiences, 

what after corona ?? »

Friday    12 june 2020  *  17 h – 19 h  ( Roma)

 This UMEC-WUCT webinar aims to reflect and promote an exchange of experiences and expertise on the problems of education and teaching in the face of the multiple crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and on the prospects at global and local levels.

Language : english

·       Guy Bourdeaud’hui,  UMEC-WUCT President  -   Introduction

·        John Lydon, professor  from St Mary's University Twickenham/University of Notre Dame - UK

·       John James, associate professor from St Louis University  - USA

·        Mary Lappin, Lecturer from Glasgow University - UK

·       Richard Pazcouguin, professor from  St Tomas University - Philippines

·       Adrian Podar, professor from Liceul Teoretic National, Bucuresti -  Romania

·        Vincent Dollmann, Archbishop of Cambrai,  Ecclesiastic Assistant -  Conclusions

Before the webinar, the necessary login information (via Zoom) will be sent .

– Registration form–

Possibly by 10 June

Mail : Umec.wuct@gmail.com

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfDDCTY-kF1cK0myqTo0kRx6ee2W-1OU_gJpKG1VJLTX-za3Q/viewform