I just returned from the Univest 08 conference: The student as the axis of change in the university, which was held on June 2-3 in Girona, Spain. There were excellent presentations and discussions, for me aided considerably by simultaneous translation from Spanish or Catalan into English.
I thought that it worked very well to have students respond to the major presentations. It’s also hard to think of a more pleasant place to hold a conference than Girona, with outstanding restaurants, a beautiful old city, large parks, rivers, and great museums.
One motivation for the conference was the European Convergence Process, a scheme to make Europe competitive with the United States in tertiary education. Beginning in 2010, more than 40 European countries will participate in the European Space for Higher Education, in which students, professors, and researchers will be able to move about without borders.
The aim of the process, which began in 1999 in Bologna is to produce a higher-quality, more homogeneous system, which is also more competitive in its teaching methods. A hope is that it will help build a society based on European knowledge, manifesting in culture and education the convergence that is already underway in the political and economic arenas.
The conference brought together teachers, students, administrators, and people from government and industry around topics, such as:
- Student-centered instructional planning
- Learner self-regulation
- Student supervision and tuition
- Student participation in university life
- Experiences outside the classroom
My own talk was on student-centered learning, particularly on helping students by getting them to focus not on themselves, but instead on their communities.
June 9, 2008 at 11:33 pm
I find the ‘Student-Centered University’ a very powerful vision. I enjoyed the slides!
June 10, 2008 at 3:17 am
[...] 10, 2008 at 3:17 am (Spain, culture, nature) Before going to the conference in Girona on the future of the university, we spent a few days in Garrotxa and Colsacabra, in the Pyrenees (Pireneus in Catalan). Here are [...]
August 15, 2008 at 8:38 am
[...] level. it’s a stark contrast to the idea of student service discussed at the conference on The student as the axis of change in the university, or Dewey’s idea of The school as social center. As we continue on the path to a greater [...]