Welcome to the October 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 universities shine once more in THE 2012 rankings |
| Fudan University hosts MDG Health Summer School |
| Deans & Directors of Graduate Studies helping to move Researcher Engagement activities forward |
| Educational Innovation Conference at Tecnológico de Monterrey |
| New U21 Manager for Lund University |
| U21 Managers’ Meeting taking place in Connecticut |
| Events coming up around the network |
| Any more news?! |
U21 universities shine once more in THE 2012 rankings
The THE World University Rankings, announced last week, have once more confirmed Universitas 21’s reputation for being a network of truly world-class universities. 16 U21 members were listed among the top 200 universities in the world, with all but three making it into the top 400 – an excellent showing by U21’s members and proof, if it were needed, that as a network we certainly pack a punch on the world stage!
The full U21 press release can be seen at www.universitas21.com/link/2012THERankings
Fudan University hosts Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Health Summer School
One of the U21 Health Sciences Group’s objectives is to encourage U21 universities to incorporate the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) into curricular or extra-curricular activities. Professor Xu Qian from Fudan University was inspired to launch the MDG summer school after she attended U21 Health Sciences Group (HSG) meetings and got involved in the U21 UNMDG initiative. Fudan University decided to launch this summer school in 2010 and now, in its third year, has had huge success with students from Hong Kong, Auckland and Nottingham joining their Fudanese peers. The HSG is now looking to extend this idea into a broader Health Sciences Summer School – watch this space!
www.universitas21.com/link/healthsciences
http://sph.fudan.edu.cn/rh/bc.asp?ArticleID=1096
Deans & Directors of Graduate Studies helping to move Researcher Engagement activities forward
In early September the Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies (DDoGS) met by teleconference to help advance initiatives and plan for upcoming activities. The group discussed the Global Research Ethics and Integrity Module (GREIM) and consulted on plans for the next Graduate Research Conference to be hosted by University College Dublin in June 2013 (details to be announced shortly). The group also looked at issues surrounding the U21 Joint PhD Programme and a new initiative to increase Graduate Researcher mobility. A new activity was also brought to the table by members in Australia, who are keen to develop a U21 3 Minute Thesis competition (3MT) and we will be looking into this in the coming months.
The group will next meet face-to-face at the University of British Columbia from 6 to 7 May 2013. In the meantime, Dr Gemma Marakas (g.marakas@bham.ac.uk) in the U21 Secretariat can be contacted concerning any of their activities, or log on to www.universitas21.com/link/DDOGS or www.universitas21.com/link/RE
Educational Innovation Conference at Tecnológico de Monterrey
Tecnológico de Monterrey is pleased to invite U21 delegates to its 7th Annual Conference in Educational Innovation. The event will take place at the university’s Monterrey Campus, Mexico from 5 to 7 December 2012.
The main topics to be addressed will be Global trends in educational Innovation; Improvements in teaching strategies; Projects and sustainable development across the curriculum; and Educational technology, and will include lectures from Michael Horn (Innosight Institute), Conrad Wolfram (Wolfram Research), Suzie Boss (Buck Institute for Education Edutopia) and Diego Leal Fonseca (Ministry of Education - Colombia). There will also be workshops entitled Connectivism, a new form of learning in a digital era; Stop Teaching Calculating, Start Teaching Math; and Thinking through projects, alongside the chance to exchange experiences and examples of best practice in this field.
The registration fee will be waived for members of U21 universities and colleagues at ITESM would also be keen to hear from anyone who might like to join particular sessions via video conference if they are unable to attend in person.
For more information contact Patricia Montano (pmontano@itesm.mx) or visit http://sitios.itesm.mx/cite/
New U21 Manager for Lund University
We are pleased to welcome Susanne Kristensson as the new U21 Manager for Lund University. Ms Kristensson has recently been appointed University Director and Head of Administration at Lund, officially taking over from Marianne Granfelt who left the university in March and who also served as U21 Manager. We are very grateful to Margareta Nordstrand, Director of External Relations at Lund, who has been standing in as Lund’s U21 Manager for the last six months, seeing through the very successful AGM in May. We will be sorry to see her leave the Managers’ group, but look forward to working with Susanne in the years ahead.
U21 Managers’ Meeting taking place in Connecticut
U21 Managers from across the network will be gathering at the University of Connecticut later in the month for a two-day meeting to move the network’s programme of activity forward. The U21 Managers are the key conduit between the Presidents/Vice Chancellors and the rest of the network and are responsible for overseeing activity around the network as well as engaging members of their own universities in U21 activity. At this meeting, Managers will be receiving reports on our three main clusters of activity (Student Experience, Educational Innovation and Researcher Development), as well as reviewing the nominations for the 2013 U21 Awards and considering the ways in which the network can move forwards in a number of areas, for discussion by Presidents at the 2013 AGM. They will also hear from Professor Richard Wilson of UConn’s Human Rights Institute on Building an Interdisciplinary Human Rights Program in the Humanities and Social Sciences in advance of UConn’s hosting of the U21 Summer School in 2013 on Human Rights.
Do you know who the U21 Manager for your university is?! Check your university’s page on the U21 website to find out!
Events coming up around the network
Some dates for your diaries…
08 Nov - 09 Nov 2012, Teaching & Learning Conference, National University of Singapore
03 Dec - 05 Dec 2012, FINE events at AARE Sydney, Australia
04 Dec - 06 Dec 2012, Early Career Researcher Workshop: Ecological Urban Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
10 Dec - 11 Dec 2012, Workshop: Dealing with Research Misconduct, University of Hong Kong
07 Jul - 19 Jul 2013, U21 Summer School, University of Connecticut, USA
08 Jul - 12 Jul 2013, Undergraduate Research Conference, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Keep up-to-date with all U21 events at www.universitas21.com/event
Any more news?!
The next edition of The Newsletter is due out in early November. If you have any network news, events, photos or reports from U21 activity, fellowships or scholarships, we would be pleased to receive them as contributions for this publication. The copy deadline is Wednesday 24 October and suggestions should be sent to Clare Noakes (c.e.noakes@bham.ac.uk) in the U21 Secretariat.