miércoles, 2 de febrero de 2011
1st General Assembly
- We will review the latest developments regarding our requests.
- We will inform about what is taking place right now
- We will debate what kind of future we want.
See you in the "La Rimaia" educational/alternative space (Ronda Sant Pau, 12) on saturday the 12th, 10am in the morning!
viernes, 10 de diciembre de 2010
Next meeting with DGU: everyone is invited
Although only four doctoral students will participate in the meeting, all the pre-docs of Catalunya will concentrate on 13 December from 16:30 to 17:30 h at the gates of the DGU (Via Laietana, 33), to make our voices heard just as the beginning of the meeting takes place.
In order to contextualize this next meeting, the compromises that were reached in the previous session (November 4), are:
* The DGU would provide calculations of the average cost of a graduate student for college, taking into account all types of pre-docs (PhD in science, humanities, from centers outside the university , etc.).
* The DGU would answer about the possibility of consulting the budget reports and economic and social impact reports that preceed the price decree.
* The DGU would expose to the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia (which was scheduled to meet during this time between meetings with doctoral students) the pre-doc's request to modify the decree in effect by reviewing the increase in enrollment fees and instead applying the same fee as the previous year plus the corresponding increase according to the limits established by the General Conference of University Policy (1.5% -5.5%).
From all this, today doctoral students have access to the costs per pre-doc calculated by the DGU in collaboration with (available here).
Regarding the consult of the reports accompanying the decree by the pre-doc representatives, chances are they can not be consulted before the meeting takes place, as the DGU has granted the first appointment for consultation on 14 December (one day after the meeting.)
As things are, the pre-docs will attend the meeting:
* With some dubious calculations of the annual per thesis for the universities that have been prepared today and not when the decree establishing public prices was being prepared.
* With a disturbing question: If the calculations of the costs of a doctorate have been developed to date, on what is based this setting of annual registration to 400 euros ?
* Without the chance of consulting the budget reports and economic and social impact reports of Decree 98/2010.
* With the suspicion of a negative response by the Interuniversity Council of Catalonia as the possibility to modify the decree in effect.
Even so, we will attend the meeting, since by all means at our disposal, we will continue to denounce the unlawful and unjustified increase in doctoral tuition fees that has taken place this year, the situation of unfairness compared to other regions of Spain and to other universities. We will continue to denounce, in short, the most precarious situation to which this decree has brought us: the straw that finally breaks the camel.
miércoles, 24 de noviembre de 2010
Sensitizing the Doctors
The pre-docs have shared their presentation on THIS LINK and encourage doctoral students in all schools to use it to initiate discussions in their environments. The research population at all levels should discuss and take positions in order to make possible any serious progress in the many aspects of research that require improvement. Otherwise, the investment that society does in research not only will remain weak, but will become useless and eventually disappear.
Diagonal Campus Demonstrations
The local assembly of doctoral candidates of local mobilization calls Diagonal Campus stud next Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 November.
Collecting of signatures will be made, as well as distribution of leaflets, while there will be also symbollically be offered orange juice to anyone approaching, so they can get to know about the situation and collect voluntary financial contributions to the rates with a bank.
Dates and locations are:
Wednesday 25/11: Exit the metro station Palau Reial from 8:00 to 10:30 h.
Thursday 26/11: front of the building of the campus dining halls Diagonal from 13:00 to 15:00
Everyone is welcome.
To assist with the organization: HERE
Wednesday November 24 Assembly
The predoctoral collective new assembly agreed for a new assembly on next Wednesday 24/11 in class B1 of the historical building of the UB at Universitat square, at 19:00 h, with the following provisional agenda:
Agenda
1. Summary of the current situation regarding the registration
- Ombudsman
- Catalan universities
- Unions (CCOO)
- Meeting with DGU and universities
2. Next Steps
- External contacts
- Appearance in the media (debates, etc.)
- Demonstrations:
- Concentrations
- Actions on college campuses
- Other suggestions?
3. Allocation of tasks to working groups.
miércoles, 20 de octubre de 2010
Protest gathering Hospital de St. Pau
In order to reinforce the manifest, there will be a protest gathering from 12h to 13h which will be timed with the presence of Mr. Huguet. The assisting people are asked to wear orange clothing (the colour represents the precarious scientist). The plan is to read out loud the manifest and hand a copy to Mr. Huguet. Furthermore, a basket with oranges and a juice squeezer will be given to the Minister as representation of the current situation of the PhD students working as researchers.
Everybody willing to attend is invited to participate, preferably wearing orange clothing.
Please check back for updated time before going there.
lunes, 18 de octubre de 2010
Informative Meeting Parc Científic
Also, there is another meeting called for tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1pm at Aula 22 of the Faculty of Biology, UB.
We hope to see you all there!
jueves, 14 de octubre de 2010
The UPF letter sent
A hundred and twenty seven members of the Biomedicine Doctorate Programme at UPF have adhered to the text, representing only one of the multiple research centers with an active collective opposing the rise of thesis supervision fees and other problems of predoctoral research at Catalonia.
This blog will follow closely the effects of this UPF text, which is being used as a model at many other centers and the contents of which will predictably be included in any collective complaint of predoctoral researchers as a whole.
D-Recerca gets explanations from DIUE
This post's highlight goes to a meeting between a representation of D-Recerca and the Generalitat de Catalunya Department for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise (DIUE) Director General, Josep Rives.
About the rise of the thesis supervision fees, the meeting report states:
The reason given to explain this rise of 300% in doctorate fees is the adaptation to the European Higher Education Area. Since this year is the first in which the Bologna Accord is implemented in studies from the first course, they have wanted to update the third degree as well. They state that this price of 400€ is to cover expenses of the supervision service and bibliographical fonts access. We complained about the supervision service being symbolic in all cases and hence it is not justifiable to charge so much money giving nothing in exchange*. We were told then that we would have to address the vice-chancellery for research at each university and demand there the services corresponding to the degree, like a better offer of teachings and advisory services.
But yes, students registered for PhD. programmes previous to the new plan will be charged just the previous fees.
About what is paid in each programme, it seems that students in the DEA pathway are in a better position, although there's some contradictory information running around about this point. Any readers registered for a DEA programme and being charged the 400€ fee are welcome to report that in the comments section.
* A comment in the Spanish version reveals yet another contradiction in the explanation of the fee as covering bibliographical access and the actual reduction of bibliographical access for Spanish universities by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology in purchasing a cheaper license for ISI Web of Knowledge this year.
miércoles, 13 de octubre de 2010
Spreading the word with Humour
Predoctoral researchers at the Barcelona Science Park have decided to express their disagreement with the increase of thesis supervision fees to 400€ with a parody motivational poster.
This icon of the situtation is reproduced here for the readers to do whatever they consider with it. Have you seen any other similar posters? Have you made any you want to share? You can send it to this blog's feedback e-mail:
The case at UPC
Next there is a translation of the answer letter they got:
Dear Jordi,
In reference to your letter about the increase in the thesis supervision fee, we agree in that the increase of the fee has been high. In front of this fact, I must tell you that the Social Council of the UPC approved for the academic year 2010-2011 a fee of 400 euros in concept of thesis supervision, defense and evaluation altogether. At other universities the interpetation was to apply 400 euros for each one of these concepts, so anyone registering only for thesis defense and evaluation will be charged another 400 euros. This is not true for UPC.
We thank you for your letter. Xavier Gil will complain to Generalitat both about the increase in the fee and the fact that FPU or FPI fellows have to pay while UPC, FI or contracted by UPC don't.
Kind regards,
Ana Pérez Neira
Vre. Adj. investigación
Xavier Gil
Vre. Política Científica
Besides, it is sold as something good that UPC has not pushed into the domains of the dubious in the application of the decree that lifts the fees, making some pay double of what already seems a senseless amount. It is said that other universities have done so. It seems logical to wonder which are those universities that don't show even the scarce solidarity with predoctoral researchers that the social council of UPC has displayed. If any reader of this blog knows which are they, communicating it in the comments will be welcome.
The vice-chancellor for Scientific Policies at UPC will carry the complaint of the predoctoral researchers to the Generalitat. There's no doubt that the eyes of the world will be put on that complaint and its consequences. This blog will inform on any news about this matter.