Posts filed under 'Europe'
Today, the closing event of Minister Hahn’s dialogue on science and research took place.
There are two points that I take from that event
- In order to reach the “3% target” (as outlined in the Lisbon and Barcelona objectives), governmental and public institutions can further stimulate research by rethinking procurement processes. The volume of these processes in Austria is estimated at 40 Billion EUR, about 10% of that could be earmarked with innovation. I.e., the idea is that public agencies and the government foster innovation by asking tenderers to develop new/innovative solutions that require some amount of research and have a good leverage (for all of us). Examples mentioned (mainly with respect to environmental themes) include the British government that has recently advertised a call for low carbon vehicles in the U.K. (volume: 50 Mio. Pounds).
My estimation: this is an excellent idea. Mainly because it will support a shift in mindset, i.e., everyone will be thinking in terms of innovation and research. It needs however, IMHO, a substantial critical mass and adds extra complexity.
- Promotion of people in fundamental research. The idea here is to develop a programm following the COMET-schema (K2-K1-K-Projekt) in terms of excellence targeted at supporting people’s careers. Details are still missing, typically one would have a look at the science funds existing funding schemes (which could simply be “boosted” rather than developing new programmes). Press article at http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=3397370.
June 30th, 2008
We had a follow-up discussion with a truly interesting and unique organisation: Bauhaus Luftfahrt, an association serving as a centre for creativity and whose purpose is to be both visionary and application-driven (with a long-term perspective).
The founding members include the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology (STMWIVT), EADS, Liebherr-Aerospace, and MTU Aero Engines.
April 30th, 2008
In addition to the Paris Lodron University (founded 1622), the Mozarteum – University of Music, Theatre and Visual Arts (founded in 1841), the (medical) Paracelsus University (founded in 2002), Salzburg now has a fourth University: the private business University in Seekirchen, see http://www.my-campus-seekirchen.com/ (founded 2008).
The accreditation was done by the Austrian “Akkreditierungsrat”. At their site, you can find a list of all private universities in Austria, see http://www.akkreditierungsrat.at/cont/en/privatuni.aspx, 12 at the moment. The respective laws for accreditation have been established in 1999. This demonstrates that the sector of private universities in Austria is a “young one”.
Universities have almost a thousand years of tradition: Bologna was founded in 1088. In an edited book on “The Future of the University”, Maria Kelo argues that the Roman Catholic Church, the Icelandic Parliament and Universities are amongst the oldest institutions still “in operation. This would be an indication that universities are well suited for changes and adaptation (otherwise they could not be in existence any more).
April 21st, 2008
A new study programme for a doctoral degree between the Technical University of Timisoara, Fachhochschule Salzburg and Salzburg Research has been established. The idea is to have a three year ECTS conformant PhD curriculum that not only guarantees knowledge about the scientific methods in your respective domain but also know-know about industrial innovation processes, the community, etc. The initiation of the programme was driven by needs from industry – and by Prof. Ulrich Hofmann.
The initial summer school and the curriculum development have been financially supported by Forschung Austria.
The press release can be found here.
April 14th, 2008
… a truly inspiring experience: I happened to be invited to visit a “monastery on Europe”, the Europakloster in Aich. See http://www.europakloster.com/. Pater Johannes Pausch introduced us to the idea and background of this Benedictine Monastery (and also some of the monastery’s products including cordial spirits 
). Also, the monastery is providing mediation services concerning ethics, rules, etc. with respect to Europe.
April 7th, 2008
… a huge national event with about 250 participants, organised by FFG. I happened to participate in the panel on “Joint Programming – Synergien nationaler und internationaler F&E Aktivitäten” coordinated by Michael Binder (FFG) with Christian Seiser (Ministry of science and research), Michael Koch from Technikon, and myself.
The main messages
- Seiser argued that research programmes in future need to be open not only to national participants but to all member states; also he argued, we need to develop a frontrunner strategy
- personally, I argued that the European Union is not to be seen as yet another funding agency but that we need to develop a European dimension in the projects. For Austria, this could be a geographical focus to e.g. central European and Balkan states; it could be a thematical focus on tourism; it could be a focus on the Alps and sustainable tourism/landscape usage, etc.
- Michael Koch argued for more flexibility of funding schemes and that excellent projects should be funded in any case (even if there was not enough money foreseen).
All argued towards less administration and also more commonalities between national programmes, European programmes, etc.
And: “Austrian Champions in European Research” was a tribute to the 62 coordinators from Austria that were successful in the first call of FP7. Amongst them was Sebastian Schaffert and the KIWI project from Salzburg Research, deadling with knowledge in a wiki.
April 3rd, 2008
On March 11, 2005, the European Charter for Researchers has been signed. Three years later, doktorat.at has asked some people about their experiences and/if something has changed.
See http://doktorat.at/Neuigkeiten/3_Jahre_Charta_fuer_Forscher_-_Die_Bilanz.html
- The science fund, for instance, changed its age limits from biological limits to academic limits, i.e., instead of “not older than 35″ to “PhD plus 10 years of experience”
- Another important point is a clear structure for (efficient) support of PhD students. I think the ReMeSe Seminar fits into this category.
- Finally, the commission thinks about a “label” for the Charter. An excellent idea!
March 18th, 2008
… a nice brochure (“Green paper 04-04-2007″) on new perspectives of the European Research area. The features of ERA include
- an adequate flow of competent researchers
- world-class research infrastructures
- excellent research institutions
- effective knowledge-sharing
- well-coordinated research programmes and priorities
- a wide opening of the European Research Area into the world
An electronic version in English of the green paper is available here.
December 13th, 2007
A visit to the No. 1 technical university of Romania: UPT, the “Politehnica”, i.e., technical university of Timisoara (in Western Romania). Some 14000 students (with some 30%+ female students!!!), excellent staff and apparently 35% external funding (I have been told by Rector Prof. Robu). Very impressive figures, indeed.
October 28th, 2007
… are an “evergreen” type of discussion. Universities do not want to give away the right of awarding PhDs. On the other hand, there is a significant number of excellent master students at the level of the “polytechnic universities” (Fachhochschulen) that would well qualify for a PhD programme.
In Sweden, they created a work around with the so-called “Licenciate” (according to wikipedia, there are several other countries with such a mechanism). The licentiate is somewhat between master and PhD, so to say on the way towards the PhD.
In a XING user-group I came across a group that provides links to related sites, e.g. promotion-fh.de or thesis.de.
September 18th, 2007
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