| Training News April '03 |
|
EDUCATION
1. NEW Education Resource for Aquaculture – WWW.PISCESTT.COM
2. AquaTT hold information event in Brussels
3. AQUA-TNET – New Publication on Diploma Supplement
4. NEW EUROPEAN COMMISSION WEBSITE ON GENERAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING = PLOTEUS.NET
5. The European Commission has published a Communication on the role of universities in creating a ‘Europe of knowledge’
6. European Commission hold conference on Valorisation of Vocational Training
RESEARCH
1. New thematic service on 'coordination of research activities' launched on CORDIS
PROJECT COLLABORATION
1. 6th FP Science and society - call for expressions of interest
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. First PROFET workshop - trans-national workshop on the research needs of the European fish farming sector, Billund, Denmark 26-27 April 2003
2. Enhancing technology transfer: experiences from the EU and the US, Vienna, Austria 23-25 April 2003
3. Early identification of skill needs in Europe, Thessaloniki, Greece 22-23 May 2003
OTHER
1. Support sought for Educational Species lifecycle posters
EDUCATION
1. NEW Education Resource – PISCESTT
PISCESTT is the new free website for European Education and Training in Aquaculture.
David Murphy, Manager of AquaTT explains the new PISCESTT website.
“The website was created because there was a need to concentrate all the information and resources available in European Aquaculture Education in one place. As the European Education Area is created there will be many changes which will affect the structure and curriculum of Aquaculture courses. The way forward is by means of transparency and more collaboration and that is the intention of PISCESTT. Work on transparency and collaboration began long before PISCESTT in the SOCRATES Thematic network for Aquaculture Education – Aqua-TNET who originally created the Tertiary Education database. In PISCES it is hoped to keep this up to date and build upon it by adding short training and vocational courses and allowing people to submit/update European courses and information online.
PISCES is a simple easy to use resource for all involved in Training in Aquaculture. It has just been launched but the hope is that it will be built upon in order to make it a powerful tool for the industry. All stakeholders are encouraged to contribute in order to make the site complete and comprehensive. The site has been built with the facility for submitting and translating pages into any language.
Highlights include;
FREE REGISTRATIONList your University, Courses, Vocational Systems, Opinions, and Vacancies.
EDUCATION DATABASE
Country Overviews– Overviews of 15 countries educational systems from primary to doctorate
Searchable Database– Database listing university, vocational and short training courses in aquaculture.
University Listings – Details on European Universities; expertise, courses, contact details, links to websites
Latest Developments –Latest developments in EU education and training. The new 3+2 degree system, Diploma Supplement,
Vocational Courses – Details of vocational courses in Europe, eligibility, curriculum, cost
Short Training Courses – View the latest training courses in Europe; timing, cost, eligibility, opportunities for funding
ALSO AVAILABLE
Discussion Forum– Discuss the latest issues in Education & Training
Hot Topics: Straightforward explanations of consumer issues in Aquaculture
Career Profiles: Career & occupational profiles describing various jobs in aquaculture
Fun Section– Play the Seahorse Quiz, Salmon & Ladders, download Salmon Wallpaper for your desktop. Free downloads.
Virtual Tours: Pictures and descriptions showing the different stages on several types of farm
Download Section – Download training materials; Life cycle posters, maps, White papers on Education and Training, Photos etc.
COMING SOON ON PISCESTT
Career Posters – Posters promoting working in aquaculture
Jobs and placements Section – Post MSc & PhD positions, student placements + Job Vacancies
Back to top
2. AquaTT holds information event in Brussels
On January 21st 2003, AquaTT – The European Network for Training and Technology Transfer in aquaculture – held an information meeting to present its European activities and its ambitions to consolidate and expand these beyond Europe.
The audience of 20-25 people included Board members and staff of AquaTT, representatives of the European Commission DG Fish and other Directorates, representatives of EAS, FEAP, the Universityof Gentand others. The Chairman of AquaTT, Gavin Burnell, gave a presentation of the history and achievements of the network, from its formation in 1992 under the EU COMETT programme as the University Enterprise Training Partnership (UETP) for the European aquaculture industry to present day undertakings. He emphasised its proven strengths, in placements and exchanges and in short training courses.
AquaTT Manager, David Murphy outlined the present projects, including the ‘EduTour’ theme-based short training/work placements, developed under the EU Leonardo Da Vinci programme, the AquaLabs short training courses, the development of secondary level education materials for students in Italy and the development of Interactive training materials, such as the Basic Techniques in Fish Haematology CD-Rom. He also explained the innovative online services of AquaTT, notably through the PISCES project and the AQUA-TNET network (for more information, please visit www.piscestt.com and www.aquatt.ie). He also officially launched the WWW.PISCESTT.COM website. A new Resource for European Aquaculture.
Finally, he explained the dissemination activities through the biannual newsletter, a new e-newsletter ‘Training News’, participation in the AquaFlow network and in the PROFET project and through conference participation.
David Murphy then informed the audience of new projects, including Training News (mentioned above), the design of aquaculture course for non-experts and interactive Aqua Tours in conjunction with AquaMedia, for people to have a virtual visit of an aquaculture producing facility.
Additionally, PatrickSorgeloos presented the future direction of AquaTT. He commented on the validity of its original mission statement, he stressed the importance of its involvement in European projects and networks and expressed the desire of AquaTT to look to a better collaboration with its European partners EAS and FEAP.
When addressing the priorities of the European Commission strategy on aquaculture, he noted the important role that AquaTT would play for aquaculture in the Commission priorities on employment, training, education and mobility. This was highlighted through the 6FP emphasis on training, mobility and career development, including beyond Europe. With a reference to the richness and diversity of aquaculture in Asia, he indicated the strong potential benefits of future AquaTT activities in strengthening European-Asian training and exchange in this field, activities already taking shape in the form of the Asia-Scotland Technology and Training (ASCOTT) initiative, headed by AquaTT Board member Douglas McLeod.
Flyers on all AquaTT activities are available for download from the PISCES website; http://www.piscestt.com/pisces/aquatt_en.asp
Back to top
3. SOCRATES Thematic Network for Higher Level Education in Aquaculture
AQUA-TNET is a network of co-operating EuropeanUniversitybodies, formed under the EU SOCRATES Programme in 1996. Its main objective is to establish a higher education forum to assess, compare and analyse the current state of the aquaculture tertiary sector in Europe and to identify key curriculum development and assessment objectives, ultimately leading to the dissemination of best practice and a more open, transparent and innovative system of education.
Recently the network has been attempting to adapt the proposed Diploma Supplement on a pilot scale for partner university Aquaculture courses. The Diploma Supplement model, the product of a joint initiative by the EU, UNESCO and the Council of Europe, is a document attached to a higher education diploma or certificate, which is designed to provide a description of the nature, level, context, content and status of studies carried out and successfully completed by the person named in the original qualification/certificate/ diploma.
To download the latest report from the Thematic Network visit the Education Section of the PISCES TT website www.piscestt.com. The report highlights the current status of the EU developments in Education in Europe, its impact on aquaculture, conclusions and recommendations. The Network will also present the work it is doing at the 6 PROFET workshops due to be held all over Europein the next year (For more information visit www.feap.info)
If your institution would like to know more or get involved in the thematic network contact the coordinator; David Murphy, AquaTT Manager, david@aquatt.ie, NEW POSTAL ADDRESS: P.O.Box 8989, Dublin 2, Ireland
Back to top
4. NEW EUROPEAN COMMISSION WEBSITEONGENERAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING – WWW.PLOTEUS.NET
PLOTEUS, the European Commission's new internet portal, is specifically designed to connect people to detailed information on education and training in thirty European countriesThe Portal on Learning Opportunities Throughout the EUropean Space will be launched by the EU commissioner in charge of Education, Viviane Reding, on 5th March in Brussels.
The most important feature of PLOTEUS is the Learning Opportunities section - a collection of almost 4,000 links to national or regional databases and to education or training institutions' websites in 30 European countries. The option to select information by location, learning language, subject or education level makes searching easy and adaptable to everybody’s needs.
Contact details: For further information please contact Laura Cassio on +32/2-296.17.05, e-mail laura.cassio@cec.eu.int. Alternatively you can visit the PLOTEUS website at www.ploteus.net.
Back to top
5.The European Commission has published a Communication on the role of universities in creating a ‘Europeof knowledge’
This examines the current state of Europe’s universities and calls for a debate on the challenges they face in reaching the target set by the European Council in March 2002 to make European systems of education a ‘world reference’ by 2010.
At the launch of the Communication, the EU's Research Commissioner, Philippe Busquin said: "If we want to be a leading player in the global knowledge-based society, Europehas to nurture its universities. Universities are centres of research and education and poles of regional economic development at the same time. Investing in universities is one of the best investments we can make for our future."
The EU's 3,300 higher education institutes are mainly organised at national and regional levels. Many of these institutes face similar challenges, such as adapting to a constantly changing and increasingly globalised market and coping with spending cuts. Universities' income is a major issue addressed by the Communication. It reveals that the level of private investment (family funding) in higher education in Europeis well behind its main international competitors. Private income for universities in Europeamounts to only 0.2% of GDP, compared with 0.6% in Japanand 1.2% in the United States.
The Commission believes the under-funding of European universities jeopardises their capacity to attract and keep the best talent and to strengthen the excellence of their research and teaching activities. New ways of increasing and diversifying universities' incomes will have to be found to close this funding gap. The Commission has announced plans to undertake a study on this matter in order to examine the main trends and to identify best practices.
In addition to the funding issue, the Communication identifies a number of areas that need "reflection and action". For example, how to ensure autonomy and professionalism in academic as well as managerial affairs, how to concentrate enough resources on excellence, and create conditions within which universities can attain and develop excellence, how to make universities contribute better to local and regional needs and strategies, and how to foster the European higher education area called for by the Bologna Declaration.
For information on how to get involved in the debate, log on to the following website:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/consultations/list_en.html
Back to top
6. European Commission hold conference on Valorisation of Vocational Training
3-4 April 2003 – Valorising Good Products and Experiences in Educational and Vocational Training in an Enlarged Europe
The goal of the conference was to encourage a debate on valorisation mechanisms and models, as well as interactive exchange of good Leornardo Da Vinci practices, experiences, and other vocational training products in an enlarged Europe.
David Murphy, Manager of AquaTT was invited to give a presentation on Best Practice in Mobility drawing from AquaTT experience of sending over 400 participants on mobility projects in Aquaculture under Leonardo Da Vinci I. He also presented AquaTT a successful sectorial network that is attempting to meet the needs of an industry on a European stage. Sectorial European network like AquaTT support the development of the European Research Area (ERA) and the European Education Area (EEA) and can also be the link between the two. Sectorial networks could also provide the missing link for technology transfer between training/research institutions and the end-users.
On the basis of other presentations it is becoming clear that the Commission is also realising that sectorial approaches are appropriate to meeting specific industry needs and hopefully in the future the calls will be more suited to such organisations.
RESEARCH
New thematic service on 'coordination of research activities' launched on CORDIS
CORDIS, the European Commission's Research and Development Information Service, is providing a dedicated service for the coordination of research activities at both national and European level.
The activities supported aim to contribute to the creation of the European Research Area (ERA) by stimulating and supporting programme coordination and joint activities conducted at national or regional level. In addition, actions will support synergy between the Community and other European scientific organisations such as COST and EUREKA.
The new service, part of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) portal, offers central access to all related information, including an overview of the objectives and activities, news, forthcoming events and direct links to ease the application process for the research funding opportunities under FP6, for which 270 million euro is earmarked.
Users can quickly access information on the different schemes to coordinate research and implement joint activities. Background information is also available on international cooperation networks. In addition, this service offers documentation on dedicated calls, support and relevant publications.
For more information visit; http://www.cordis.lu/coordination/home.html
Back to top
PROJECT COLLABORATION
6th FP Science and society - call for expressions of interest
The European Commission has published a call for expressions of interest aimed at identifying 'science and society' topics that could be the subject of calls for proposals in 2004 and beyond.
The 'science and society' activity is one of the areas covered by the 'structuring the European Research Area (ERA) ' specific programme.
The call provides an opportunity to identify activities that correspond to the concerns of interested bodies across Europe. A number of calls for proposals under the 'Science and Society' activity area have already been published or are planned for 2003. The current invitation for expressions of interest will have no impact on these calls.
The deadline for submitting expression documents, using the online submission form only, is 2 June 2003.
Before contacting the Commission, proposers are strongly advised to consult the original call text in the Official Journal of the European Communities at the reference below.
Data Source Provider : Official Journal of the European Communities Document Reference : OJ No S 64 of 01.04.2003
To see the call text, please visit: http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=62
A guide for submitters, contact details for the help desk and further information relevant to this invitation can be found at the following web address: http://www.cordis.lu/eoi/science-society/
Back to top
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1.First PROFET workshop 26-27 April 2003, Billund, Denmark
PROFET: 6 trans-national workshops on the research needs of the European fish farming sector
The first Workshop of the PROFET initiative is to be held at the Hotel Legoland (Billund – Denmark) on the 26th and 27th April 2003 and is being coordinated by the Association of Danish Trout Farmers and the Danish Eel Farmers' Association .
The theme of the Workshop is “Freshwater Aquaculture and the Use of Water” and particular focus will be given to trout and eel farming, where technical visits to both activities are being organised.
The provisional programme and forms for Workshop Registration and Hotel Reservation can be downloaded from the links on the right pane of this window (in Word or PDF format). Many distinguished and experienced players from the European aquaculture sector (producers, scientists and administrators) will be making short presentations and participating in the debates.
Simultaneous translation in English, Danish, German and French will be provided.
The Workshop is divided into 7 separate sessions, covering the following issues: Aquaculture in Europe, Using the Market as the Driving Force for Growth, Environmental challenges for Fish Farming, Re-circulation as a tool for sustainable development, Food safety and animal welfare, Threats and opportunities
The conclusions of the Workshop will be developed in the final session and these will be used to formulate the first recommendations by the Workshop for RTD policy in the future.
For any further information, please contactprofet-dk@feap.info
Or Visit the following Website http://www.aquamedia.org/news/RTD/profet/profet-billund_en.asp
Back to top
2. Enhancing technology transfer: experiences from the EU and the US,Vienna, Austria23-25 April 2003
The TII annual conference on enhancing performance in technology transfer, which will examine experiences from the EU and the US, will take place in Vienna, Austriafrom 23 to 25 April.
The event will examine how current trends in innovation support excellence and how technology transfer organisations are coping with the need to offer value added services to customers, to devise alternative income streams and to adapt in general to the needs of the science base and industry in order to commercialise new and better technology.
The conference will comprise plenary sessions with key speakers from the worlds of policy making, research and development (R&D) , innovation support and industry, as well as parallel workshops on subjects such as funding and long term sustainability, entrepreneurship and incubation and intellectual property rights.
For more information; www.cordis.lu
3. Early identification of skill needs in Europe, Thessaloniki, Greece22-23 May 2003
An international conference will be held in Cedefop on the 22-23 May 2003.
The conference aims to gather European experiences and 'best practices' on the identification, anticipation and monitoring of changing and new emerging skills at national, sectorial and regional levels. Likewise, the conference seeks to explore the skill needs of different target groups. It brings together policy makers, the social partners, practitioners and researchers from various European countries, including the candidate countries, and intends to establish a mode for regular cooperation and networking at the European level.
For more information: http://www.cedefop.eu.int/mt_conference/mt_conf1.html
Back to top
OTHER
Support sought for Educational Species lifecycle posters
AquaTT is seeking some co-funding for a series of educational posters they are producing as part of the PISCES project. AquaTT, a registered charity is the coordinator of the PISCES Project, an EU Leonardo da Vinci funded project to heighten awareness of aquaculture.
One deliverable is a set of educational posters on aquaculture for which we need to seek co-funding from industry.
Suggested Poster Titles for 2003 are listed below. Poster title choice is primarily a function of an indication given by various Government bodies and companies that additional funding would be made available to fund additional posters, translation, printing and dissemination of posters in different languages. The list of posters is in order of publishing priority, All are open for sponsorship (Except life cycle of the SEAHORSE)
Provisional Timetable - PISCES POSTERS 2003
1. Recirculation Systems - Late April 2003
To be available for PROFET Workshop on Recirculation Systems at Billund, Denmark, 27/28 April 2003
2. Aquaculture Production (Statistics) - Early May
To be available for European Seafood Exposition Brussels, Belgium 06/08 May 2003
3. Life Cycle of Seabream/Seabass (Greek/English)
To be available for PROFET Workshop on Warm Water Aquaculture Athens, Greece 27/28 May 2003 (Dates to be confirmed)
4. Life Cycle of the Salmon (English Version)
To be available for AQUANOR Trondheim, Norway, August 12-15 2003
5. Flatfish Aquaculture
To be available for AQUANOR, Trondheim, Norway, August 12-15 2003
6. Life Cycle of the Seahorse
To be available for AQUANOR, Trondheim, Norway, August 12-15 2003
7. Life Cycle of the Perch (or Carp)
English version for Ireland and possibly Polish version
To be available for AQUACOLTURA INTERNATIONAL, Verona, Italy, October 15-17 2003
8. Managing Fish Farm Waste
English version
No specific Launch Date as yet - Sparsholt ?
9. Local Area Management Systems
English version
No specific Launch Date as yet - Sparsholt ?
10. Careers in Aquaculture
English version
No specific Launch Date as yet - Bradán 2003 ?
Priority 2. Posters needing total funding
11. Life Cycle of the Mussel
Multi-Lingual
12. Life Cycle of the Oyster
Multilingual
13. Cages, Nets and Mooring Systems in Aquaculture
15. Women in Aquaculture
16. Aquaculture and Tourism
17. Equipment used in Shellfish Farms
18. Community Aquaculture
19. Abalone Farming
The PISCES project is open to suggestions as to what posters should be done, however ultimately the titles which are finally produced will be a reflection of the co-funding available.
Poster Specifications:
Poster Size: 700 x 500mm (B2 size)
Colour: Full colour (CYMK)
Paper: 135gm art paper.
The Life Cycle Posters will graphically represent the various stages of the wild life cycle of the species depicted. These will either be graphics or a series of linked photographs. This will be the dominant feature of the poster. Each stage of the life cycle will be linked to its stage in commercial aquaculture. Text will be kept to a minimum. The poster text will be written in such a way that the poster is simple enough for the public and 2nd level school use and is technical enough for 3rd level and professional use. The poster will also contain a graph on production, a map on production areas and some references /contact points for further information.
Poster Costs:
Each poster costs €6,000 for a print run of 5,000 copies. We are allowing €1,000 distribution cost per poster.
Sponsorship Options:
Exclusive Sponsorship of a poster: €6,000
Global Sponsorship: €3,000 for 5 poster titles or €5,000 for 10 titles.
Additional Language Version Sponsorship: €3,000
Individual Poster Sponsorship: €1,000 minimum
The sponsor would have his logo (plus contact details) on the poster along with the PISCES Logo, Leonardo da Vinci Logo (if it is required) and the logo of any other sponsor. Size of logo will depend on type of sponsorship taken. Sponsors can state exactly what they might like to sponsor from the above list or suggest new titles they might like to sponsor.
Posters from an old series of posters are currently available to view or down load from the downloads section on the website: www.piscestt.com. It is the intention that the new posters will also appear in digital format for free download in due course.
If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to get in touch with David Murphy, General Manager AquaTT Tel: +353 1 8747088 or e-mail: david@aquatt.ie or John Coleman, johncoleman@latene.com, Director, AquaTT, Chief Executive, La Tene Maps Tel: +353 1 2847914 or 2823688, Fax: +353 1 2826311
Back to top
|
Send page by email
Printer Friendly Version