DailySpotlight

To content | To menu | To search

Wednesday 20 January 2010

UNeECC Week : Making easier student mobility

Youth_in_Programme

As a member of the UNeECC student board, I participated to the last UNeECC general assembly in Vilnius (Lithuania). During the student workshop, we had to do a brainstorming about Innovation, Creativity and Culture in order to conceive a project which can include all these elements. With Karl Fromberger, from the University of Essen in Germany, we developed a new concept of student exchange programme : the UNeECC week.

In few decades, European Union managed to build a political union between so different countries and people. However, when it comes to culture, citizenship, and identity, Europe seems to be still on progress, mainly for a majority of young people who are still looking for answering the question : what does it mean to be (a young) European?

Nowadays, student mobility tremendously contributes to intercultural understanding. While a lot of European programs like Erasmus or Leonardo succeeded in making progress the feeling of belonging to Europe, and promote the purpose of the European building, for many reasons, they unfortunately concern only a little part of students or youngsters in the EU.

Continue reading...

Saturday 31 October 2009

UNeECC student workshop II, Vilnius, Lithuania, 23-25/10/09

UNeECC Student workshop Vilnius, nov. 2009

The General assembly of the University Network of european Capitals of Culture was held at the end of october in Vilnius (Lithuania). As an ex-member of the Student Committee Board, and a participant of the first UNeECC student workshop in Pécs (Hungary), I was kindly invited to participate to the second student work shop organised on the occasion of UNeECC General assembly.

Like in Pécs, some representatives of student associations came up to share ideas, good practices and make some brainstorming about possible UNeECC projects dedicated to european students. 10 different nationalities were represented ; there were students from Bologna (Italy), Antwerp (Belgium), Sibiu (Romania), Pécs (Hungary), San-sebastian (Spain), Warsaw (polonia), Graz (Austria), Essen (Germany), Vilnius and me who was considered as a representative of the Catholic University of Lille (France). The main topics we discussed during this workshop were creativity, culture and innovation. We had to consider these 3 subjects within their mutual interactions to find some innovative ideas which could be put into practice within the student UNeECC network.

So, we spent three very busy and interesting days together. We were welcomed like very important guests and we had the chance to attended some traditional shows with typical Lithuanian dance and songs. We went to eat traditional food (Cepelinai*, Šaltibarščiai*, etc.) in very folk places (Chili village). We visited some monuments like the Gediminas castle (the founder of Vilnius), Archcathedral, Pilies street, etc. We also went to party in a famous club called Gravity and located in a former bunker... People was quite curious about me, maybe because of my vanilla skin :-)

Continue reading...

Wednesday 8 July 2009

UNeECC student workshop, Pécs, Hungary 2009

Catho presentation - UNEeCC student workshop
UNEeCC student workshop
UNEeCC student workshop2

Du 23 au 25 avril 2009, la prestigieuse université de Pécs, Hongrie, à l’origine du réseau des universités des capitales européennes de la culture (UNeECC), organisait dans ses murs la première édition de l’UNeECC Student Workshop. Ce colloque avait pour objectif de réunir des représentants d’associations étudiantes issues des universités membres du réseau UNeECC, afin d’impliquer les étudiants et leurs associations aux activités du réseau, qui ne cesse de prendre de l’ampleur à mesure que le titre de Capitale Européenne de la Culture gagne en prestige et en notoriété.

Pour cette première édition, l’Université Catholique de Lille était représentée par deux membres du pôle « relations internationales » de la FEDE (Fédération des étudiants de la Catho), Margaux Lugand et Cédric Pierre-Louis, qui ont saisi avec enthousiasme cette opportunité exceptionnelle d’échange et de coopération à la fois multi et interculturelle.

Durant cette session de trois jours, les étudiants venus d’anciennes, d’actuelles ou de futures Capitales Européennes de la Culture telles que Cracovie, Lille, Avignon, Anvers, Liverpool, Sibiu, Vilnius, Lisbonne, Maribor et Pécs, ont présenté leurs universités et associations respectives, évoquant notamment les temps forts de l’année durant laquelle leur ville fut ou sera Capitale Européenne de la Culture.

Puis, dans une ambiance conviviale et chaleureuse, des visites de la ville et des rencontres avec les organisateurs de Pécs 2010, des ateliers de réflexion visant à imaginer quel pourrait être l’apport des étudiants au réseau UNeECC, ont ponctué ces 3 jours de découvertes et de coopération, très riches en nouveaux contacts. Des amitiés très fortes ont d’ailleurs vu le jour, et il a été admis que devant le succès de cette première édition, l’expérience méritait d’être réitérée.

À l’issue des travaux, Margaux Lugand a été nommée au conseil d’administration de l’UNeECC Student Association, créée à cette occasion. Les propositions des étudiants participants seront présentées à l'assemblée générale de l'UNeECC le 22 octobre 2009 à Vilnius, l'actuelle capitale européenne de la culture. Ce premier UNeECC Student Workshop, fut clairement une réussite et l'équipe de Gyöngyi Pozsgai, Secrétaire Général de l'UNeECC, et responsable du département « relations internationales » à l'Université de Pécs, peut se targuer d'une organisation sans faille qui fait honneur à l'Université de Pécs.

Pécs, qui sera en 2010 avec Istanbul, la prochaine capitale européenne de la culture, a ainsi été le lieu d’une fructueuse rencontre entre de jeunes européens heureux de pouvoir contribuer à l’émergence d’une Europe de la Culture, ou plutôt d’une Europe des Cultures.

Le réseau UNeECC (University Network of the European Capitals of Culture) a été créé en décembre 2006, à l’initiative d’une quarantaine d’établissements européens. L’idée fondatrice était d’impulser une nouvelle forme de synergie et de collaboration académique, pédagogique et culturelle entre les universités établies dans des Capitales européennes de la culture.

CATHO International Num. 7 - juin 2009. Rédacteur : Cédric Pierre-Louis, étudiant Master 2 ICM FLSEG, membre du Pôle International de la Fédé étudiante, Université Catholique de Lille

Site web :

www.uneec.org

UNEeC student workshop

Galerie photos - UNEeC student workshop

Monday 23 February 2009

A new era is starting...

La_Catho_de_Lille

Last week I passed my last exams to get my Master 2 degree. That means that from today my student life is unofficially over!!! I still need to find an internship position abroad, but practically I don't have classes anymore... and I have to admit that it's quite strange to stop in the middle of the academic year. I already made many friends jealous...

Anyway now I hope I will have more time to post on my blog, because this year was incredibly intense in terms of working, responsibilities and decisions making. Currently I'm working on my Master thesis and is about how Internet can be a fantastic tool of politic mobilization. Maybe you will understand why this subject looks so interesting for me... Finally, I will post some surprises within 2 or 3 months, so stay tuned!

Friday 18 April 2008

Visit of the Ford factory in Valencia

Ford Factory

There is something I really like about the University of Valencia; that is the incredible number of subjects available. Just a quick look in the “asignaturas de libre eleccion”/optional modules shows you the vast range of choice; for example you can study "Empresas y negocios en China" (Business in China) Or "Marketing on-line" (as I will study it in June) And some courses are taught both in Spanish and English. The only problem is that maybe there is a lack of information about all the opportunities offered by the University. The very worst informed about this are more often the ERASMUS students, but maybe most of us are not really interested.

Anyway, a few months ago I was checking my mail and I discovered a mail which invited students to subscribe to an interesting subject : “Gestión de la producción en el sector del automòvil”. As I like to learn new things I subscribed, and I think it was a really good idea! During 3 weeks we received intensive courses (5 hours with some short breaks) from various executives working for the Ford factory in Valencia, among the teachers we had the privilege of having the Director of production himself during the first session. And I have to admit that you quickly realize why is the Boss ; his presentation was the clearest; the most interesting, the most fascinating: definitely the best in fact.

But the best part of this module was visiting the factory in Almussafes (a village close to Valencia city), in one word: impressive!!! I think we were all like kids with wide-opened eyes, just amazed by what we discovered. I could not help asking myself how human beings could build such big and sophisticated thing. The manufacturing process of a car is really amazing: every 25 seconds a car was produced, in 270 hectares factory where work everyday 7300 people; we are talking about a real city! In 2006. The Ford plant in Almussafes was the one which produced most cars in Europe : 420 000. To conclude with figures, the Ford Motor share of the Valencian Community GDP was about 8,2%.

It was a really educational trip. No regrets. The next plant I want to visit: An Intel’s microprocessor factory. Can someone in the audience help me?