Training News - July 2004
Author: AquaTT
Date: 01 Aug 2004
JULY 2004 A free e-mail news service provided by AquaTT on European Education & Training
in Aquaculture. Contents - Calls for Proposals: 6th Framework - Food Quality and Safety 5. Student Corner Marine Investment for Future Prosperity (MARINVEST), co-ordinated by AquaTT and
partially funded by the EU Asia Pro Eco Programme, aims to transfer the technology
of environmental monitoring to promote socio-economic progress and environmental
improvements in the aquaculture sector in the Shandong region of China.
The thrust of the project is threefold: (1) to assist public authorities with the establishment of a comprehensive environmental monitoring programme; (2) to train the workforce on implementation practices; (3) to improve the quality and safety of shellfish through activities such as designing and implementing Harvesting Area Classification, generating a marine biotoxin monitoring regime, developing a network of depuration facilities, and designing a traceability system. Without these elements in place, exporting shellfish to the EU will be an unattainable objective. These will form the essential foundation for the industry in the Shandong Province and will ultimately serve as the model for other regions in China. AquaTT will work in close conjunction with the Scottish Aquaculture Training Association Ltd. (SATA), Chinese Academy of Fisheries Sciences, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute (YSFRI), and the Qingdao Association for International Science & Technology Cooperation to organise, develop and implement this exciting new initiative in 2004 and 2005. The first partner meeting will take place in Qingdao, 9-13th August 2004. For further information please email erin@aquatt.ie AquaTT Workshop: Assessment of Women Achievers in Aquaculture, Rochefort, France, 7-8th October 2004 Open Call for Participation Date: 7th - 8th October 2004 Background • To promote the role of women in the aquaculture sector and to enhance their
participation in decision-making roles & gender diversity in aquaculture. Workshop Agenda Selection Criteria Registration Participant Funding For updates on this workshop initiative, please visit the PISCES Forum (www.piscestt.com) regularly. All queries relating to the workshop should be addressed to AquaTT at aquatt@aquatt.ie AQUA-TNET Workshop - "ICT Based Educational Resources and their potential application in Aquaculture Courses, Gent, Belgium, 30th September 2004
New ICT technologies are rapidly developing, some have been applied to teaching environments but not all successfully due to a variety of factors. This workshop is intended to review the latest developments and recognise best practice in this area. The new buzz word in Europe is "blended learning" and this workshop will recognise that new technologies is not a complete solution to training but if used appropriately can be a powerful tool to enhance students learning experience. DRAFT AGENDA SESSIONS PARTICIPATION CONTRIBUTIONS REGISTRATION Calls for Proposals: 6th Framework - Food Quality and Safety New calls for Food Quality and Safety under the Sixth Framework Programme were launched on 24.07.2004 with a total value of €216 million. The three calls can be found at http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/calls.cfm and are as follows: FP6-2004-FOOD-3-A FP6-2004-FOOD-3-B FP6-2004-FOOD-3-C A new call for proposals under Women and Science has been launched. The value of the programme is €6.4 million and the funded short titles of the work programme are: Empowerment of women scientists; and public debate Ambassadors for Women and Science Gender Research Total value: 5 million The closure date is 15th October 2004. Full details are available at http://fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=132# AquaTT, on the back of its currently funded DG Fisheries project “Assessment of Women Achievers in Aquacultureâ€? is currently looking into preparing a follow up to this project under this current call. Should you have an interest in developing an initiative in this area, please contact AquaTT at aquatt@aquatt.ie Call for Research Grant Applications from Developing Country Researchers The International Foundation for Science (IFS) provides support to young researchers in developing countries by awarding research grants and providing grantees with additional services such as travel grants and purchasing assistance. Proposals for research projects may address biological, chemical, or physical processes as well as social and economic relationships important in the conservation, production and renewable utilisation of the biological resource base. Research on topics such as water and biodiversity are also eligible for support. Applicants should explain the relevance of their proposed research in relation to environmental and socio-economic conditions in the country/region. Research grants are awarded up to a maximum value of USD 12,000 for a period of one to three years and may be renewed twice. They are intended for the purchase of equipment, expendable supplies, and literature, and to arrange field activities. Applicants must be citizens of, and carry out the research in, a developing country. They should also be affiliated with a university or national research institution in a developing country. Applicants should be at the beginning of their research career, have a minimum academic degree of an MSc/MA or the equivalent, and preferably be younger than 40 (under 30 for applicants from China). Applications are made on a standard IFS application form, in English or French, which is available from the IFS Secretariat or can be downloaded from the website (www.ifs.se). Asia-Pro Eco Programme Call for proposal - Deadline 4th October 2004 The European Commission EuropeAid Co-operation Office is seeking proposals for
‘Diagnostic Activities, The Asia Pro Eco Programme aims to: Rethinking Higher Education in the Food Chain Area and the Environment - Profiling Graduates of the Future, Copenhagen, 21-24 August 2004 In recent years there has been a marked decline across Western Europe in the number of students entering institutions of higher education to read degrees in the traditional disciplines of the agricultural sciences and management. Universities have responded by diversifying the degree programmes they offer. Often in doing so they move towards the degree programmes offered by departments in the “pureâ€? natural and social sciences. The decline in the students graduating in the agricultural sciences and management raises the question of what skills do these graduates need when entering the industry, particularly in terms of the subject specific skills, and how they will further develop their skills during their working life. This Conference will address these questions with the aim of assisting universities and faculties develop their degree programmes to meet the future needs of society and industry. Case studies and examples of innovative approaches will demonstrate how these degree programmes can be presented in a way, which meets the expectations of students. For more information visit http://www.echae.kvl.dk/ Food quality and safety partnering event, Poznan, Poland, 23rd September 2004 The Poznan science and technology park is organising a brokerage event for the third call under the 'Food quality and safety' priority of the Commission's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) in Poznan, Poland, on 23 September. The event is organised within the scope of the EU funded FOODLINK project, the European food industry partners' forum. The organisers describe it as an ideal way to meet new Member State and candidate country researchers for collaboration, as well as gaining an insight into the next call for proposals from a representative of the European Commission. Data Source Provider : Poznan science and technology park Bordeaux Aquaculture Exhibition, France, 22-24th September 2004 Aquitaine Bordeaux Aquaculture, home to trout, farmed caviar, sturgeons, king
prawns, eels and so many other aquaculture specialities, will be playing host
to the leading French and European production areas.
For more information visit http://www.bordeaux-expo.com/aqua_culture/index.html back to topEurocean - European Centre for Information on Marine Science and Technology EurOcean is a focal point for information on marine science and technology. The EurOcean Internet portal intends to be an electronic platform of communication and information for all actors with interest in marine science and technology in Europe. One of its functions is to be the IOC regional portal for Europe. The EurOcean portal provides information in three main domains: marine research infrastructures, national and European RTD programmes. The creation of an European Centre for Information on Marine Science and Technology is a joint French – Portuguese initiative, of which the main objective is to implement the recommendations of the report Towards a new marine dimension for Europe through research and technological development adopted on 4th May 2000 by a group of governmental experts from 15 European countries brought together at the invitation of the Portuguese Minister for Science and Technology. This report, which was presented to the European Council for Research on 15th June 2000, recognised "the benefit of a focal point for information on marine science and technology", which could:
New Seafood Portal launched - www.seafoodintelligence.com Post your Student placement and MSc/ PhD vacancies on WWW.PISCESTTJOBS.COM
Upon registration, companies can post and instantaneously edit job vacancies, including permanent, temporary, MSc/PhD and student placement positions. Companies will only receive CVs of those applicants who are qualified for the position requirements. To ensure privacy and lessen the hassle of unsolicited calls and queries, company/organisation contact details will not be published online. Prospective employees can use the online registration facility to obtain a username and password, post and edit their employee profile, upload a CV and apply online for positions. If you are interested in posting a job vacancy or registering for the service, please contact aquatt@aquatt.ie AquaTT, the European Network for Education and Training, is providing the site as an additional service to compliment their flagship project, PISCES TT, found on the web at www.piscestt.com and host to a comprehensive education database, occupational profiles, virtual tours, a discussion forum, and marine sciences activities for children. back to topHigh Speed Quality - Change in the University System in Norway Parallel to the accelerating beat of society, the university system in Norway has seen change. The national Minister of Education has seen through a reform that she immodestly named “The Quality Reformâ€?. One main intention was to make the education system more efficient. The restructuring that the education system in one of Europe`s northernmost countries has gone through in the last few years, has from some perspectives been welcomed. But does efficiency equal quality? A consequence of the reform is larger emphasis on oral presentations and hand-in work throughout the semester, which is positive in many ways. An evaluation of a student’s capabilities on the basis of measurement from a one day exam, may not give a full and correct picture of that persons understanding of the subject. Now students are given feedback on their development throughout the semester. Another consequence of “The Quality Reformâ€? is that the Masters period has been restricted to two years, of which the practical work, including writing, is limited to one year. This is in compliance with European standards (Norway is a world champion in complying with new EU standards). If you do not deliver your written Masters thesis by a fixed date at the end of the fourth semester, you fail your Masters. No retry. No pretty please. Students studying under the former Norwegian Masters system did not have such a strict deadline. I know one example of a student who finished after eight years. This is of course not advisable, nor acceptable. It also belongs to the few extremes. But by fixing the time period of the Masters studies, will the system also remove the opportunities inherent in trial and error? “The Quality Reformâ€? places strict demands on students, but it also puts demands on the university. When signing up for a project the student is guaranteed that the Masters project is manageable in one year. In other words, the new projects are designed to succeed. It is no doubt frustrating to redo months of work at the lab, because of a failed experiment. But is this really a “failedâ€? lesson? During the aquaculture studies at the University of Bergen it has been a requirement to do two months of practical work in an aquaculture company. In later years the two months has shrunk to five weeks, and is now down to a period of three weeks. This is the only hands-on work experience the students are required to do during their five years of aquaculture studies. By limiting practical work experience in the education system, cutting down on lab-experiments for economical reasons and designing “successfulâ€? Masters projects, the study of a topic is now to a larger extent based on learning from reading. It is perfectly possible to educate yourself in aquaculture without wetting your hands. But the value of knowledge from work experience must not be underestimated. Efficiency can kill the spirit of curiosity and become a hard lesson to learn. Guri Gunnes Oppegård If you would like to contribute by writing an article for the Students corner
please contact Caoimhe Boylan, aquatt@aquatt.ie. Articles can be written about anything related to a students studies or experiences
in aquaculture. You can also give your opinions on this article or any other aquaculture
student issues on the AquaTT website. http://www.aquatt.ie/forums/
The main target audience for this newsletter is teachers, trainers and students in the aquaculture area but will also be of interest to policy makers, companies and associations. AquaTT welcomes any feedback regarding content, presentation and user-friendliness of the newsletter. Please forward this mail to any colleagues that may be interested. Please submit any relevant information for dissemination in the newsletter. DISCLAIMER: AquaTT provides this newsletter as a free service to interested parties. Most of the information is provided by AquaTT. Where it is not, the source of the news is provided in the text of the news brief or else AquaTT attributes the news to the coordinating body as the "Data Source Provider". In no way does this newsletter, by promoting events not coordinated by AquaTT, intend to wrongly or inappropriately claim projects, news, etc. as its own nor is it responsible for incorrect information provided from other sources. "Training News" is a promotional tool and forum for both AquaTT and other organisations. |
AQUA-TNET the SOCRATES Thematic Network for Education and Training in the Aquaculture
Industry will be combining their Annual meeting with a workshop looking into new
teaching techniques and their possible application to Aquaculture courses around
Europe. To learn more about Aqua-TNET and the work they are doing please visit
the following web address: 
PISCES TT Jobs, an exciting and valuable free online service provided by AquaTT
UETP Ltd. to employers and potential employees in aquaculture and related science
sectors. Using a secure and innovative site format, employers and job searchers
can post job vacancies and CVs, respectively, thus facilitating human resource
development in the industry. 
AquaTT through its extensive network has realised that essential information
on upcoming changes is not being effectively disseminated to all parties. Thus,
AquaTT is producing this free news service "TRAINING NEWS" specifically for the
Aquaculture industry. The newsletter is intended to keep you informed of developments
in Education & Training and related areas. Support material will be available
on the new European Education Forum website