Acrobats in the rooftops of Tehran

This paper seeks to analyze the political dimension of the body, and consequently the inherently political dimension of space, through the instrumental notion of situation, understood as an spatio-temporal mesh configured by bodies, practices and discourses. The political understood as the potential for action (or non-action) underlying the individual body, implies a renewed definition of a landscape that results from the body’s doing. Landscape becomes a multiple corporeality, a field of relations in which we discover ourselves enmeshed, not just placed; a field in which the limit is not frontier but bond and common dimension. A disquieting ambiguous zone appears there where the individual spatiality is born out of the body through the actualization of its political potential and entangles with others to constitute a common spatiality, political action of the multitude. The article is organized through the description of a back-and-forth movement between the revolts of Tehran in 2009 and the Iranian revolution of 1979. Also, a detour into the works of Robert Morris and Trisha Brown is required in order to understand the link between the body and the constitution of a common spatiality.

Competence Training in Higher Education: The case of the Technological Master "Prestación de Servicios Profesionales" from the Colegio de Postgraduados (México).

The Competency-Based Education in the context of training is intended as a comprehensive approach that seeks to link education with the productive sector and increase the potential of individuals, in the face of social, economic, political and cultural transformations that suffers the world and the contemporary society; this is how educational services associated to the rural area takes part of the global revalorization of the role of learning and knowledge. Under the competence approach and taking into account the CONOCER model, we design a Technological Master from the “Colegio de Postgraduados” identifying the competences needed so that the students, professional from different areas of knowledge, managed to develop them, but mainly to achieve the goal of developing the capacities of producers in Mexican rural area.

Survey on integration of Applied Geology and Geomorphology in Civil Engineering curricula in the framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by using practical trips

The engineer must have sufficient theoretical knowledge to be applied to solve specific problems, with the necessary capacity to simplify these approaches, and taking into account factors such as speed, simplicity, quality and economy. In Geology, its ultimate goal is the exploration of the history of the geological events through observation, deduction, reasoning and, in exceptional cases by the direct underground exploration or experimentation. Experimentation is very limited in Geology. Reproduction laboratory of certain phenomena or geological processes is difficult because both time and space become a large scale. For this reason, some Earth Sciences are in a nearly descriptive stage whereas others closest to the experimental, Geophysics and Geochemistry, have assimilated progress experienced by the physics and chemistry. Thus, Anglo-Saxon countries clearly separate Engineering Geology from Geological Engineering, i.e. Applied Geology to the Geological Engineering concepts. Although there is a big professional overlap, the first one corresponds to scientific approach, while the last one corresponds to a technological one. Applied Geology to Engineering could be defined as the Science and Applied Geology to the design, construction and performance of engineering infrastructures in and field geology discipline. There has been much discussion on the primacy of theory over practice. Today prevails the exaggeration of practice, but you get good workers and routine and mediocre teachers. This idea forgets too that teaching problem is a problem of right balance. The approach of the action lines on the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) framework provides for such balance. Applied Geology subject represents the first real contact with the physical environment with the practice profession and works. Besides, the situation of the topic in the first trace of Study Plans for many students implies the link to other subjects and topics of the career (tunnels, dams, groundwater, roads, etc). This work analyses in depth the justification of such practical trips. It shows the criteria and methods of planning and the result which manifests itself in pupils. Once practical trips experience developed, the objective work tries to know about results and changes on student’s motivation in learning perspective. This is done regardless of the outcome of their knowledge achievements assessed properly and they are not subject to such work. For this objective, it has been designed a survey about their motivation before and after trip. Survey was made by the Unidad Docente de Geología Aplicada of the Departamento de Ingeniería y Morfología del Terreno (Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid). It was completely anonymous. Its objective was to collect the opinion of the student as a key agent of learning and teaching of the subject. All the work takes place under new teaching/learning criteria approach at the European framework in Higher Education. The results are exceptionally good with 90% of student’s participation and with very high scores in a number of questions as the itineraries, teachers and visited places (range of 4.5 to 4.2 in a 5 points scale). The majority of students are very satisfied (average of 4.5 in a 5 points scale).

New methodology on Applied Geology and Geology for Engineers education by using practical trip

There has been much discussion on the primacy of theory over practice. Today prevails the exaggeration of practice. This idea forgets too that teaching problem is a problem of right balance. The approach of the action lines on the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) framework provides for such balance. Applied Geology subject represents the first real contact with the physical environment with the practice profession and works. Besides, the situation of the topic in the first trace of Study Plans for many students implies the link to other subjects and topics of the career. This work analyses in depth the justification of such practical trips only on Applied Geology. This methodology could be usual in Study Plans of pure sciences career, Geology or Biology, but not in Civil Engineering like teaching method. It shows the criteria and methods of planning and the result which manifests itself in pupils. Therefore, work shows a methodology taking in account the engineering perspective, the practical point of view and the learning process inside students and their evaluation and, hence, their marks.

Policy processes and collective action in water reforms: the cases of Nicaragua and Suriname

Las reformas de agua en países en desarrollo suelen llevarse a cabo junto con cambios institucionales más profundos o, incluso, acompañadas de cambios constitucionales o de régimen político. Por lo tanto, los marcos institucionales adaptados a países gobernados sujetos al estado de derecho pueden no ser apropiados para contextos gobernados fundamentalmente, al menos en sus inicios, por instituciones informales o poco maduras. Esta tesis toma las reformas de agua como punto de partida y pretende contribuir a la literatura mediante una serie de análisis empíricos tanto del ámbito general como del plano individual o sujeto personal de la política del agua. En el ámbito general, el foco se pone en los factores que explican el fallo de la acción colectiva en dos contextos diferentes: 1) en la implementación de la nueva Ley de Aguas de Nicaragua y 2) en el mantenimiento y revitalización de las instituciones de riego en Surinam. En el plano del individuo, la investigación se centra en las decisiones de los usuarios de los recursos y analiza el papel crítico de las variables sociales para la gestión de los recursos comunes. Para ello, el método de investigación utilizado es mixto, combinando el análisis de entrevistas, encuestas y experimentos. En el ámbito general, los resultados muestran que las principales barreras para la implementación de la nueva Ley de Aguas de Nicaragua podrían tener su reflejo en el lenguaje de la Ley y, por tanto, en la forma en la que se definen y configuran las instituciones incluidas en dicha Ley. Así, la investigación demuestra que la implementación de políticas no puede ser estudiada o entendida sin tener en cuenta tanto el diseño de la propia política como el marco socio-ecológico en el que se enmarca. El contexto específico de Nicaragua remarca la importancia de considerar tanto las instituciones formales como informales en los procesos de transición política. A pesar de que las reformas de agua requieren plazos largos para su implementación, el hecho de que exista una diferencia entre las reglas tal cual se definen formalmente y las reglas que operan en la realidad merece una mayor consideración en el diseño de políticas basadas fundamentalmente en instituciones formales. En el ámbito de la conducta individual, el análisis de la acción colectiva ofrece una serie de observaciones empíricas interesantes. En el caso de Nicaragua, los resultados indican que la intensidad de las relaciones sociales, el tipo de agentes dispuestos a proporcionar apoyo social y el nivel de confianza en la comunidad son factores que explican de manera significativa la participación en la comunidad. Sin embargo, el hecho de que la gestión colectiva de riego se produzca, en la mayoría de casos, en torno a lazos familiares sugiere que las variables de capital social críticas se definen en gran medida en la esfera familiar, siendo difícil que se extiendan fuera de estos nexos. El análisis experimental de los resultados de un juego de uso de recurso común y contribución al bien público muestra que las preferencias pro-sociales de los individuos y la heterogeneidad del grupo en términos de composición por sexo son factores que explican significativamente los resultados y las decisiones de apropiación a lo largo del juego. En términos del diseño de las políticas, es fundamental tener en cuenta las dinámicas de participación y uso de los recursos comunes de manera que los niveles de cooperación puedan mantenerse en el largo plazo, lo cual, como se observa en el caso de Surinam, no es siempre posible. Finalmente, el caso de Surinam es un ejemplo ilustrativo de los procesos de acción colectiva en economías en transición. El análisis del fallo de la acción colectiva en Surinam muestra que los procesos políticos vinculados al período colonial y de independencia explican en gran medida la falta de claridad en las reglas operacionales y colectivas que gobiernan la gestión de los sistemas de riego y drenaje. Los resultados empíricos sugieren que a pesar de que la acción colectiva para la provisión de los servicios de riego y drenaje estaba bien establecida bajo el régimen colonial, la auto-organización no prosperó en un contexto dependiente del apoyo externo y regido fundamentalmente por reglas diseñadas al nivel competencial del gobierno central. El sistema socio-ecológico que se desarrolló durante la transición post-colonial favoreció, así, la emergencia de comportamientos oportunistas, y posteriormente la inoperancia de los Water Boards (WBs) creados en la época colonial. En este sentido, cualquier intento por revitalizar los WBs y fomentar el desarrollo de la auto-organización de los usuarios necesitará abordar los problemas relacionados con los patrones demográficos, incluyendo la distribución de la tierra, el diseño de instituciones y la falta de confianza en el gobierno, además de las inversiones típicas en infraestructura y sistemas de información hidrológicos. El liderazgo del gobierno, aportando empuje de arriba-abajo, es, además, otro elemento imprescindible en Surinam. ABSTRACT Water reforms in developing countries take place along deeper institutional and even constitutional. Therefore, institutional frameworks that might result in positive outcomes in countries governed by the rule of law might not fit in contexts governed mainly by informal or immature institutions. This thesis takes water reforms as the starting point and aims to contribute to the literature by presenting several conceptual and empirical analyses at both general and individual levels. At the general national level, the focus is on the factors explaining failure of collective action in two different settings: 1) in the implementation of the new Nicaraguan Water Law and 2) in sustaining and revitalizing irrigation institutions in Suriname. At the individual level, the research focuses on the actions of resource users and analyzes the critical role of social variables for common pool resources management. For this purpose, the research presented in this thesis makes use of a mixed-method approach, combining interviews, surveys and experimental methods. Overall, the results show that major barriers for the implementation of the new Nicaraguan Water Law have its reflection on the language of the Law and, therefore, on the way institutions are defined and configured. In this sense, our study shows that implementation cannot fruitfully be studied and understood without taking into account both the policy design and the social-ecological context in which it is framed. The specific setting of Nicaragua highlights the relevance of considering both formal and informal institutions when promoting policy transitions. Despite the unquestionable fact that water reforms implementation needs long periods of time, there is still a gap between the rules on paper and the rules on the ground that deserves further attention when proposing policy changes on the basis of formal institutions. At the level of the individual agent, the analysis of collective action provides a number of interesting empirical insights. In the case of Nicaragua, I found that the intensity of social networks, the type of agents willing to provide social support and the level of trust in the community are all significant factors in explaining collective action at community level. However, the fact that most collective irrigation relies on family ties suggests that critical social capital variables might be defined within the family sphere and making it difficult to go beyond it. Experimental research combining a common pool resource and a public good game in Nicaragua shows that individuals’ pro-social traits and group heterogeneity in terms of sex composition are significant variables in explaining efficiency outcomes and effort decisions along the game. Thus, with regard to policy design, it is fundamental to consider carefully the dynamics of agents' participation and use of common pool resources, for sustaining cooperation in the long term, which, as seen in the case and Surinam, is not always possible. The case of Suriname provides a rich setting for the analysis of collective action in transition economies. The analysis of decay of collective irrigation in Suriname shows that the lack of clear operational and collective choice rules appear to be rooted in deeper political processes that date back to the colonial period. The empirical findings suggest that despite collective action for the provision of irrigation and drainage services was well established during the colonial period, self-organization did not flourish in a context governed by colonial state-crafted rules and mostly dependent on external support. The social-ecological system developed during the post-colonial transition process favored the emergence of opportunistic behavior. In this respect, any attempt to revitalize WBs and support self-organization will need to tackle the problems derived from demographic patterns, including land allocation, institutions design and government distrust, in addition to the typical investments in both physical infrastructure and hydrological information systems. The leadership role of the government, acting as a top-down trigger, is another essential element in Suriname.

Impact of new technologies and social networks on a secondary education theatre project

This paper describes the potential impact of social media and new technologies in secondary education. The case of study has been designed for the drama and theatre subject. A wide set of tools like social networks, blogs, internet, multimedia content, local press and other promotional tools are promoted to increase students’ motivation. The experiment was developed at the highschool IES Al-Satt located in Algete in the Comunidad de Madrid. The students included in the theatre group present a low academic level, 80% of them had previously repeated at least one grade, half of them come from programs for students with learning difficulties and were at risk of social exclusion. This action is supported by higher and secondary education professors and teachers who look forward to implanting networked media technologies as new tools to improve the academic results and the degree of involvement of students. The results of the experiment have been excellent, based on satisfactory opinions obtained from a survey answered by students at the end of the course, and also revealed by the analytics taken from different social networks. This project is a pioneer in the introduction and usage of new technologies in secondary high-schools in Spain.

Capacity Building through education, research and collaboration: AFRICA BUILD, an eHealth Case Study

AFRICA BUILD (AB) is a Coordination Action project under the 7th European Framework Programme having the aim of improving the capacities for health research and education in Africa through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This project, started in 2012, has promoted health research, education and evidence-based practice in Africa through the creation of centers of excellence, by using ICT,?know-how?, eLearning and knowledge sharing, through Web-enabled virtual communities.

Un nuevo sistema de gobernanza para afrontar los retos del siglo XXI en la educación universitaria en Perú basado en el modelo de análisis de políticas

Un nuevo sistema de gobernanza para afrontar los retos del siglo XXI en la educación universitaria en Perú basado en el modelo de análisis de políticas, surge de observar el efecto de la competencia en los mercados, de la distribución de los escasos recursos según productividad y rendimiento, y de la gestión ineficiente de las universidades ya que estos parámetros están cambiando los criterios de confianza y legitimidad del sistema universitario en Perú. Las universidades se perciben más como instituciones del sector público, mientras que los servicios que ofrecen deben más bien contribuir a la modernización de la sociedad emergente y a la economía del conocimiento. Las reformas universitarias- iniciadas en los años 80 - han estado inspiradas en las organizaciones universitarias exitosas que han logrado modificar su gobernanza y van dirigidas a transformar ciertas instituciones burocráticas en organizaciones capaces de desempeñar la función de actores en esta competición global por los recursos y los mejores talentos. En este contexto, la universidad peruana se enfrenta a dos grandes desafíos: el de adaptarse a las nuevas perspectivas mundiales, y el poder dar mejor respuesta a las demandas, necesidades y expectativas de la sociedad. Un cambio en el sistema de gobernanza para la educación superior universitaria dará una solución integral a estos desafíos permitiéndole enfrentar los problemas de la universidad para su desarrollo e inserción en las corrientes mundiales. La metodología planteada en la investigación es cualitativa parte del análisis de la realidad como un TODO, sin reducirlos a sus partes integrantes, con la interpretación de los hechos, buscando entender las variables que intervienen. Se propone una política para la educación universitaria en Perú que se permeabilice a la sociedad, cambiando el modelo de planificación de un modelo de reforma social a un modelo de análisis de políticas, donde el Estado Peruano actúe como único responsable de responder a la sociedad demandante como su representante legal, y con unos organismo externo e independiente que siente las bases de la práctica, como se está haciendo en muchos modelos universitarios del mundo. Esta investigación presenta una primera fase conceptual, que aborda la evolución histórica de las universidades en el Perú, analizando y clarificando las fuerzas impulsoras a través del tiempo y distinguir las principales líneas que le imprimen dirección y sentido a los cambios de una realidad educativa universitaria. Así mismo, en esta fase se hace un análisis de la situación actual de las universidades en el Perú para llegar a determinar en qué situación se encuentra y si está preparada para enfrentar los retos de la educación universitaria mundial, para esto se analizan los modelos universitarios de mayor prestigio en el mundo. El marco teórico anterior permite sentar, en una segunda fase de la investigación, las bases científicas del modelo que se propone: el modelo de planificación de análisis de políticas para el sistema universitario peruano. Este modelo de ámbito público propuesto para la educación universitaria peruana basa su estrategia en un modelo de planificación con un objetivo común: “Mejorar la calidad de la educación superior universitaria peruana con el fin de aumentar la empleabilidad y la movilidad de los ciudadanos así como la competitividad internacional de la educación universitaria en Perú”, y con unas líneas de acción concretadas en cuatro objetivos específicos: 1) competencias (genéricas y específicas de las áreas temáticas); 2) enfoques de enseñanza, aprendizaje y evaluación; 3) créditos académicos; 4) calidad de los programa. Así como los fundamentos metodológicos del modelo de análisis de políticas, utilizado como estructura política, teniendo en cuenta las características básicas del modelo: a) Planificación desde arriba; b) Se centra en la toma de decisiones; c) Separación entre conocimiento experto y decisión; d) El estudio de los resultados orienta el proceso decisor. Finalmente, se analiza una fase de validación del modelo propuesto para la educación superior universitaria peruana, con los avances ya realizados en Perú en temas de educación superior, como es, el actual contexto de la nueva Ley Universitaria N°30220 promulgada el 8 de julio de 2014, la creación del SUNEDU y la reorganización del SINEACE, que tienen como propósito atender la crisis universitaria centrada en tres ejes principales incluidos en la ley, considerados como bases para una reforma. Primero, el Estado asume la rectoría de las políticas educativas en todos los niveles educativos. El segundo aspecto consiste en instalar un mecanismo de regulación de la calidad que junto con la reestructuración de aquellos otros existentes debieran sentar las bases para que las familias y estudiantes tengan la garantía pública de que el servicio que se ofrece, sin importar sus características particulares, presenten un mínimo común de calidad y un tercer aspecto es que la ley se reafirma en que la universidad es un espacio de construcción de conocimiento basado en la investigación y la formación integral. Las finalidades, la estructura y organización, las formas de graduación, las características del cuerpo docente, la obligatoriedad por los estudios generales, etc., indican que la reflexión académica es el centro articulador de la vida universitaria. Esta validación también se ha confrontado con los resultados de las entrevistas cualitativas a juicio de experto que se han realizado a rectores de universidades públicas y privadas así como a rectores miembros de la ex ANR, miembros de organizaciones como CONCYTEC, IEP, CNE, CONEAU, ICACIT e investigadores en educación superior, con la finalidad de analizar la sostenibilidad del modelo propuesto en el tiempo. Los resultados evidencian, que en el sistema universitario peruano se puede implementar un cambio hacía un modelo de educación superior universitaria, con una política educativa que se base en un objetivo común claramente definido, un calendario para lograrlo y un conjunto objetivos específicos, con un cambio de estructura política de reforma social a un modelo de análisis de políticas. Así mismo se muestran los distintos aspectos que los interesados en la educación superior universitaria deben considerar, si se quiere ocupar un espacio en el futuro y si interesa que la universidad peruana pueda contribuir para que la sociedad se forje caminos posibles a través de una buena docencia que se refleje en su investigación, con alumnos internacionales, sobre todo, en los postgrados; con un investigación que se traduzca en publicaciones, patentes, etc., de impacto mundial, con relevancia en la sociedad porque contribuye a su desarrollo, concretándose en trabajos de muy diversos tipos, promovidos junto con empresas, gobiernos en sus diversos niveles, instituciones públicas o privadas, etc., para que aporten financiación a la universidad. ABSTRACT A new system of governance to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century university education in Peru based on the model of policy analysis, comes to observe the effect of market competition, distribution of scarce resources according to productivity and performance, and inefficient management of universities as these parameters are changing the criteria of trust and legitimacy of the university system in Peru. Universities are perceived more as public sector institutions, while the services provided should rather contribute to the modernization of society and the emerging knowledge economy. The-university reforms initiated in the 80s - have been inspired by successful university organizations that have succeeded in changing its governance and as attempting to transform certain bureaucratic institutions into organizations that act as actors in this global competition for resources and top talent. In this context, the Peruvian university faces two major challenges: to adapt to the new global outlook, and to better respond to the demands, needs and expectations of society. A change in the system of governance for university education give a comprehensive solution to address these challenges by allowing the problems of the university development and integration into global flows. The methodology proposed in this research is qualitative part of the analysis of reality as a whole, without reducing them to their constituent parts, with the interpretation of the facts, seeking to understand the variables involved. a policy for university education in Peru that permeabilizes society is proposed changing the planning model of a model of social reform a model of policy analysis, where the Peruvian State to act as the sole responsible for responding to the applicant as its legal representative, and with external and independent body that provides the basis of practice, as is being done in many university models in the world. This research presents an initial conceptual phase, which deals with the historical development of universities in Peru, analyzing and clarifying the driving forces over time and distinguish the main lines that give direction and meaning to changes in university educational reality. Also, at this stage an analysis of the current situation of universities in Peru is done to be able to determine what the situation is and whether it is prepared to meet the challenges of the global higher education, for this university models are analyzed most prestigious in the world. The above theoretical framework allows to lay in a second phase of research, the scientific basis of the model proposed: the planning model of policy analysis for the Peruvian university system. This proposed model of public sphere for the Peruvian college bases its strategy on a planning model with a common goal: "To improve the quality of the Peruvian university education in order to enhance the employability and mobility of citizens and the international competitiveness of higher education in Peru ", and lines of action materialized in four specific objectives: 1) competences (generic and specific subject areas); 2) approaches to teaching, learning and assessment; 3) credits; 4) quality of the program. As well as the methodological foundations of policy analysis model, used as political structure, taking into account the basic characteristics of the model: a) Planning from above; b) focuses on decision making; c) Separation between expertise and decision; d) The study of the results process guides the decision maker. Finally, a validation phase of the proposed Peruvian university higher education, with the progress already made in Peru on issues of higher education model is analyzed, as is the current context of the new University Law No. 30220 promulgated on July 8 2014, the creation of SUNEDU and reorganization of SINEACE, which are intended to serve the university crisis centered on three main areas included in the law, considered as the basis for reform. First, the State assumes the stewardship of education policies at all educational levels. The second aspect is to install a mechanism for regulating the quality along with the restructuring of those existing ones should lay the foundation for families and students to guarantee that public service is offered, regardless of their individual characteristics, are of common minimum quality and a third aspect is that the law reaffirms that the university is building a space of research-based knowledge and comprehensive training. The aims, structure and organization, forms of graduation, faculty characteristics, the requirement for the general studies, etc., indicate that the academic reflection is the coordinating center of university life. This validation has also been confronted with the results of qualitative interviews with expert judgment that has been made to directors of public and private universities as well as leading members of the former ANR members of organizations like CONCYTEC, IEP, CNE, CONEAU, ICACIT and researchers in higher education, in order to analyze the sustainability of the proposed model in time. The results show, that the Peruvian university system can implement a change to a model of university education, an educational policy based on clearly defined common goal, a timetable for achieving specific objectives set and, with a change social policy structure to a model of reform policy analysis. It also shows the various aspects that those interested in university education should consider, if you want to occupy a space in the future and if interested in the Peruvian university can contribute to society possible paths is forged through research good teaching, international students, especially in graduate programs; with research that results in publications, patents, etc., global impact, relevance to society because it contributes to their development taking shape in very different types of jobs, promoted with businesses, governments at various levels, public institutions or private, etc., to provide funding to the university.