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I hereby open the ceremony for the academic year 2012-2013
of the Valencian International University.
Doctors, please be seated and cover your heads.
The Dean of the Law School in Georgetown, William Treanor,
will now talk to us live from Washington.
Al Rector Badenas, Doctor Beardsmore y a los ilustres invitados.
A los alumnos y a los docentes de la Universidad Internacional Valenciana.
Es un privilegio formar parte de este Acto de Apertura
y darles la bienvenida al nuevo curso académico.
Forman ustedes parte de una de las iniciativas
más emocionantes en la educación que existe actualmente.
El enfoque de la VIU en las tecnologías y los cursos 100% online
les sitúa a la vanguardia del uso de las nuevas tecnologías
que cambia el modo en que se imparte la educación y que amplia su alcance.
He observado algunas de sus clases desde mi despacho en Georgetown
y me impresionó la calidad, la destreza de los docentes
y el empeño de los alumnos.
Asimismo me parece impresionante el alcance global de la VIU.
A medida en que la educación sea transnacional,
A medida en que aprendamos más allá de las fronteras nacionales,
están ustedes a la vanguardia. Son pioneros.
Os rindo homenaje a cada uno.
Saludo en particular al Rector Badenas que me ha invitado a participar.
Que también es muy buen líder en la educación.
Lamento que mi horario en el Georgetown Law no me permita estar con ustedes
en el tan hermoso e histórico Monasterio de San Miguel de los Reyes.
Sin embargo, me parece adecuado que participara en este acto,
aunque me encuentre en otro continente, gracias a la magia de la tecnología.
El hecho de que el uso de las tecnologías permite alguien,
que está literalmente en otro país, a asistir al Acto de Apertura,
pone de manifiesto tanto su uso transformativo de la tecnología
como su compromiso con respeto a la educación mundial.
Todos los alumnos y docentes de la VIU emprenden un gran viaje.
En nombre de todos los educadores de todo el mundo
les felicito a ustedes y les deseo el mayor de los éxitos. Gracias.
I will now hand over to the university's General Secretary, Yolanda Garcia Esteve.
We will now show a video report of the university's activities in 2011-2012.
As with every year, the time has come to officially open a new academic year.
As with other ceremonies, we will now look back at last year
and the most important activities we undertook.
This video is a summary of our university's activities last year.
The academic year 2011-2012 of the Valencian International University
was marked by decisive events affecting its evolution and growth:
In December 2011, the VIU signed an agreement with the Valencian public universities
to create two advisory bodies: the Advisory Council and the Academic Council.
In 2011-2012 we also designed new degrees and masters for this academic year,
which were presented to ANECA for approval. These include:
the Psychology Degree, the Master in Third Generation Therapies
and the Master in The Social Research of Scientific Communication.
ANECA also approved 5 new tracks in the Master in Secondary and Sixth Form Teaching,
Vocational Training and Language Teaching, namely:
Mathematics and Computing. Drawing.
Physical Education. Music.
Training and Career Guidance.
This increases the number of places to 540,
with 60 places in each of the 9 current specialisation tracks.
Work was also done on the Expert University course in Music Performance,
which in collaboration with the ISEACV aims to provide specialised training
in the performance of the violin, viola, cello and piano
with the aim on inserting students into different professional circuits.
The VIU organised diverse conferences during last year, such as:
The future training needs of legal practitioners in the world
and the cycle of conferences entitled: Why Our Children will Live Better than Us
with the collaboration of Mark Stevenson, Pascal Bruckner and Arcadi Espada.
In December 2011 the student representatives were elected to sit on the Advisory Council
and the Academic Council of the VIU.
Our Rector also took the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Education,
Culture and Sport, José Ignacio Wert Ortega, which led to the restructuring
of the VIU's management team.
One of the main functions of the university is teaching.
This teaching was directed at a total of 720 students in 2011-2012.
Apart from long courses - degrees and post graduate courses,
the VIU also ran short courses for a total of 123 students.
These courses called Learning to... are run by the university
and 754 students also took Nursing Association refresher courses.
Additionally, the Programa Senior-VIU provided courses to people over 55,
backed by the Councillor for the Elderly in the Castellon local government.
The programme covered 12 subjects over 43 sessions, such as:
Human Rights, Emotional Education, Mediation, Literature, Basic English
and the History of Cinema, among others.
The education project aimed to meet the demands of the continuing training
and personal development of this sector of the population.
Last year our students received financial assistance to study at the VIU,
70 grants coming from the Ministry of Education, 7 from the Valencian local government
and 15 awarded by the International University of Valencia Foundation.
The Multimedia Contents Design Department is responsible for producing
the textbooks and e-learning documents for all the university's courses.
During 2011-2012 the department produced 79 textbooks and 58 multimedia texts
as well as re-editing another 88 textbooks and 80 multimedia texts.
The Audiovisual Productions Department recorded and edited
more than 150 teaching videos during 2011-2012,
as well as filming all the university's events throughout the year.
The IT Systems Department designed and instigated a new application
to monitor the errors, incidences and IT requests from all the staff,
both teachers and administrators - in order to streamline the system.
The virtual campus has been brought into line with ANECA directives:
and has also updated the Sakai forums and Viuspace encrypted passwords.
They were also responsible for the VIU's live streamed events,
ensuring a worldwide broadcast of the Audiovisual Department's material.
As far as staff goes, the VIU has 90 staff members,
32 of which are teachers and researchers,
and 58 of which are admin and service workers.
There are also 117 consultant professors and some 117 invited experts.
During 2011-2012 the Valencian International University signed agreements
with over 150 public and private institutions, both national and international.
These include the Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofia,
the Federation of Municipalities and Provinces,
the Regional Council of Valencia and the FEDE-CECA -
the Spanish Federation of Religious Education.
These agreements enable our students to gain invaluable work experience
and prepare for their insertion into their chosen professional field.
Our university contributed significantly to specific research projects,
which led to our research professors being published in more than 100 books,
book chapters, journal articles, talks, presentations and speeches.
The University Ombudsman focused on improving university quality in all areas.
The Communications Office channelled its promotion of activities
organised by the Valencian International University.
It also promoted a cycle of conferences in Castellon on current issues
affecting teaching at the university and shared details of this.
This has meant that the VIU has gained unprecedented popularity with the Media.
Thanks to teachers' involvement, various opinion pieces have been published
in the main media outlets of the Valencian region.
The surgeon Dr. Pedro Cavadas Rodríguez was awarded an honorary doctorate
witnessed by the Cllr for Education, Training and Employment, María José Catalá Verdet,
the Vice-President of the Valencian Courts, Alejandro Font de Mora,
and the President of the Royal Society of Medicine in the Valencian Community, Antonio Llobart.
We are very proud of the recognition we received from the prizes
awarded to the university by organisations like the Sakai Foundation,
who awarded the VIU with first prize in the Teaching with Sakai Innovation Award.
Our Master in Music Performance and Research also received a special mention
for its innovative combination of music performance and research
using audiovisual techniques and new technology -
features making the VIU music teaching unique in the world.
I now hand over to Dr. Hugo Baetens Beardsmore, Emeritus Professor
at the Vrije University and the Free University in Brussels.
He will give the keynote speech on The Cultural Element in Bilingual Education.
Estoy conmovido por la magnífica recepción en este edificio tan hermoso
y me siento profundamente honrado por estar aquí hoy.
Lo que se ve en la pantalla es el monumento turístico más popular de Bélgica.
Se llama el Atomium y es equivalente a la Torre Eiffel de París.
Simboliza lo que todos que estudian la educación bilingüe,
en cualquier nivel de escolaridad y en cualquier contexto,
pueden considerar como los factores importantes.
Así pues son, desde arriba - el contenido, que comprende la disciplina
o la asignatura impartida, la cual domina en la educación bilingüe.
A la izquierda tenemos la comunicación, que es el elemento del idioma,
lo cual se determina el contenido.
A la derecha tenemos la cognición, que será el intento de adquirir
las destrezas cognitivas y académicas necesarias para el aprendizaje.
Por debajo de todo tenemos la cultura, que suman a las cuatro C's del bilingüísmo.
Esa última se ha ignorado bastante en la investigación sobre la educación bilingüe.
La razón por ello reside en que es muy difícil definir la cultura.
La mayoría de la gente, contestando a la pregunta: ¿Qué significa la cultura para tí?
ofrece solamente los aspectos de la cultura.
Las respuetas de 350 profesores a la misma pregunta se concentraban
en el comportamiento, en las ideas, o en los productos.
Por el comportamiento comprendían las lenguas, las costumbres y la comida.
Por las ideas: las creencias y los valores.
Por los productos: la literatura, el folclore y la arquitectura.
Aquellos que hacen referencia a la cultura en términos de comportamiento o de productos,
reflejan la noción de cultura como lo que observamos, lo que vemos.
Aquellos que hacen referencia a la cultura en términos de ideas
se refieren a lo cognitivo, a la manera en que interpretamos la cultura.
Una definición cognitiva de cultura sería que la cultura no consta de cosas,
personas, comportamientos ni emociones. Consta de las formas de las cosas,
que la gente mantiene en su mente, las cuales representan su cultura.
Otra definición es que la cultura es un patrón de significados
incluidos en símbolos que se transmite históricamente.
Sin embargo, la definición más potente resulta la más difícil de precisar.
La cultura de una sociedad comprende todo lo que uno ha de saber o creer
para operar de forma aceptable para sus miembros,
y hacerlo en cualquier papel aceptado para ellos mismos.
Es decir, la cultura es lo que todo el mundo sabe.
Esto supone dificultades porque, si la cultura es lo que todo el mundo sabe,
puede explicar los malentendidos en las distintas culturas.
Por ejemplo, muy pocos europeos saben mucho sobre el mundo árabe
salvo sus productos o las cosas que se ven.
Todos sabemos que en las sociedades musulmanas su cultura es...
lo que todo el mundo sabe. Lo que ellos dan por sentado.
Lo que ponen en práctica.
Aquellos de otras religiones, o de ninguna, no comparten
lo que todo el mundo sabe en el mundo árabe.
Por eso, nosotros solamente podemos notar el comportamiento
y los productos que fabrican, lo que puede desembocar en malentendidos.
Tenemos que pensar en la manera en que expresamos la cultura
y asimismo incluirla en la educación bilingüe.
Hay dos tipos de cultura que podemos gestionar:
la cultura superficial, que comprende las cosas que se ven,
como los resultados del esfuerzo artístico aquí y aquí,
los logros del ingenio intelectual - Goya, Velázquez, etcétera.
Los hechos heroicos - El Cid. Son elementos de la cultura superficial
de la gente aquí presente por ejemplo. La vida refinada, etcétera.
Luego existe la cultura profunda, que comprende los pensamientos,
las creencias, las inquietudes, las esperanzas, las preocupaciones,
la variedad de expresiones distintas que tenemos,
los detalles de la vida cotidiana y cómo se vive.
Si hablamos de la cultura en la educación bilingüe
hay que tener en cuenta los seis elementos fundamentales:
Los conocimientos compartidos y negociados.
Un patrón de significados incluidos en símbolos transmitidos históricamente.
La expresión simbólica en las normas, los códigos, el entendimiento tácito.
Cultura es una relación social, es la acción mutua.
Las nociones de lo que es importante.
Cultura comprende los acuerdos sobre significados compartidos.
Implica mucho trabajo si quieres incluirlo en la educación bilingüe.
Todo tipo de educación bilingüe consta de dos partes:
hay las clases de idioma y las clases de contenido.
Las clases de idiomas van desde las estructuras más sencillas hasta las más complejas.
Puede que enseñen aspectos de la cultura que están ligados al idioma.
Eso es lo que suele ocurrir. Aprendes algo en francés y al mismo tiempo
aprendes algo sobre la manera en que los franceses utilizan el idioma.
Sin embargo, en la clase de contenido, que constituye la otra parte,
existe como una característica mucho más sutil. Es más difícil de analizar.
La enseñanza y el aprendizaje no operan en el vacío.
Dentro de la cultura más amplia de la sociedad existe la cultura de la escuela, del aula,
lo que representa una subcultura en la que hay algunas normas implícitas.
Las normas sobre quién dirige los actos de discurso - el profesor.
Quién controla los turnos - el profesor.
Quién interrumpe el discurso - el profesor. Rara vez son los alumnos.
Quién dirige las actividades. Los niños aprenden esta subcultura por ir al cole.
Lo aprenden con rapidez.
Sin embargo, en un programa bilingüe, además de tener la subcultura de su escuela,
tienen que aprender la subcultura de cualquier disciplina en concreto:
la geografía, la historia, las matemáticas, las ciencias...
porque representan una subcultura también.
Po lo tanto, hay que pensar en cómo enseñamos, si hablamos de las ciencias,
a través de un idioma extranjero. Tenemos que enseñar la cultura del idioma
así como la subcultura de la biología o la química, etcétera.
Es decir, lo específico para la disciplina.
Con frecuencia se piensa que la mejor manera para conseguirlo
es usar los manuales extranjeros, publicados en Inglaterra o EEUU por ejemplo
para enseñar la historia, la biología, la geografía, etcétera.
El uso de materiales auténticos.
Eso puede causar problemas.
Una profesora de geografía en Hamburgo, Alemania, enseñaba a través del francés
y usaba los manuales de geografía producidos en Francia.
Pensaba que era material auténtico, era real y que debería usarlo.
Entraba en problemas graves porque el lenguaje de los manuales sobrepasaba en gran medida
los conocimientos lingüísticos de los alumnos...,
pero el contenido era el adecuado en términos de su dificultad.
Tenía que reconciliar la falta de conocimiento lingüístico con lo que quería enseñar,
que era la geografía para escolares con 13 años de edad.
Había otro problema. En el ejemplo de Hamburgo, los manuales franceses
no abarcaban la información incluida en el plan de estudios alemán,
lo que exigía la Junta de Exámenes en Hamburgo, Alemania.
El manual francés contenía información sobre los puertos de Tolón, El Harve y Marsella.
En cambio, en el examen en Hamburgo tenían que contestar preguntas
sobre los puertos de Hamburgo, Bremen o Kiel.
No había preguntas sobre El Mediterráneo, lo que contenía el manual francés.
Les preguntaban sobre El Báltico.
Había una discrepancia en la cultura superficial así como una discrepancia lingüística,
que complicaba la vida de la profesora, hasta que aprendió adaptarse.
El propósito es trasladar los objetos del conocimiento: geografía, matemáticas, ciencia,
en un idioma que los alumnos aún no lo conocen suficientemente,
pero que lo adquieren a través de la asignatura.
Una asignatura considerada buena para la educación bilingüe son las matemáticas.
¿Por qué es tan buena asignatura?
Porque las matemáticas tienen un lenguaje restringido.
Vuelve una y otra vez para que lo asimilen mejor.
Tiene un apoyo visual. Si están estudiando la geometría o la trigonometría
hay fórmulas que no necesitan palabras, así que es una buena asignatura.
Sin embargo, un problema cultural surgió en una escuela de Primaria en París.
La mitad de los niños eran americanos, la otra mitad eran franceses.
Los dos grupos aprendían el otro idioma, que parecía un buen programa.
Como eran niños de Primaria decidían unir el plan de estudios americano con el francés.
Se consideraba que no habría ningún problema. Pero no funcionó.
La tradición americana para las matemáticas difiere de la francesa
en sus culturas, historia y la subcultura de las matemáticas.
Tuvieron que abandonarlo, incluso para los niños más pequeños.
Otro ejemplo viene de Estrasburgo, en la frontera franco-alemana
donde el Lycée International intercambiaba con Realschule Gymnasium.
Los alumnos eran dotados en sus asignaturas y con destrezas en el otro idioma.
La mitad de los franceses cruzaron la frontera a Alemania
y la mitad de los alemanes fueron a Francia.
¿Cuál era el problema?
En las clases de matemáticas, los profesores franceses descubrieron
que los alemanes se les daban fatal las matemáticas.
Pero en Alemania se les daban bien.
¿El problema era del idioma? No, conocían el idioma.
El problema era la subcultura de las matemáticas francesas.
La tradición matemática es distinta de la subcultura de las matemáticas alemanas.
La gente no lo sabía. Pensaba que sólo implicaba hacer la misma cosa en otro idioma.
Hay un elemento cultural muy sutil que forma parte de la cultura profunda.
No es algo superficial, lo que se ve enseguida.
Se hizo una comparación entre los manuales de matemáticas en Inglaterra,
y los de Francia y Alemania, para ver cuáles eran las diferencias culturales.
Descubrieron que en Inglaterra los profesores se centraban en la práctica
de las habilidades rutinarias. Era la meta principal en la clase de matemáticas.
En las clases de matemáticas en Francia se centraban en la exploración
del pensamiento matemático para comprender cómo funciona.
Los alemanes se interesaban más en el contenido matemático.
Se piensa en todo el mundo que las matemáticas son universales.
Sin embargo, la forma en que están tratadas revela una característica cultural
que se refiere a la cultura profunda, no a la superficial.
Por eso es un ejemplo de la subcultura, en este caso la de las matemáticas.
Se ve también con la Geografía. Y con la Historia es aún más complejo.
Es por esa razón, que en las escuelas europeas para funcionarios europeos,
los cuales son plurilingües y todos los niños aprenden 3 idiomas,
siempre les enseñan primero su historia nacional en su lengua materna
y más tarde lo repiten en otro idioma.
Y luego los franceses aprenden quien ganó la batalla de Waterloo.
Porque hasta entonces piensan que la ganaron ellos.
Detrás de las características superficiales que se ve fácilmente, como aquí,
las cuales son impresionantes y hermosas, existen características más profundas
de la subcultura dentro de la educación bilingüe.
Así pues, ¿qué pretendemos enseñar a los niños en el segundo idioma?
Pretendemos enseñarles la subcultura de la disciplina,
que puede ser distinta a la de su propio idioma.
Se trata de enseñar los conocimientos compartidos y negociados
de las matemáticas, o la geografía, o la historia, etcétera.
Se trata de enseñar que las tradiciones matemáticas son transmitidas históricamente.
Antes hablaba de las seis definiciones en lo que consiste la cultura:
los conocimientos compartidos y negociados de la materia.
Luego, la tradición histórica detrás de la materia que se enseña.
Estas tradiciones están incluidas en símbolos.
La manera en que un país u otro afrontan la materia no es exactamente igual.
Significa un enriquecimiento para los alumnos.
Conforme avanzan, pueden compararla y sus destrezas cognitivas funcionarán mejor
que en un alumno que lo ha aprendido en un idioma sólo...,
en cuanto se hayan entendido los elementos de la subcultura.
Lleva al entendimiento tácito. Aprenden la geografía en el estilo alemán o inglés
y conocen el estilo español porque están en España.
Para enseñar la asignatura hay que llegar a un acuerdo sobre los significados compartidos.
Luego se amplían los significados compartidos.
Entonces, si la cultura es lo que todo el mundo sabe,
se pretende, que en la educación bilingüe, los niños crezcan a través del idioma
hasta llegar al nivel cognitivo adecuado para favorecer el aprendizaje
y para que, con cualquier asignatura que aprenden hasta realizar exámenes,
que lleguen a lo que todo el mundo sabe, para poder ejercer como biólogo,
matemático, o cualquiera que sea la profesión.
La manera de conseguirlo es enfocándose en la cultura superficial en las clases de idiomas,
y en la subcultura de la disciplina para ver las comparaciones poco a poco
y así llegar a un acuerdo sobre los significados compartidos:
los significados dentro de la disciplina y los significados para los ciudadanos,
que no tenían el privilegio de una educación bilingüe, aprendían en sólo un idioma.
Por eso, tenemos que pensar muy cuidadosamente en la cultura
cuando realizamos la educación bilingüe. Muchas gracias.
Many thanks Prof. Baetens Beardsmore. Welcome to our university.
I now hand over to the Director General of University, Higher Studies
and Science, José Miguel Saval Pérez.
To the Rector of the Valencian International University, the General Secretary,
the Vice-Rector, the Hon. President of Les Corts Valencianes,
the Vice-Rectors of the University and Polytechnic of Valencia,
of the Jaume I University, the University of Alicante
and the University Miguel Hernández in Elche, the CEO of AVAP,
the Director of ISEACV, the managers of the VIU, Tona,
to the Professors and Doctors teaching at this extraordinary university,
ladies and gentlemen, friends, a very good afternoon to you all.
I would firstly like to say that my speech will be short.
I hope no one expects otherwise.
It is however a very sincere speech. What I want to say here,
what I want to say to the members of this extraordinary university
and to its management team, I also say to the whole Valencian community.
I would first like to congratulate the work undertaken by the Rector
and also to thank him for his kind invitation to attend a ceremony
of such importance for this university of the Valencian Generalitat,
the local government of Valencia and to which I also form part.
I also thank Prof. Hugo:
Gracias por su conferencia, bienvenido a Valencia y a la VIU.
As you all saw in the brief video report of last year's activities,
there are many excellent projects being developed daily by this university.
On behalf of the government I'd like to congratulate them on all their work.
However, I'd also like to add that this task has only just begun.
The Council, Government, Local Education Authority and this university
are pushing forward an impressive plan which will reap benefits in the future.
Maybe people do not know, and it is the fault of those in power,
that the VIU is not a public sector university.
It is an extraordinary initiative which will bear great fruit very soon.
It is a combination of a private and public initiative
with a public and private management that offers wonderful opportunities.
It has an incredible strength and collaborative spirit in its structure
and also with both the public and private university system
which the seven campus universities of the Valencian community represent.
On behalf of the Councilor and President I'd like to acknowledge
the close cooperation of all the universities, especially the 5 public ones,
who all signed the agreement we saw reported in the short video,
and which was witnessed by the President of the Generalitat.
As you will all know very shortly, and in an attempt to be transparent,
I can now confirm the injection of private capital from an educational institution.
I stress that it does not come from any government funds.
It has been earmarked to strengthen this initiative.
This is not just to save money and to try to be more efficient.
We all need to do this anyway, and universities are collaborating,
especially in the amount the public universities have cut back.
I'd like to thank the work the Rector has been doing
to deal with all the cutbacks and restrictions imposed by the Government
in an attempt to manage the scarce financial means at his fingertips.
I feel this should be the general way of working anyway.
Resources should only be those that are completely necessary,
and this Director General will offer more as soon as there is more.
All of us, myself, the Councilor for Education and the local Government
along with the public and private university sectors
must always ensure that our actions and information are transparent
and are coherent in terms of what can be done with these resources.
This Community actually has many educational resources available.
This Director General is tired of always seeing the community get bad press
both in Spain and outside. When it's true, I accept it with dismay,
but I also lay the blame on the person who is actually at fault.
Everyone should know that the Valencian community directs 85% of its budget
to social policy, especially education, health and social welfare.
This is more than any other community.
32% goes to education - ie. 4,500 million Euros from the 12,500 million budget.
From this, 1,000 million goes to universities.
This is from our efforts and the efforts of all the community's citizens,
coming from the local government's decision on where to levy taxes.
We're doing a good job. The VIU is doing a good job.
All the executives of all private and public universities are working well.
We're going to improve because we can provide more opportunities with less.
This is because all universities, the VIU in particular, want to become
a crucial part of what the government knows to be one of the clear ways
for us to come out of this crisis.
It is an online project, and I could go on about the benefits of distance learning,
the use of new technologies and new opportunities,
but this is what all universities do every day.
They sometimes get it wrong and are criticised.
The best universities in Europe, America and of course here,
which outshine all the rest, as I can attest to as Minister,
and with ours here being some of the best, are all opting for online teaching.
They want to catch the best talents, the best cultural realtionships,
to take advatntage of what Prof. Hugo was telling us about.
This is what the Education Ministry and the Valencian Government are backing.
I know many people make a lot of noise about this
and I know that in my case I have difficulties with English,
and my colleagues from the universities know this.
But what worries me is the future of our children.
If they're engineers like me, they're not going to be asked
about engineering calcualtions for different structures.
First they'll be asked if they know languages, not just English, but several ones.
If they can answer yes, only then will they be asked about calculations.
This is why we're backing this initiative so strongly.
This online university is breaking down barriers
and it's about to pass other milestones because with this new melding
of the public and private in a totally intentional way
we want to break the boundaries which are closer to home.
This is for all universities, but especially with the VIU.
I'm talking about the current drama of our economic fabric and unemployment.
I know the details of the Spanish drama, but it's happening everywhere.
People are not just unemployed. They lack training.
70% of the over 500 thousand unemployed people in Spain
do not have any training whatsoever.
This translates to being the fact that 70% of young people under 25
who are unemployed, have left school without any qualifications.
It seems there's not a lot we can do about this.
So we must clearly back education and training:
for an individual's sense of self worth and freedom, their ability to decide,
and for the opportunity to achieve progress in their lives.
The barriers the VIU will break are very close to home, not distant ones.
The VIU will offer concrete training projects for people over 45,
who have never studied in their lives.
These people, who will never be able to get a typical Master for example,
will however be able to benefit from this initiative.
The initiative will also offer language teaching, of course
and it will extend to the whole university system in the Community.
It will enable people who chose other paths when they were young
to get the opportunity to train and so go up the cultural ladder.
Another thing I'd like to share with you is the old, familiar tale
we've been hearing for such a long time now.
It's the one about the big problems with the proposed student-teacher ratios.
It was obvious that so many students wouldn't fit in the classrooms.
We never got a clear answer, but the ratios have gone down from last year.
They say it's because they want the public university system to close down,
but we've been in power for 20 years and more than 70% of students
still study in the magnificent public universities of this government.
This commitment is born out by the rankings. Of the 15 public universities
with the most funding in Spain, we are lucky to include our 5 here.
The first in the rankings is one of ours too.
So this is what we're going to do. We must commit to training.
Whatever you may hear out there, I'd like to say to those people
working in this Community's universities, and to those who run them,
that we have always had and will continue to have,
and I vouch that the local government is committed to this,
that we have a great initiative in the pipeline.
This plan involves the commitment of both public and private management
in all the great offers it needs to provide.
It is in its own interest, and because of the public management element,
it must be useful for the rest of the education sector in this community.
This is what I want to make known, the government's commitment to the plan.
I wish you all continued success and a great start to the new academic year.
I also hope that next year's video report, if I'm still here as Director General,
will include all the things I've mentioned here this afternoon.
Thank you, enjoy the rest of the ceremony.
Thank you Director General.
To the Director General of Universities, Higher Education and Science,
the distinguished Vice-Rector of the Valencian International University,
the distinguished General Secretary. The Hon. President of the Corts Valencianes,
the distinguished directors of AVAP and ISEA.
And to all the other academic and autonomous authorities present,
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
Firstly, thank you to all those who have been able to come today
to the opening ceremony of the academic year 2012-2013,
in the emblematic monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes in Valencia.
Those of us representing the VIU have said on many occasions
that one of the functions of our university is to globally spread
the knowledge, heritage and culture of the Valencian people.
Since my inauguration ceremony in the Monastery of Santa María in El Puig,
and last year's opening ceremony in the Castillo de Papa Luna in Peniscola,
each VIU ceremony has taken place in an emblematic building of the region.
Not just so that the Valencian people get to know these buildings,
but also so that all the people who visit our platform
get the chance to appreciate their maginificence, even though it's recorded.
They can watch our events whenever they want by downloading them
from the VIU's web page immediately after our technicians upload them.
Our web page is visited daily by thousands of people throughout the world.
The number of visits grew to more than half a million last year.
For us at the VIU, the web page and the platform are what other universities
present as their lecture halls, departments, schools and faculties,
but which, as I'll explain later, at a fraction of the cost.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate
all the staff, technicians and teachers at the VIU,
all equally important, because without the former, the latter
would not have been able to teach their classes in 2011-2012.
Their dedication and effort has needed to increase this year
due to events outside the university's control.
In spite of this, we have shown that the institution
is the most efficient and profitable in the Valencian public university system.
And with a big difference.
Thank you to the General Secretary for preparing the video report
for the academic year 2011-2012, which highlights some notable VIU events,
such as the honorary doctorate awarded to Doctor Pedro Cavadas.
I extend these thanks to all the technicians and collaborators
who helped to prepare the video report along with this ceremony.
Mi agradecimiento más sincero al Decano de la Facultad de Derecho
de Georgetown, Profesor William Treanor, por haber tenido la amabilidad
de participar en este acto desde los EEUU
a través de la plataforma tecnológica de la VIU, la cual conoce bien.
Quiero agradecer su participación, pero sobre todo sus palabras,
que demuestran la buena relación que existe entre las dos universidades.
Sé que esta relación será mutuamente beneficioso en el futuro
tanto en el plano docente como en la investigación.
Asimismo gracias y felicitaciones a Profesor Beatens Beardsmore
por su brillante lección inaugural en la cual nos ha enseñado
que la enseñanza y el aprendizaje no operan en el vacío
y que el bilingüismo puede ayudar a superar las discrepancias culturales
y abrir el paso al conocimiento.
For the VIU and the Valencian Government...,
multilingualism is a key factor in people's education and training.
The idea of a thorough personal training needs to always include
knowledge of various tools or instruments to enable
the communication of ideas, science, culture and even feelings.
These tools and instruments are languages.
This September, the VIU has created an important department
for international relations and languages, with excellent promise,
which will not only benefit our university, but all Valencians too.
For some years we have been victims of the financial crisis,
which has produced difficulties for everyone.
The crisis has actually become an excuse for the inevitable failures
in how public and private interests are managed.
This speech isn't like others, with their familiar complaints.
At the VIU we believe that the mind is a powerful problem-solving tool.
Maybe because we work at a university, which everyone knows
is a place where people go to communicate their ideas and knowledge
and where approaches to solve society's problems are debated.
One challenge facing the autonomous and national Spanish governments
is how to sustain the Spanish university system.
I have visited many leading European universities in the last 20 years.
Many of their facilities are run down.
But Spanish universities boast of modern, well-built campuses
with spacious faculty buildings, classrooms and sports facilities.
We all know that maintaining this heritage is extremely expensive
and difficult to sustain in the present crisis.
Official figures show that public universities spend on average
34 million Euros to meet these costs.
Public universities in Spain also operate with a teaching staff
of lecturers and professors of 49 years of age on average.
47.5 percent of these lecturers began working over 30 years ago,
in response to the teaching and research demands of the early 80's,
and before the European Higher Education Area came into being.
This Area replaced the old diplomas, degrees and Ph.Ds
with new degrees, masters of advanced studies and postgraduate courses.
In Spain there are more than 98 thousand professors
who cost the public purse more than 3 billion Euros a year.
If you also take into account all the other costs:
building maintenance, other teaching staff, admin and service workers,
financial expenses, subsistence allowances, research costs and so on,
it's obvious that if we do nothing to change things..,
maintaining the Spanish university system with tax revenue alone is untenable.
The clear solution is not to do away with the vast human capital we have,
which is highly regarded both at home and beyond our borders,
but instead we need to establish platforms which at a minimum cost
can channel our best teachers' accumulated wisdom
into a viable product which can then be sold around the world.
Then we will get a public return which can be used to balance out
the high sustainability costs of the system as a whole.
Raising taxes and prices, or employing cutbacks must not be the only tactic
against the problems of our current public service funding.
We need to find a way to use resources so that the system
can generate extra income to cover a large part of its costs.
This option has a bonus: exporting knowledge from within our universities
will better position Spain and the Valencian Community on a global level
and will help us to come out of the crisis.
We mustn't reject anything but rather take advantage of everything.
We have to start using our technology platforms to enable students and teachers
to interact in real time wherever they are in the world,
so that distance and time stop becoming obstacles to quality education.
This will also, as the Director General said, allow the private sector
to participate in the costs and benefits of these new information channels
like videoconferencing, digital TV, e-learning documents
and the other current resources at our teachers' fingertips.
If the 1,000 year-old institution of the university has survived all this time
it's down to its ability to transform itself without losing its essence.
If making itself more sustainable means implementing certain changes
then there must be no obstacles placed in its path.
Let us pull together and reach agreements on how to implement these changes.
There is no choice. Universities are going to change whether we like it or not.
It's far better that all those involved lead this change
rather than waiting to be dragged along by the change itself.
In Spain and the Valencian Community we now have a university model
which is capable of affording greater flexibility to the system as a whole
without it having to renounce its essence nor its way of doing things.
Let me be clear - we can make our universities sustainable
without changing their status quo or even their decision-making processes.
New university models now allow public universities to continue teaching
their degrees, masters and Ph.Ds as before, but with a far greater reach.
They can increase their revenue and enable teachers to teach their classes
in real time with simultaneous translation of up to 30 languages,
to students studying from home and in their own language.
All with no work or geographical constraints. This is the VIU model.
At the end of last year we signed an agreement with the 5 rectors
of the Valencian public universities in the presence of the President
and Vice-President of the Generalitat, to provide all our university professors
with access to our powerful, award-winning technology platform,
which has been recognised in the US as one of the most advanced in the world.
The aim of this agreement is to make our university system more viable,
flexible and relevant on the international stage.
To conclude, I'd like to read a quote by the first European Commissioner
for multilingualism, Ján Figel, which goes as follows:
-The major future challenges in the educational field are how to reform our learning systems
to prepare our young people for jobs that do not exist yet,
using technologies that have not been invented yet,
in order to solve problems that haven’t been identified yet.-
The temptation of conservatism has always existed.
Even for certain people and institutions who consider themselves progressive,
such as universities, some political parties, administrations and some intellectual groups.
Conservatism involves two different mindsets:
fear of change and a selfish maintaining of a particular stance or status quo.
But now is not the time for cowards or egoists.
Doctors, please rise.
In the name of our majesty the King, I now begin the academic year 2012-2013
of the Valencian International University.