PRESS RELEASE
2016 EADTU “The Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education Conference”
GLOBAL EDUCATION FOR A GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP: AN ANSWER TO THE MIGRANT AND REFUGEE CRISIS
This issue will be discussed in Rome, from the 19th to the 21st October, during the International Conference organized by the EADTU (European Association of Distance Teaching Universities) and by the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO
THE WORKS WILL BE OPENED BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH, STEFANIA GIANNINI
The digital technologies applied to education allow for creating new models of interconnected universities letting everybody access to quality knowledge. These new academic models may become a concrete answer to the needs of the XXI century citizen and help facing the migrant and refugee crisis with educational offers promoting their inclusion in the hosting countries.
It is precisely on this issues that the 2016 EADTU International Conference “The Online, Open and Flexible Higher Education – Enhancing European Higher Education: Opportunities and Impact of New Modes of Teaching”, which has been organized by the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO on the occasion of its 10th Anniversary, will expand.
This International Conference takes place in Rome, from the 19th to the 21st October: a unique event that will gather over 550 institutional representatives, delegates, rectors, professors and researchers coming from several countries across the world: United States, Canada, Argentina, South Africa, India, Lebanon, Arab Emirates, Morocco, Russia, Japan and European Countries. Additionally, researchers and a number of experts will illustrate the outcomes of their research work in the field of the digital technologies applied to education. The proposals and reports prepared during the Conference days will converge into the “Rome Declaration” that will be presented at the closing of the works on the 21st October.
The Conference will start on Wednesday, the 19th at 2:30 pm at the Auditorium of the Antonianum Pontifical University (Viale Manzoni, 1), with a plenary session entitled “Networks of Traditional and Online Universities for a Global Citizenship”. Among the speakers there will be: the Minister of Education, University and Research, Stefania Giannini; the Chancellor of the Smart University of Dubai and Chairman of the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, Mansoor Al Awar; the Minister General of the Order of the Friars Minor and Great Chancellor of the Antonianum Pontifical University, Father Michael Perry; the Rector of the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO, Maria Amata Garito; the President and Rector of the Open University of the Netherlands, Anja Oskamp.
Eminent speakers who, for the first time, will be sitting at the same table to speak about global citizenship and social inclusion through the access to quality education for all, in particular for migrants and refugees, and who are aware of the fact that these last ones can become an important resource for each country provided that they invest on their education and on the recognition of past qualifications. In addition, they will discuss about:
- Academic diplomacy and the role played by the universities in starting new diplomatic relations among the countries to become instruments of peace, cohesion and development;
- Digital technologies and modernization of the International and European universities;
- Open and flexible education (MOOCs and OERs);
- Learning Analytics;
- The University for Refugees. The University without Boundaries.
They all are issues that – given the current historical situation we are experiencing – have become top priorities in the international political agendas.
On the occasion of this Conference, we will present the portal “UNIVERSITY FOR REFUGEES. EDUCATION WITHOUT BOUNDARIES” (www.istruzionesenzaconfini.it): it is the first telematic portal worldwide (in English, French, Italian and Arabic) allowing immigrants and refugees to have the study qualifications and skills acquired in their countries of origin be recognized and be enrolled in one of the 25 degree courses of UNINETTUNO University; free access to Italian and Arab language courses; access to healthcare services by means of system based on telemedicine.
UNINETTUNO has also made available 50 scholarships for students with status of people entitled to International protection. The 50 beneficiaries will be able to enroll, for free, in one of UNINETTUNO degree courses and earn an International study title. The aim is that of promoting and supporting the academic path of immigrants with status of refugees and contribute to their professional inclusion into the hosting country. Thanks to this initiative and to the strength of our network, by now a number of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon and in Germany are UNINETTUNO students.
“Only cooperating in a constructive way with the Universities of the various countries of the world, with the countries of the Arab World and of Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular – UNINETTUNO’s rector, Maria Amata Garito, says – and comparing our histories and our cultures, we can build a future of peace. Giving immigrants and refugees the opportunity of earning a study title means giving them back dignity and encouraging them to go ahead trusting the humankind and hoping to build a better future”.
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UNINETTUNO CELEBRATES ITS 10th ANNIVERSARY
The story of a wholly-Italian model that revolutionized the way of creating and spreading knowledge at global level
Ten years, a unique mission: putting the new technologies at the service of knowledge, ensuring access to inclusive and quality education to all, concretizing a global education beyond geographical, cultural, religious, social and languages boundaries.
Crating a global citizenship and democratizing the access to quality knowledge has ever been the aim of the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO (www.uninettunouniversity.net), the only online university worldwide that delivers academic courses in 5 languages (Italian, English, French, Arabic and Greek) thanks to its cooperation with the universities and lecturers of various countries who, in their respective languages, communicate knowledge to 15.000 students coming from over 140 countries of the world who are enrolled in the International Telematic University UNINETTUNO. In addition, UNINETTUNO has been the first Italian online university that shared its curricula with several universities of the Euro-Mediterranean Area and of the Middle East and whose titles were recognized in Italy, Europe and in many Arab World Countries.
Witnesses of how UNINETTUNO is concretely contributing to the construction of a global citizenship will be indeed the protagonists of this process: its own students. In a video that will be shown on the Conference opening day, students of several places of the world (Bangladesh, Egypt, Japan, Greece, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, Singapore, Syria, Somalia, USA, etc.) will tell about their experience at UNINETTUNO.
The evidence given by the students gets right to the point dealing with the issues to which the Conference is devoted: global citizenship, social inclusion, democratic access to quality education, academic diplomacy and Smart University.
LINKS:
http://www.uninettunouniversity.net/
http://www.istruzionesenzaconfini.it/
http://conference.eadtu.eu/