Rosa Maria Calaf opens the academic year defending journalism, education and gender equality
03/10/2016
Journalist Rosa Maria Calaf spoke on education as the people's "catalyst of rights", defended the role of journalism in democratic societies and called to continue fighting for gender equality at the opening lecture of the 2016/17 academic year, in an event celebrated on 3 October at the Rectorat building.
Calaf defined herself as a "reporter" committed to "giving a voice to those who do not have a voice". According to her, "the profession of explaining events is a way of life" and she highlighted the role of her family in her vocation as foreign correspondent. She also spoke on her relation to the Faculty of Communication Studies, where she has participated in several academic and institutional activities throughout her career.
Calaf described the additional difficulties she experienced professionally for being a woman ("to think differently and be a woman made things a lot more complicated") and she denounced that in gender equality "there have been advances, but we have not eliminated the divisions". She offered some examples of discriminations and chauvinist social models and highlighted that, in more advanced societies, there is the contradiction that "we think we are free and so we stop fighting". For Calaf, both resignation and thinking that all has been done are two "lies".
She encouraged the audience to defend the role of education and knowledge in the construction of democratic liberties and expressed her firm belief in that "information of quality is an obligation". She was very critical with the concept of info-entertainment ("a toxic mixture of information which does not inform and sloppy entertainment") and she ended her speech with the hope that, just as the 20th century had been marked by aspirations, this century "should not be the century of longing".
Audiovisual Memory
Before her opening lecture and the intervention of the UAB secretary general, a manifest was read demanding the withdrawal of all accusations related to the occupation of the Rectorat building in 2013 and the closing of the case. The text appealed to the university community to support the "Manifest for the decriminalisation of disagreements at university".
Cristina Riba, UAB secretary general, spoke on all of the members of the university community who are no longer with us and presented a video on the 2015/16 academic report, where academic and research results were highlighted, as well as its international position and some of the institutional objectives achieved.
Defence of Equality in Education
The UAB Rector Margarita Arboix focused her institutional message on her "appreciation to all of the university community" for the results obtained this year, and then went on to address the public administration to state that "there is a need for governments who believe in teaching and research". She defended the need for stable funding in a healthy economic situation and alerted of the fact that economic cutbacks can be seen reflected on the results of public universities in the international rankings.
Arboix qualified equity in education as something "essential" and in this sense, recalled the need for policies of fees and aids which guarantee equal opportunities in accessing higher education, given that families must make a "great effort" to pay their children's university studies or may not even be able to continue paying them. The UAB rector explained that the university would continue with its grants programme Finestreta and would even try to increase the number of aids offered.
She defended both the university's independence and its duties towards the rest of society, claimed that the stability of the UAB's workers is a "central" issue for the governing team and touched upon some of the future lines of work such as fostering international exchanges of students and staff, strengthening the number of graduates entering the workforce and promoting critical thinking at university.
More Transference
Gabriel Masfurroll, President of the UAB Social Council, pointed out that one of the objectives of the Social Council was to increase the transfer of knowledge to society, but that the relation had to go two ways. He emphasised the need for solid funding for the university, with less rules and more autonomy, and stated that the Social Council "has the wish to form part of the University, and not be a separate entity".
Carles Escolà, Mayor of Cerdanyola Vallès, assured that the municipality aimed to delve deeper into a "closer relationship" with the university, which would allow it to "overcome past disagreements", and he defended "the right of lower classes to access higher education", while he also denounced the policies which represent "a wall" in this sense. He also defended the role of the alma mater in the configuration of an "economy of knowledge at the service of the majority".
Josep Pallarès, General Director of Universities of the Government of Catalonia, declared that "finding a solution to the professional needs" of university staff members is one of the UAB's priorities. He also mentioned his interest in a flexible system for the programming of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, which would "in no case" represent more expenditure for students or for the university's budget".
The event included the performances by the UAB Choir, who interpreted pieces by Jaume Pahissa and Poire Vallvé, the Syrian lullaby Yalla t'nam and the traditional university song Gaudeamus igitur.
Homage to Retirees
Before the inaugural event, the Board Room of the Rectorat building played host to the homage to some 70 members of the UAB including teaching and research staff and administration services staff, who retired during the 2015/16 academic year.
Rector Arboix thanked them "for all you have done for the university" and invited them to participate in the celebrations which will take place to commemorate 50 years since the founding of the UAB: "you are the historical memory and also the future of the University", Rector Arboix stated, and then went on to encourage them to continue their relationship with the UAB as "ambassadors of what the university represents". Arboix regretted that, with the current circumstances, "your absence unfortunately represents a loss of talent which will be very hard to replace" and for that reason it is essential that "you continue to form part of a UAB you helped build".