University of Vienna student protests ocurring since 20th of October 2009 THE DEMANDS:

these are the demands taken from the official website unibrennt.at

news:
A speaker of the student group corrected the word "demand" and wishes now people to call this set of suggestions "proposals"

Proposals


1) Academic formation rather than simple job training

We support education as a means to form a responsible society instead of a mere preparation for joining the economic workforce. It is our goal to facilitate free and self-determined studying for everyone. We oppose a tight regimentation of study curricula. Therefore, we call for a fundamental revision of the BA/MA system.

We call for:

* a halt to compulsory introductory classes at the beginning of every Bachelor’s studies, often including knock-out exams preventing the further pursuit of your studies, called ‘STEPs’, as disguised entry restrictions. The STEP should provide an actual period of orientation rather than a means of selection through knock-out exams
* individual planning of studies – an end to unnecessary delays caused by chains of prerequisite courses
* free electives instead of inflexible electives packages consisting of a set of predefined courses (so-called ‘Erweiterungscurricula’)
* a stop to untransparent enrolling systems
* free entry to Master and PhD programmes
* guaranteed completion of studies following the commenced curriculum after the latter’s discontinuation (e.g. diploma studies). This requires the university’s offering of certain classes and fixed credit equivalency lists as well as established transitional periods.
* maintaining the existing diploma degree courses
* guaranteed credit transfer from courses and degrees obtained at national and international schools and universities

2) Free entry to university-level education
We call for free university places and for the abolition of tuition fees for everyone, including non-EU citizens and students who do not or cannot finish their studies as currently officially scheduled. Adequate course offerings and quality of teaching must not be obtained via admission restrictions. Free access to university education and quality teaching don’t contradict each other! There are never too many students, only too few university places!

3) Democratisation of the universities
Our declared goal is the democratic organisation of universities in which faculties, students and other academic as well as non-academic personnel are equally integrated in decision-making.

We call for:

* a redistribution of voting rights in the university senate in order to facilitate a democratic governing body
* changes in study curricula to be made only in consultation with the students affected
* the introduction of democratic structures at all levels
* transparent decision-finding procedures at all levels
* an attitude of anti-discrimination as a fundamental consensus at all levels
* the abolition of the University Board
* the abolition of the current top-down hierarchy
* the revocation of the ÖH (Austrian National Union of Students) Electoral Law Reform of 2004 – reintroduction of direct election
* the facilitation and sustainment of autonomous spaces for students

4) Full funding of the universities

* transparency in the funding of research and teaching
* participation in the application of funds at universities
* abolition of tuition fees for all students, including non-Austrian citizens and students who do not or cannot finish their studies as currently officially scheduled
* financial security for students
* reintroduction of free public transport fares for students
* abolition of all financial barriers to higher education

5) The Disability Equality Act must be effectuated at all universities in order to allow for a barrier-free studying

6) The precarious working conditions for university personnel must be put to a stop

7) We call for a 50 % proportion of female staff at all levels and universities


What happened until now
and how did it all began?
read the story in German here

three little piggies: a halloween tale =)

I don't recall this story having such a funny and cruel ending
I guess it must be a halloween edition!!!

more snapshots vienna in october 2009

walks with ju im ersten Bezirk, Wien

update on the student protests thanks to live streamings system from UNIBrennt

streaming channel live from the AUDITORIUM MAXIMUM

and the

official website unibrennnt.at


you can also join groups on facebook, twitter and myspace of course to support the cause.

Audimax der Uni Wien, Besetzt!!!!!!!

Am Sonntag um 10 in der früh, war nicht viel los... (25.10.2009)

snapshots vienna

Hofkonditorei Demmel und das Hundertwasserhaus in Wien



die Ringstrasse

The Fall is arriving, but not in Cupertino

OK...
so I did go for a swim today!
and the sun was shining- but
who'd believe me: in just a few hours the clouds filled the city
and now it's raining

I wanted to check the temperature and the weather forecast
but apparently I have a bug on my dashboard

everytime I select the city Vienna/Wien/( Austria )
the program shows me the city of Cupertino

which I NEVER even had heard of before in my life

SOOOOoooooo...
since I'm guessing you don't know either, here are some facts about it that I looked up:

"Cupertino is a is a suburban city in Santa Clara County, in California,"

YEES... CA, as in the UNITED STATES!!!

"The town has given its name to the Cupertino effect."


hmm.. interesting! Now you wonder
WHAT IS THE CUPERTINO EFFECT!??!!?! RIGHT???

let me tell ya:

"The Cupertino effect is the tendency of a spellchecker to suggest inappropriate words to replace misspelled words and words not in its dictionary."

this means that if you are for example writing an essay in your computer
your dictionary might correct you wrongly
without you noticing

"The origin of the term is that the spelling "cooperation" was often changed to "Cupertino" by older spellcheckers with dictionaries containing only the hyphenated form "co-operation". (Cupertino is the home of Apple Inc., and thus would be in most computer spelling dictionaries.)

Users sometimes clicked "Change All" without checking whether the spellchecker's first suggestion was correct to begin with, resulting in even official documents with phrases like "as well as valuable experience in international Cupertino""



N O W ISN'T THAT FUNNY? :D

now that I think of it this is quite a silly bug
and the sure thing is that in Cupertino
it is always
sunny and warm!!!

Yes! I check it everyday!!!!


And for the sad people that do not live in Cupertino but still get their forecast
(like I do)

the only thing left to do is to listen to the
soothing sound of the rain and imagine
you're in sunny california!


* source: wikipedia

GO FOR A SWIM IN A RIVER IN OCTOBER

I was not having a good day today, but I met a friend by chance and then...

Went for a swim in the river Danube!!!!
I usually do this quite often in july of course

but october the 8th will be reminded as the day I went swimming in a OH_DAMN_IT'S_COLD kind of water

The day now ended with some good news and with Etta James and Brook Benton playing in the background.

So if your day sucked, go for a swim in the river!
:D