Our Continent – Our Culture (Hannover, 2010)

Our Continent – Our Culture
2009-2010
Universidade Sénior
Universidade da Coruña
Spain

International Meeting “OC – OC”
Hannover, March 11-15th2010

Senior University – University of A Coruña

• The University of A Coruña is a public university,
established in 1989 and located in the cities of A Coruña
and Ferrol, Galicia (North West of Spain).


• The Senior University is a degree for over 50s that are
unemployed and demand an updated education according
to their cultural interests.
• This degree consists of four courses, lasting 8 months each
course (from October to June). The students have 3 or 4
lessons per week.


• After the four years, the students will qualify for: Título de
Graduado Senior pola Universidade da Coruña. This title
doesn´t give a professional qualification.
• Each student has to study two compulsory subjects per
year plus one that they can choose. Examples of the
subjects are: Sociology, Computing, Psychology, Health
Education, Legal issues in every-day life, English,…
• There are also workshops that the students can join if
they want to (e.g. European Workshop OC-OC)

European Workshop “Our Continent – Our Culture”

• During the academic year 2009-2010, OC-OC group
from the Senior University was formed by 48 students, in
two geographical areas (Ferrol & A Coruña).

European Workshop “Our Continent – Our Culture”

• Our methodology was based on team and individual
activities, with 2-hour meetings fortnightly, plus small-
group work.
• In the first sessions we analyzed general notions about
culture, identity and citizenship, and comented essays
about EU construction process.
• Every wednesday, there are two hours of tutorial to solve
doubts about the research process and new
technologies.

OC-OC Activities

ICT Lessons:
• The aim was to enhance the knowledge and use of IT
tools, such as internet, email, blog design, the Project
website, and the NING Social Network amongst students.

OC-OC Activities
Languages:
– We started basic lessons of Italian language.
– We started sessions of conversation in English.

Other activities:
– Visit to the Exhibition "Europe was a Way“ about St.Jacques’ Way
as an european route of culture and knowledge

OC-OC Activities

Seminar about the European Union “Culture, Identity and
Citizenship”
– Lecture about the Lisbon Treaty by Dr. Jorge Quindimil.
– Lecture about the European Citizenship by Dr. Gabriela
Alexandra Oanta.

OC-OC Activities

Seminar about the European Union “Culture, Identity and
Citizenship”
– Workshop about the European Union and citizens
participation: Senior students and students of a
Postgraduate Course on EU Studies collaborated in
small groups

OC-OC Activities

• Visit to the EU Institutions in Brussels
– February 2010
– Involving 35 students and staff (senior and junior
learners)
– Visiting Parliament, Commission, Consilium,
Commitee of Regions and Galicia-Europe Fundation

OC-OC Working groups – Essays

Salvador de Madariaga and Europe
• There are two groups currently working
on this figure.
• We have chosen Salvador de Madariaga
because we consider him to have been
one of the predecessors of the European
Movement.
• Salvador de Madariaga was born in A
Coruña (Spain) in 1886 and died in
Locarno, Switzerland, in 1978.

OC-OC Working groups – Essays

• We have analyzed his book “Outlines
of Europe” where he reflects his
concern for the European problems
and he offers the solution of its
perennial conflicts.
• For his biography we looked up in
some encyclopedias. We also
searched the web.
• We found Madariaga to be a man of
vast culture and a remarkable figure.

OC-OC Working groups - Essays

Maritime Trade Route between Coruña and Flanders

• There are two groups (Ferrol & A Coruña) working about
the relationship in the Medieval Age, between A Coruña
and Flanders, through the Maritime Trade Routes.



• The group in Coruña thought this
work was going to be very
interesting, because this age was
rather unknown to most of the
common people, but many
difficulties arisen on starting to
find information.


We’ve scarcely found small references in the many
books we consulted, and always they appeared linked to
other Northen ports;
• We had to pick up pieces of
information among other activities
concerned to those years, in order to
find the thread that let us build up an
idea of what kind of goods and how
they were transported and sold, and
how much that trade affected the life of
both countries, Flanders and Spain
and their inhabitants.



• It’s a huge challenge for us, but we are sure we’ll
achieve it, and afterwards, we’ll know further, not only
about the Past of our country, but also, about other
European countries.



• The group in Ferrol chose this topic based on originality,
to learn more about the beginnings of the port of Coruña
in the navigation and trade.
• The reality is that it was a fascinating subject and we
were captivated from the beginingin in spite of the
difficulties of their preparation, in addition to the
information you acquire along such search.
• Dr. Ferreira work has been the main source of
information we have used.
• Other authors referenced have been useful to recreate
the period and illustrated the routes, ships and
instruments for navigation.


From Saint Jacques’ Tower in Paris (France) to
Cathedral in Santiago of Compostela (Spain):

A CULTURAL ROUTE


From Saint Jacques’ Tower in Paris (France) to Cathedral
in Santiago of Compostela (Spain)

WHY?:
• Because it was a very interesting topic and
also very nice culturally. Moreover, we
thought that it could be useful for any
foreigner who is in our group and is thinking
about doing pilgrimage to Santiago from
Paris, on account of the Holly Year.
• When we speak about the St. James´Way we
are always referring to Roncesvalles, but the
French part is not very well known to us and
this has led us to learn about it.


From Saint Jacques’ Tower in Paris (France) to the
Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
HOW DID WE PLAN IT?:
• Our group joined to look up information from Saint Jacques’
Tower to the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela and we
divided our work into sections. This work is focused on the
“Cultural Route” but it could have been done in many
different ways.


From Saint Jacques’ Tower in Paris (France) to the
Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
• The most difficult thing for us
was to begin our work. First of
all we had to speak seriously
about where we could find some
references and information, and
at last, we found “Xacobeo
Routes of Galicia” in a book,
which helped us a lot because it
had a map of this route, which
made it easier for us.


From Saint Jacques’ Tower in Paris (France) to Cathedral
in Santiago de Compostela (Spain)

BOOKS USED • “La Gran Enciclopedia gallega”,
FOR THIS “Guías Visuales de Francia”
PURPOSE: • “Guías del Camino de Santiago”,
“Wikipedia (La enciclopedia libre)” e
“Internet”.
• When we used the INTERNET to
check the truthfulness of the
information, it took us hours and
hours of work, but in the end we
were all satisfied with the result.


EUROPEAN IDENTITY AND INTEGRATION PROCESS

• When we started this investigation,
we wondered if there was some
features that could define an
European identity, and how it could
be shared amongst the population
and if it was a common feeling
among European citizens.


• It was also interesting for us to know
the problems of the integration process
for people that comes from other
countries and their possible causes.
• So we began to study different social
problems: territorial distribution,
wealth production and distribution,
situations of internal nationalism of
each member state, demography,
culture, linguistic, flowing immigration
and the treatment given to these events
by the EU and by the member states.


• Having identified two population groups, mainly
immigrants, we wanted to approach our social
neighbouring in order to get information of this population in
the city of A Coruña, Galicia and Spain.


• Now we are making interviews
with several foreigner people to
see if in their answers we could
find common elements to explain
features and common problems.
• The objective of a part of the
research is to know the legal and
personal situation of the
immigrants in our city A Coruña
and to compare it with that in
yours.


• Besides personal interviews to the
immigrants to know their points of
view and experiences, we based
the information on statistics, data
from organizations, and NGOs.
• We work on the hypothesis that
EU must prioritize the cohesion of
policy member states with the aim
of achieving an effective
integration of immigrants.


SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
• Statistics from Eurostat and INE.
• Special publications, articles, editorials and lectures within
the OC-OC workshop.
• Information given by several EU civil servants during the
last visit we did to their offices in Brussels.
• Personal interviews to foreign people.
• And of course, we added also our point of view.


OTHER TOPICS
Other two groups are searching information about:
• EU Institutions
• Comparative study of the Social Security Systems and
National Health Services in the partner countries.

Our Continent – Our Culture (Hannover, 2010)

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

En vedette

En vedette (17)

Similaire à Our Continent – Our Culture (Hannover, 2010)

Similaire à Our Continent – Our Culture (Hannover, 2010) (20)

Plus de senior.udc

Plus de senior.udc (20)

Our Continent – Our Culture (Hannover, 2010)