Re: [Masterlibre-list] Proposal for a strategy for European Master on Libre Software at AUC, v2004-02-09

[Jesus M.]

Hi, Janis,

I'm not sure your message was intended for the masterlibre-list, but in
case it was, please, provide a brief translation into English of the
first paragraphs, if they are relevant (I guess I get the basic idea,
but I'm not sure...).

Saludos,

        Jesus.

On Mon, 2004-02-09 at 22:21, Janis Gailis wrote:
> Hei, og takk for et godt innlegg, Nils!
> 
> Slik jeg forsto det, ble vi enige om å (eller kanskje rettere sagt, vi 
> snakket om å) utforme et strategisk dokument, som kan brukes når man 
> representerer Høgskolen i Agder i et internasjonalt fora, som, f. eks. 
> Masterlibre samarbeidet.
> 
> Ved å ta utgangspunkt i det Nils har skrevet og i mine samtaler med 
> Mikael, setter jeg opp en liste av overskrifter ("headlines", 
> "keywords"), som jeg gjerne vil at dere kommenterer før jeg utformer 
> dette strategiske dokumentet jeg nevnte ovenfor (denne meldingen ble noe 
> lang, men jeg vil be dere å kommentere mellom linjene, slik at det blir 
> lettere for meg å administrere dette). Dere kan selvfølgelig legge til 
> flere overskrifter. Som et utgangspunkt foreslår jeg disse overskrifter:
> 
> - Questions to be answered (just ad hoc by me)
> - Proposed scenarios (for implementation of subjects related to European 
> Master on Libre Software (EMoLS)
> - Funding
> - Legislative issues / regulations / strategic plans
> - Interesting? (smth I found during my research / surfing)
> 
> 
> *** Questions to be answered?
> 
> Are there some surveys, reports or other "convincing" material about 
> demand in market for this type of competence? (Nils have provided the 
> results from our survey and I have some material too, please provide more)
> 
> What the prerequisits should be? (should the students with non-ICT 
> background be able to apply)
> 
> Technical requirements to realize the studies? Is this important in this 
> phase?
> 
> What kind of tasks (profession) an EMoLS should be able to realize?
> 
> Comment (Janis):
> One thing is clear, we are talking about highly multidisciplinary (at 
> least in the traditional taxonomy of academic disciplines) studies here. 
>   Does smbd knows about the similar cases that are implemented?
> 
> 
> *** Proposed scenarios
> 
> 
> SCENARIO 1: Subjects from EMoLS given as electives inside the existing 
> master programs in Kristiansand (ISMASTER 2003, Informasjonssystemer, 
> mastergradsstudium, se program for start høsten 2003, 
> http://www.hia.no/studiehandbok/03/studieplaner/oksam/oksamp13.php)and/or 
> in Grimstad (IKTMASTER 2003, master i teknologi i IKT, toårig 
> påbyggingsstudium, se start høsten 2003, 
> http://www.hia.no/studiehandbok/03/studieplaner/teknologi/teknologip6.php )
> 
> SCENARIO 2: Changes of the core subjects of the existing master programs 
> at AUC (ISMASTER (2003) and IKTMASTER (2003)) so the essential subjects 
> from EMoLS are covered.
> 
> SCENARIO 3: EMoLS related courses given at sommertime (sommer school 
> concept).
> 
> SCENARIO 4: Application for EMoLS as an independent master degree.
> 
> ???
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *** Funding
> 
> 
> Question about how to fund the EMoLS has been raised in several forums, 
> such as Masterlibre mail-list and meeting for Center For Open Source 
> (CFOS) at Agder University College (AUC). How we at AUC should act to 
> obtain fundig for EMoLS? I propose some actions, and you people, please 
> comment those and add new ones.
> 
> ACTION 1: We work for an application for funding from Erasmus Mundus 
> program in the cooperation with other universities and university 
> colleges involved.
> 
> ACTION 2: We are doing research on possible fundings ourselves, based on 
> our national and international contacts (as proposed in CFOS's meeting 
> 2004-01-21: Senter for internasjonalisering av høgre utdanning (SIU), 
> Norwegian governmental institutions, companies such as Biblioteksystemer 
> as, Linpro, NextNet, others ???).
> 
> ACTION 3: We are working on proposal for use of some "internal" (at AUC) 
> resources for the realization of a complete or partly program for EMoLS 
> (see proposed scenarios)
> 
> General comment (Janis):
> I think we should put the emphasis on the work for an application for an 
> independent program for EMoLS. To succeed, we have to use the 
> bureaucratic system first at AUC, then at higher levels, if necessary. 
> Our main objective should be to get the EMoLS accepted as a legal master 
> degree at AUC.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *** Legislative issues / regulations / strategic plans
> 
> 
> Bologna declaration of course is a nice "thing", but, I am afraid that 
> the realization of the ideas described there is a quite different issue. 
>   I think that we should try to find out what have been done regarding 
> Bologna declaration at HiA and at the national level (Universitets- og 
> Høgskolerådet, other bureaucratic orgs ??? please suggest).
> 
> Here is that I found after looking half an hour on AUC's site:
> 
> ECTS credits and grades at AUC
> http://www.hia.no/ects/03/general/agderuniversity/ECTSAgder_University_College2810p3.php
> As we see here, we can actually give courses of 5 ECTS credits.
> 
> Degrees offered by AUC: 
> http://www.hia.no/ects/03/general/agderuniversity/ECTSAgder_University_College2810p7.php
> 
> As speaking about our possibilities to go for an independent master 
> program for EMoLS accepted by AUC, I found an "styrevedtak" from meeting 
> in the AUC's board at 19th of June 2002 
> (http://www.hia.no/kr/styrevedtak.php3) on Internationalisation. Se in 
> "vedtak 3":
> 
> "Det skal utarbeides en startegisk plan for internasjonalisering ved 
> høgskolen bl.a. med utgangspunkt i anbefalingene fra referansegruppa 
> (for kvalitetsrefomen; mitt kommentar). Forslag til strategisk plan 
> legges frem for styret.... etc."
> 
> I would like to find this "strategisk plan" here in the system. Maybe it 
> can be used to get smth. happen here, I don't know. A person that seems 
> to be important in the internationalization process at AUC is ECTS 
> Institutional Coordinator Svein Arild Pedersen. I'll speak with him. 
> Maybe you, Calle and Stein, do know smth about "strategisk plan for 
> internajonalisering"?
> 
> I provide links to documents related to "Universitets- og Høgskolerådet" 
> describing the policy about giving master degrees of 90 ECTS credits 
> (one of the question raised at our meeting in Grimstad 2004-02-04):
> 
> http://www.uhr.no/sentraledokument/saerutskrifter/ForskriftommastergraderS3402.htm
> 
> http://www.hive.no/adm/styret/saker/m2003-2/03-21vedlegg-mastergraden.htm
> 
> I think we should raise a question to the "Universitets- og 
> Høgskolerådet" and/or SIU about how to proceed in this situation. I can 
> contact the SIU; does someone of you have some relationship to the 
> "Universitets- og Høgskolerådet"?
> 
> 
> 
> *** Interesting?
> 
> Seminar in Brussels, 2004-03-12, "The seminar will provide the latest 
> information on, and analysis of, the Bologna and Lisbon Processes, as 
> well as on the reform of Socrates and Leonardo currently in the 
> planning, as well as on the just-adopted Erasmus Mundus Programme."
> 
> 
> 
> Please take some time and give me feedback asap!
> 
> 
> Janis
> 
> 
> Nils Ulltveit-Moe wrote:
> 
> > Hi Jesus
> > 
> > We discussed the Master in Libre Software in a meeting at HIA in
> > Norway last Wednesday, and we still have a way to go until management
> > at the University College is convinced, and funding was one of the
> > objections. If this could be done via Erasmus Mundus, then this is
> > really good news! 
> > 
> > Most other objections were practical matters, like how to deal with
> > different study terms The Nordic countries have two course termins - the 
> > first
> > starts in August and ends at Christmas, and the second starts in
> > January and ends in June. This is maybe different to your course
> > termins? Other objections were that the Masterlibre course had more,
> > and smaller subjects on 3-4 credits, whereas HIA try to standardise on
> > 10 credit subjects. Another practical issue, is that for now, it would
> > be easier to work in subjects from the Masterlibre course into
> > existing Master studies in ICT than getting another Master degree accepted 
> > by
> > the authorities. To work the courses into our modules might mean
> > sequencing a string of courses into one module. 
> > 
> > Getting the Master in Libre Software accepted would take more time
> > than adjusting existing courses, but if the Master study was accepted as
> > it is presented here, then many of the practical issues may be less
> > problematic. 
> > 
> > We did a poll during Installuken2004, which is a local Linux and Open
> > Source conference about the interest for an International Master study
> > in Open Source. The students could choose from 1 (least interesting)
> > to 6 (most interesting). We also added some other subjects, and polled
> > some other factors, like the interest for international students
> > exchange. We got 20 replies, and one company that wanted to support us.
> > 
> > The results are:
> > 
> > 5,6 Security        
> > 5,35        Master thesis   
> > 5,3 Courses given by famous, international experts  
> > 5   System administration   
> > 5   Configuration management, version control and cooperation       
> > 4,95        Advanced project development    
> > 4,95        General experiences related to libre software (multidiciplinary)
> > 4,95        Possibility to take the course via distance learning    
> > 4,95        Development environment and tools       
> > 4,9 Standards (e.g. HTTP, XML or video formats)     
> > 4,9 International student exchange  
> > 4,9 Programming languages and language theory       
> > 4,85        Software architecture and software engineering  
> > 4,8 Advanced operating system theory        
> > 4,75        Introduction to Open Source software    
> > 4,65        Case studies (analysis of Open Source projects, companies,
> >         organisations.)      
> > 4,65        Project management of collaborative Open Source projects        
> > 4,63        Web systems     
> > 4,58        Embedded systems        
> > 4,58        Possibility to take intensive courses at other universities     
> > 4,55        Legal matters, licences, legislation, intellectual rights       
> > 4,5 Database systems, database architecture 
> > 4,5 Compiler systems        
> > 4,45        Distributed systems     
> > 4,3 Office system architecture, standards and programming   
> > 4,25        Distributed course with IT semesters in Grimstad and IS
> >         semesters in Kristiansand.   
> > 4,1 Economy and business models     
> > 4   Sociology and ethics  motivation, organisations etc.    
> > 3,95        Multimedia      
> > 3,55        Mathematical tools      
> > 
> > Conclusion: All subjects are more than average interesting for the
> > students. The students attending the conference were mostly computer
> > engineering students, so they seem to prefer the techical aspects to
> > business, economy, law, sociology and math. However, since we advertised
> > with Linux in developing countries in a newspaper ad for the
> > arrangement, we actually got some women attending that came for that
> > sole reason, so focusing on the right subjects may recruit more women
> > to technical studies. As another side note, we have already got our
> > first student, a Danish man, provided that we get the course up and
> > running. 
> > 
> > We will also like to suggest some new subjects for the Master in Libre
> > Software:
> > 
> > - Open Source in e-government and development aid.
> > - Mobile Systems based on Open Source.
> > 
> > Mvh.
> > Nils Ulltveit-Moe
> > 
> > "Jesus M. " Gonzalez-Barahona writes:
> >  > Hi,
> >  > 
> >  > I've been exploring some opportunities for helping to fund the master
> >  > program. In addition to institutions and companies which could be
> >  > interested in it, there is a rather interesting program which the EC is
> >  > (probably) starting in a couple of months: Erasmus Mundus. See
> >  > 
> >  > http://www3.socleoyouth.be/static/en/info/eras_mundus.htm
> >  > 
> >  > http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/mundus/index_en.html
> >  > 
> >  > In my opinion, this program seems to be written exactly for a master
> >  > like ours. I've been told that first call will be probably launched in
> >  > late March.
> >  > 
> >  > In addition, there are some programs related to Socrates which could be
> >  > interested in our "mixed" learning activities (partly in-place, partly
> >  > distance). I'll give you more info about this when I have something more
> >  > detailed.
> >  > 
> >  > In case some of you is familiar with these (or other suitable) programs,
> >  > let me know. In case some of you want to help to find opportunities for
> >  > financing, please go ahead. 
> >  > 
> >  > Saludos,
> >  > 
> >  >  Jesus.
> >  > 
> >  > -- 
> >  > Contribute to keep Europe free of software patents!
> >  > EuropeSwPatentFree - http://EuropeSwPatentFree.hispalinux.es
> >  > -----
> >  > Jesus M. Gonzalez Barahona                | Grupo de Sistemas y
> >  > Comunicaciones
> >  > address@hidden / address@hidden | ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan
> >  > Carlos 
> >  > tel: +34 91 664 74 67                     | c/ Tulipan s/n
> >  > fax: +34 91 488 70 49                     | 28933 Mostoles, Spain
> >  > 
> >  > 
> >  > 
> >  > _______________________________________________
> >  > Masterlibre-list mailing list
> >  > address@hidden
> >  > http://mail.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/masterlibre-list
> >  > 
> >  > 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Masterlibre-list mailing list
> address@hidden
> http://mail.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/masterlibre-list
-- 
Contribute to keep Europe free of software patents!
EuropeSwPatentFree - http://EuropeSwPatentFree.hispalinux.es
-----
Jesus M. Gonzalez Barahona                | Grupo de Sistemas y
Comunicaciones
address@hidden / address@hidden | ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan
Carlos 
tel: +34 91 664 74 67                     | c/ Tulipan s/n
fax: +34 91 488 70 49                     | 28933 Mostoles, Spain