"International Student Movement"

Just one week to go until the Euopean Education Congress 2010 starts. One more reason to send you this newsletter to update the information about eyerything you need to know about the eec:

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European Education Congress 2010
*- Newsletter 03/2010 -*

Content:

I.      What is the "European Education Congress" (eec)?
II.     Sign-up for the "European Education Congress" (eec)!
III.    Preliminary structure and programme
IV.    Register your contribution!
V.     Translations and communication during the "European Education Congress"
VI.    How to help
VII.  How to get to Bochum (Germany)
VIII. Internet access at the congress
IX.    Contact

I.     What is the "European Education Congress" (eec)?

There is just one week to got until the "European Education Congress" (eec) in Bochum, from 25th til 30th of May, starts. The event is organised by young people from all over Europe.

The eec will be a place for everyone interested in education across the continent to get together, network, exchange experiences and ideas and learn about the educational system in a bigger context. A focus will be on the theoretical grounding of different conceptions of education, as well as the functions education and the educational system have in society.

The results of the eec will directly depend on the ideas, initiatives and analyses of all involved in the congress and the outcomes of the various discussions and workshops during the week.
Therefore the following objectives should be understood as a frame of reference. Participants are encouraged to develop and extend these points so as to make them their own.

• Give an overview over the situation and structure of the different education systems in Europe and beyond

• Develop and critically reflect political positions together

• Allow for critique of and reflection on the educational movements in the last few years

• Give a theoretical analysis of the current problems in the educational sector and identify their causes

• Develop approaches and practical strategies for action

• Substantiate political practice with a theoretical basis

• Extend theoretical analysis into ideas for political practice

• Encourage everyone, but especially young people, to participate in political decision-making processes, both in the educational system and society at large

• Give a basis for understanding and discussing education in the context of the current political and social system

II.    Sign up for the "European Education Congress" (eec)

There is just one last week to go until the eec starts. The organisational group has been working very hard and tries to make sure that everything will work out during the eec. To guarantee enough sleeping places and food you should sign up for the eec now.

There is also the possibility of applying for a travel reimbursement if you are living in an european country and if you are under 30 years old. But the money for the reimbursements is not endless. Therefore we ask you to sign up for the eec as soon as possible: www.educationcongress.eu

Attention:

Since we will sleep in a sports hall you will have to bring along a sleeping bag and a camping mat!

III. Preliminary structure and the programme

The programme for each day is divided into four parts. In the morning contributions with a focus on theoretical analysis will take place, which, after a shared break, will be complemented by contributions focusing on more practical aspects and the development of approaches and solutions for the problems identified. Following that, an Open Space will be held, and the day will be concluded by a cultural programme.

The division into a theoretical and practical part should not be seen as a separation of practical political participation and theoretical analysis, the exact opposite is intended. Both approaches to a topic or problem should be linked to each other, to allow for a better understanding by taking into account both perspectives. Political practice cannot develop its full potential without a theoretical background; theoretical analysis of a problem need strategies to allow for a solution and practise to bring about a change. Ideally, the theoretical approach to a problem explored and further developed in the morning would culminate into the initiation of practical solutions for this problem in the afternoon.

We try to keep the programme on our website updated. You find it here: www.educationcongress.eu

IV. Register your contributions

The "European Education Congress" is looking for YOUR contributions!

You might offer a workshop on something you know or have experience in, host an open discussion round on something you want to know more about, inform others about the situation of the education movement in your region, or something completely different, new, creative and exciting. Both the format and the content of your contribution are entirely up to you.
However, old-style lectures are strongly discouraged and, if they should happen, will always be followed by a discussion on the same topic.

Think about your interests and those of everyone else and offer a contribution to our congress.

Please register your contribution on the website (www.educationcongress.eu) with a title and a short abstract, explaining your topic in a few sentences.

V. Translations and communication during the "European Education Congress"

Communication during the congress will be in English most of the time.

As our financial means are limited, we are unable to translate all workshops into several different languages. But of course contributions can be offered in other languages, according to the language skills of the participants.

The info-point will feature a list, where people willing to translate a contribution from/into another language are encouraged to fill in their name and contact details. This way it will be possible to open more contributions to non-English speaking people.

VI. How to help

Everyone is asked to participate beyond just taking part in workshops and discussions. You can offer a contribution to the programme during the day yourself, organise events for the cultural programme in the evening or help the organisational group. Whether you do a little here and there or take up responsibility for a bigger task: It is up to everyone to make the congress as inspiring, enjoyable and energised as possible, to make it an experience to be remembered.

Most of the tasks at hand are little things and if we all do them together they will become even smaller. Do what is right to do, do what you want others to do. Think about what will benefit a lot of people, everyone, the congress itself. Ask the info-point or look for one of the lists entitled „How to help“. 
Here are some suggestions at this stage:

• help „Food Not Bombs“ in the kitchen, carrying, cutting, cooking, giving out food

• if you have taken a first aid course, please leave your details at the info-point right at the start

• give people at the info-point a hand, help them with whatever that needs to be done

• set up rooms for contributions; bring needed materials to contributors; help to tidy up the rooms afterwards

• help keeping the rooms and materials reasonably clean

• take a shift at washing the dishes

• translate for others, so that more people can communicate adequately

• come up with your own ideas and put them into practice

VII. How to get to Bochum (buses, car sharing, train, airplane...)

By plane:

TO DUSSELDORF (DUS)

The easiest way is to fly to DUSSELDORF [DUS] (about 50km away from Bochum), taking the SkyTrain to the airport station and take a local train (it's called "RegionalExpress" / line RE1 or RE6 in the direction towards „HAMM“ or „MINDEN“ ) and get off at Bochum Hauptbahnhof (Bochum Central Station).
From there you can follow the "by train" instructions. The ticket you need for this is called "Preisstufe D" and costs you 10.90 €. But there are group tickets available as well. Make sure you purchase the right ticket: having no or the wrong train ticket is a crime in Germany and you will have to pay a fee of 40,00 € to the railway company. Since a new regulation was implemented on january 1^st 2010, this can also bring you to court.

other airports

It is also possible to fly to DORTMUND [DTM] (about 30 km away from Bochum, but not reachable by train), DÜSSELDORF/NIEDERRHEIN [NRN] (about 80 km from Bochum, reachable by train, but you have to change the line twice (taking a train from "Weeze" to "Krefeld" next train from "Krefeld" to "Duisburg" and then from "Duisburg" to "Bochum"). Alternatively you can also arrive in COLOGNE/BONN [CGN] (aprox. 90 km, take a local train (called "S-Bahn" to "Köln Messe/Deutz" then interchange to "RE 1 - towards "HAMM" to Bochum Central Station [Bochum Hauptbahnhof])

This might sound sound a little complicated so do not hestitate to contact us if you have any problems.

By train

Take a train to Bochum Hauptbahnhof (Central Station), take the U35 [subway train] towards Bochum Querenburg (HUSTADT) and get out at the "RUHR-UNIVERSITÄT". (ticket needed: Preisstufe A). The subway U35 departs quite frequently (aprox. every 10 minutes during weekends) and reaches the university within 9 minutes. If you want to take a look at the timetable, you can do so here: www.vrr.de

By car / bus

Motorway A 43, interchange "Bochum-Witten", exit at "Bochum-Querenburg/Universität" (exit no. 19). Drive along the „Universitätsstraße“ towards the  „Universität/ Zentrum“ and exit at "Uni - Mitte" (about 2 km).

At the university

You have to find the buildung "GA". But this is marked on the map and there will be signs on the campus.

VIII. Internet access during the congress

There are different ways to get access to the internet like the Ruhr-Unis' WiFi and the so called 'H.I.R.N. Ports', which are cable based internet.

Login account It does not matter which way you use to access the internet but it is necessary to have a login account. You can use the one from your own university, if it is member of the „EDUROAM“ alliance.
The other way is to ask for a guest account from the Ruhr-Uni,in order to do this you need to sign up at the info-point.

WiFi
If you bring your own computer, you can use the university's wifi. The correct WiFi ESSID is 'eduroam'. If you are using Windows, you need to download a supplicant. It is available at www.rub.de/wlan. There is also a german installation guide on this site.

Important are the login details:

* WPA-Type: WPA2 Enterprise

* EAP-method: TTLS

* type of key: AES

* type of authentification: PAP

* User: anonymous@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

* identity: your local one ore that one you get at the info point

H.I.R.N. Port
There are some network sockets at the walls. They are called 'H.I.R.N. PORTS'. Just have a look. If you access the internet by cable the first page you have to visit is login.rz.rub.de and enter the access code (called loginID)you got at the infopoint. The H.I.R.N. Ports can only be used with loginIDs, not with your 'eduroam' accounts.

public computer 
There are public computers which can be used by everyone near the infopoint. In order to get internet connection there you have to login either with your eduroam account or the loginID you got at the infopoint.

If you have any problems with this, do not hesitate to approach us at the info-point.

IX. Contact

If you can not find an information on our website www.educationcongress.eu

you can reach us by phone: 0049234-3577674

or by mail: info@educationcongress.eu