Syndicate: International Women's University 2000

[Inke Arns <inke@berlin.snafu.de>]

[Hello, this is more about the International Women's University 2000 --
good luck for your applications - deadline is 30 November 1999! I am
organizing a workshop on "Fostering Small Media Literacy" within the
section "Information" - greetings, Inke]



http://www.vifu.de

1) About IFU
2) Application procedures and deadlines 
3) Grants
4) Academic Programs
	- General principles of the Curricular Structure
	- Structure of Studies and Projects 
	- Art Concept
	- Open Space
	- Excursions


Best wishes,
Inke

-----------------------------------

1) About IFU

The International Women's University (Internationale Frauenuniversität
"Technology and Culture") ifu is the first and, so far, only
gender-specific university of its kind in Europe, a bold innovation by,
for, and about women.

ifu was brought into existence by a loosely connected group of committed
academic women at German institutions of higher education who have been
successful in gaining the collaboration of about 150 women instructors from
culturally and geographically diverse backgrounds to form the teaching
staff for the University, and in securing the support of government
agencies, political and industrial foundations as well as private
philanthropists.

ifu is an international university, interdisciplinary in scope and
methodology of academic work, and intercultural across all political
borders as well as ethnic and religious divides.

ifu's first semester, under the overall theme of "Technology and Culture",
will offer postgraduate academic work in altogether six Project Areas which
are of special topical interest to the women of the world as we enter the
new millenium: BODY, CITY, INFORMATION, MIGRATION, WATER, WORK. These
themes are of global significance, politically and socially explosive and
arguably, because of their strong focus on gender they are also
heuristically and epistemologically ground-breaking. 

ifu will provide three months of regular classes and cooperative research,
with more traditionally set-up courses, lectures and workshops combined
with more non-conventional forms of expression, e.g. theater performances,
video presentations and other forms of cultural expression and
communication, according to the genius of the participants' cultural
backgrounds and heritage. In addition, ifu will provide excursions to other
parts of Germany, for inspiration, socializing, and recreation.

After EXPO 2000, a permanent women's network is planned to be established
for an exchange of ideas and knowledge transfer smong ifu alumnae may
continue on the basis of their cooperation while the University was in
session. In a more long-range perspective, and supported by modern
informa-tion technologies, the setting up of a virtual university is
planned to serve this purpose systematically and with various forms of
institutional support. 



2) Application procedures and deadlines 

Please hand in the following documents with your application : (for further
information see the reverse of the application form)

1. application form
2. curriculum vitae 
3. copy of your University degree or transcript
4. TOEFL certificate (550 points or better)
5. one letter of recommendation from a professor or professional supervisor
6. detailed description of your reasons for applying 
7. lists of publications if any 

Deadline for your application is November 30, 1999. Please submit your
application to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Bonn or to
one of the DAAD offices abroad (addresses see on the reverse of application
form), alternatively to the Cultural Division of the German Embassy or
Consulates General in your home country. All applicants will be evaluated
individually by admission committees on the basis of their academic and
personal qualification and potential, without regard to social status,
race, religion or age. You will be informed about the admission decision in
January 2000. Alternative Certificates of Language Competence 

In agreement with the German Academic Exchange Service, ifu has decided to
also accept the following alternative certificates: 

IELTS 
(passed at level/points 7) 

London Chamber of Commerce
English for Commerce (3rd level) 
English for Business (3rd level)

UCLES
CAE - Certificate in Advanced English 
CPE - Certificate of Proficiency in English 

Further alternatives:
B. A. or M. A. degree received from an institution of higher education
which is based on the use of English as educational language 


Application Form

Please download the application form: Ifu Application.pdf The Adobe Acrobat
Reader will let you view and print the PDF file on all major computer
platforms. You may get the most recent version of Acrobat Reader that is
available for your language and platform with a mouseclick on the Adobe icon.
 
           
 Ifu Booklet

 Please download the complete Ifu-booklet:
 Ifu_Booklet.pdf


3) Grants

>From the start, the ifu initiators decided that this event was not going to
be only for the "privileged few". ifu is working to secure financial
support and funding from national and international sponsors, and the
ifu-solidarity fund aims at a minimum of 360 scholarships for ifu scholars
(i.e. 40% of all expected participants). They include the costs for travel
, health insurance, and an amount of DM 1.400,- per month for your housing
and maintenance.

Although these grants are mainly intended to subsidize students from Third
World, Eastern European and other countries with non-convertible
currencies, students from others countries who need financial support are
encouraged as well to apply for a grant. Grantholders will be selected by
grant committees of the donors according to academic merit criteria only.
Some foundations request that you should provide evidence in your
application that you have been engaged socially and politically to date or
that you have in your studies, your research or your work concentrated on
ecological questions.



4) Academic Programs
   
Below, we want to give you an impression of the contents of classes,
project work, and excursions as well as of the benefits you will get from
attending the International Women´s University. However, we also would like
to emphasize that what you find below is not meant to be exclusive. There
is still room for you to bring in your special interests or suggestions. 


General principles of the Curricular Structure

In order to meet the objectives of the ifu, it is of paramount importance
to facilitate a cross-cultural dialogue amongst the participants. Also, a
sophisticated didactic program will be established to enable
interdisciplinary cooperation. Learning will take place at different levels
of abstraction. Therefore, basic knowledge will be presented to all
students. Special courses and classroom discussions will relate to the
various areas of concern and help to bridge gaps between the disciplines.
Lastly, the issues at stake will be exemplified in practical projects. 


Structure of Studies and Projects 

Alongside the teaching-program of each project area (lectures, panel
discussions, intensive workshops with group participation), a number of
projects (each supervised by tutors, researchers or artists) will be
offered. Within these you will work out either individual or group projects
on a common general subject. Projects will be designed in an
interdisciplinary, intercultural and multi-methodological way.
Corresponding to the guidelines of the International Women's University,
the dialogue between science and art shall be promoted and tested. Results
can be a video, a theater performance, an essay, an empirical study, an
educational concept, scientific data-analysis, prototypes, software, a
political intervention, a policy paper etc. In general , it will be
necessary to do some preparatory work before coming to ifu. The results of
the projects will be presented at the end of the International Women's
University: combined with the active participation in the instructional
program they are the basis for the award of a certificate.


Art Concept

ifu's claim to interdisciplinarity also opens up scientific work to input
from the arts and culture. Today, artistic production is increasingly
characterized by a transgression of established fields, genres and
categories. Thus, for example, the use of film and video has meanwhile
turned into an integral part of the work of many practitioners in the fine
arts or of performance artists. Likewise, it is now impossible to maintain
a clear-cut distinction between once distinctive forms such as theater and
dance. The kind of transgression of generic and media boundaries found in
many art forms today interrelates - if in quite complex ways - to ongoing
technical and economic processes of globalization.

ifu's ART CONCEPT takes up this aspect of dissolving boundaries and extends
it to an encounter between the arts and sciences: Practicing artists as
well as experts in art theory from a variety of fields (film, video,
performance, dance, theater, the fine arts, media and conceptual art) will
participate in the six Project Areas (BODY, CITY, INFORMATION, MIGRATION,
WATER and WORK). Their individual artistic work and achievement of
"translation" emerging from ifu's future-oriented issues and questions are
placed on equal terms with the scientific approaches.

The intention of setting scientific and artistic working methods,
strategies, and conceptions in relation to one another implies the
willingness to participate in an experiment the result of which is - by
definition - unknown in advance and, thus, open to actual developments. The
experimental dimension provides the possibility at least to discover things
that are truly new and/or innovative. In that context, the presentation of
completed works of art or the task of "imparting" artistic competence in
relation to the six project areas are just one dimension of the encounter
between art and science conceived by ifu's ART CONCEPT. What's even more
important is that artists will bring in their specific approaches, ways of
perception and interpretation in order to launch and shape processes of
exchange between art and science, students and teachers. The idea is to
create a system of coordinates by artistic means which will allow for the
unfolding of new questions and perspectives within the project areas. The
consequence of this will, hopefully, be twofold: new horizons on the main
issues raised by the project areas will certainly emerge. Moreover, this
may also result in provocative frictions with regard to established ways of
seeing and proceeding.

Artists will participate in a variety of ways: as teachers and/or artistic
producers in workshops (e.g. in the production/creation of a theatrical
action for a public space which deals with the issue of safety in
metropolitan areas), in various forms of interdisciplinary and
intercultural dialogue, in work carried out along project lines (e.g. with
visual material brought along) or in the more conventional form of lectures
(which try to convey the artist's working experience) and work presentations. 


Open Space

>From Monday to Thursday, students will study and do research in their
chosen project areas while Fridays are reserved for activities spanning
more than one project area, such as ifu's opening ceremony and the
students' welcome, the final presentation of the results of the studies,
and above all, the so-called "open space". The open space will be a place
of public dialogue and encounters, appealing to a wider audience beyond the
ifu, to international EXPO visitors and organizers, to experts from
academic life and society at large, as well as to international activists,
politicians and journalists. The aim is to make the contents of the 6
project areas of the ifu transparent to the general public, as well as to
discuss the concept of the Women's University by making international
comparisons. The open space aims to make room for fresh impetus and
contributions. 


Excursions 

Within the framework of the 3-months teaching curriculum of the ifu, one
week will be reserved for special excursions spanning more than one project
area. You can choose freely from what is on offer, irrespective of your
selected project area. 


i n k e . a r n s __________________________ b e r l i n ___
49.(0)30.3136678 | inke@berlin.snafu.de | http://www.v2.nl/~arns/
mikro: http://www.mikro.org | Syndicate: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate

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