16-05-2012

The PopUpUniversity

Op woensdag 13 juni vanaf 17u te Castrum Peregrini Amsterdam vindt de eerste PopUpUniversity plaats.

De officiƫle subtitel van de PopUp is "Co-creating Education." De sprekers zijn: Siep Stuurman (UU), Anneke Smelik (RU), Rosemarie Buikema (UU), Maaike Bleeker (UU), Frans Willem Korsten (LU), Arjo Klamer (EUR), Janneke Wesseling (KABK), Thera Jonker (HKU) en Bald de Vries (UU).

The PopUpUniversity - Humanities Division 
Have you always wanted your second BA/MA degree but you aren’t prepared to pay 14.000 euros? Or you simply do not have such financial funds? Would you like to enroll in a university, but are not a Dutch citizen or a legal resident? Have you always wanted your PhD degree but you cannot find a paid position? Are you interested in accessing academic knowledge but you do not have a student number? Then the PopUpUniversity is your answer.

This initiative is a form of academic activism in response to the budgetary reductions by the current governments and the attacks on the very idea of the university such as we have known it. Considering the short-term planning, the lack of a sensible rationale and the ad hoc nature of many of the measures being taken against the university in general and faculties of the Humanities in particular, we want to launch a counter-initiative in the form of: “The PopUpUniversity” (PUU). The purpose of this happening is to give students a taste of things to come because we believe that this quick and instant model is what our governments want to implement. And if this is the outcome? How will we students and teacher reappropriate it in a productive way?

Therefor the overall theme of this academic event will be ‘creative partnerships’. In order to survive and continue the Arts and the Humanities will need to collaborate with nonacademic partners. Moreover, they will need to re-insure their social relevance outside the University wall. Central questions that should be addressed in this edition are: What creative ways are needed to reconnect with society on a broader level? How will we survive outside the University walls? Also how will we engage affirmatively and constructively with these new changes? Which nonacademic partners should we look for in order to retain high quality and over-all accessibility of academic knowledge? Nine renowned teachers will provide short and inspiring lectures of their envisioning of these matters at hand.