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Program of the Conference
Info Kit for Participants
The
fate of universities, higher education and the related knowledge production
during Eastern Europe’s communist regimes has only discontinuously come under
scrutiny by historians and other social scientists, for reasons having to do,
among other things, with the marginal role of higher education in the
functioning of socialist systems, the scarcity of theoretical frameworks for
their examination, and the meager access to relevant sources and evidence.
Existing studies have aimed to provide economic models of higher education
policies or demographic trends, and stressed the connection between higher
education and production policies in countries of the region, e.g., during the
1960s and 1970s. This conference aims to bring together scholars interested in
studying the various ways the communist policies and social change impacted on
the functioning of universities, the
professionalization of the faculty and their students, and related networks,
inside or outside universities, with other research or cultural institutions of
the regimes, such as academies, research institutes, library systems,
publishing houses, journalism schools or other cultural institutions, however
lop-sided, responsible for knowledge production and mobilization.
The
conference is a follow-up of the research project Economic Planning, Higher
Education, and the Accumulation of Human Capital in Romania during Communism
(1948-1989) http://ephe-ro1948-1989.blogspot.ro
financed by the National Research Council (ID_PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0476), and in
connection with the project Confounding Freedoms: Academic Autonomy at a
Sovietized University, financed by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council through an Insight
Development Grant (2018-2020).
The main topics on
which we expect contributions are:
a. Ups and Downs of Massification
b. Faculty Recruitment, Professionalization and Agency
c. Forms of Student Agency
d. Ideological Uniformization Against Divergence in Educational Attainment
e. Workers versus Higher Education Graduates in Socialist Enterprises and
Institutions
Any other topic considered appropriate will be welcomed.
Presentations based on a comparative approach are encouraged. We are very much
interested in analyses focusing on national and/or local case-studies.
The submission of paper proposal will consist of filling
in a proposal form (see infra) and of attaching a short CV (no more than one
page) to epherom@gmail.com
Deadline for submission: April 15, 2019.
The
official language of the conference will be English.
Organisers:
Hosting
institution
Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, in
cooperation with the Interdisciplinary School for Doctoral Studies, University
of Bucharest, and with the Museum of the University of Bucharest.
Scientific
Committee:
·
Peter Apor (Central European University,
Budapest/Vienna)
·
Ulf Brunnbauer (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg)
·
Romiţă Iucu (University of Bucharest)
·
Brigitte LeNormand (University of
British Columbia - Okanagan)
·
Bogdan Murgescu (University of
Bucharest)
·
Florentina Nițu (University of Bucharest)
·
Robert Reisz (Western University
Timişoara)
·
Jan Sadlak (IREG Observatory on Academic
Ranking and Excellence)
·
Manfred Stock (Martin Luther Universität
Halle-Wittenberg)
·
Manuela Ungureanu (University of British
Columbia - Okanagan)
Organising
Committee:
·
Drd. Marius Ștefan Deaconu
·
Drd. Diana Alexandra Dumitrescu
·
Dr. Matei Gheboianu
·
Dr. Valentin Maier
Dates
and deadlines
April
15, 2019
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Deadline
for paper proposals submission
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April
30, 2019
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Notification
of paper acceptance
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June
15, 2019
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Notification
of the draft program of the conference
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July
4-6, 2019
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Days
of the conference
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July
7, 2019
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Departure
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Practical
aspects
The participants are expected to arrive in Bucharest
on Thursday, July 4, 2019, before noon (afternoon we plan the first meeting),
and to depart on Sunday, July 7, 2019. Accordingly, the organizers will provide
accommodation for 3 nights, as well as conference materials, refreshments for
coffee breaks, lunches and dinners.
The
participants are expected to fund from other sources their travel costs, but,
in case of need, the organizers will assist them in their fundraising efforts.
