Manuel Caldeira Cabral
Sair, aprender e ter iniciativa
Os universitários portugueses estão cada vez mais diferentes dos europeus. A maioria vive em casa dos pais, não trabalha durante o curso e vai de carro para a universidade. Nada disto os estimula a serem empreendedores ou a amadurecerem para a realidade profissional mais dura que terão de enfrentar.
Nos últimos 20 anos o sistema universitário português convergiu com o dos restantes países europeus em muitos aspectos. Hoje os alunos entram para universidades com uma elevada proporção de docentes doutorados no estrangeiro, que em muitos casos ensinam as mesmas matérias que leccionaram em Inglaterra ou nos Estados Unidos da América. A Internet dá-lhes acesso aos mesmos conteúdos que os seus colegas europeus, uma realidade distante da vivida no passado em que dependiam de bibliotecas mal apetrechadas. E o programa Erasmus trouxe também excelentes oportunidades.
O outro lado da moeda surge quando se olha para estatísticas onde se lê que Portugal é o segundo país da União Europeia com maior percentagem de estudantes universitários a viver em casa dos pais e a estudar na mesma cidade onde cresceram, sendo simultaneamente um dos três países da UE onde menor percentagem dos universitários trabalha durante o curso. Na Suécia, um dos países mais ricos da Europa, cerca de 60% dos alunos trabalham durante o curso. Em Portugal são menos de 15%.
Nestes aspectos a experiência vivida nas universidades portuguesas é muito diferente da europeia, e tornou-se ainda mais diferente nos últimos 10 anos. A expansão das vagas permitiu aos estudantes um maior leque de hipóteses. A maioria dos alunos escolheu ficar na universidade ou politécnico mais próximo de casa. O resultado foi a criação de universidades mais regionais, onde a maioria dos alunos têm mais de 80% de colegas da mesma região. A isto acresce que, em média, apenas têm 0,7% de colegas oriundos de outros países comunitários.
A decisão de ficar em casa dos pais em muitos casos é determinada por factores económicos. No entanto, o parque automóvel de metade dos estudantes e sua expansão nos últimos anos demonstra bem que em muitos outros casos não o é. Os estudantes portugueses são os únicos europeus para quem o carro é o meio de transporte mais usado para chegar à universidade.
Porque é que isto é importante? Quais são as implicações destas diferenças?
Para a maioria dos jovens europeus a experiência universitária passa por conquistar um espaço de autonomia individual, com mais liberdade mas também maior responsabilidade. Os estudantes ingleses ou holandeses aprendem a cuidar de si e a serem independentes. Têm de trabalhar para poder fazer viagens ou comprar uma guitarra. Têm de gerir a sua própria vida e o seu orçamento. Quando saem do curso muitos têm experiência de trabalhar e de valorizar o dinheiro ganho com esforço.
A maioria dos seus colegas portugueses tem o carro que os pais lhes oferecem, se oferecerem, e faz as férias que os pais lhes pagam. O que conseguem ter ou fazer não depende em nada da sua iniciativa ou do seu esforço. Esta é uma lição de "desempreendorismo" que vão aprender durante três, quatro ou cinco anos de universidade.
Por outro lado, acabam o curso já com o vício de ter carro e o hábito de viver numa casa com as condições que os seus pais apenas conquistaram aos 50 anos. Depois entram num mercado de trabalho onde dificilmente conseguirão um rendimento que permita tais "luxos". Situação que, aliada ao facto de maioritariamente estudarem na cidade onde cresceram, limita fortemente a sua mobilidade geográfica. Já a maioria dos estudantes europeus sai de casa aos 17 anos, mudando de cidade. E depois, muitas vezes, aos 21 começa a trabalhar numa cidade diferente. Esta mobilidade permite um melhor encontro entre as qualificações dos licenciados e o que o mercado procura, ajudando a diminuir o desemprego e a aumentar a produtividade.
Em Portugal acaba por se criar um ambiente que faz com que a experiência universitária para muitos alunos seja um prolongar dos anos de liceu. Mantêm os mesmos amigos, continuam em casa da família, gastam muitas horas a ver televisão e não criam novos hábitos culturais. Este facto é, aliás, muito comentado pelos alunos que regressam do programa Erasmus. A participação neste programa europeu é, sem dúvida, um dos aspectos mais positivos dos últimos anos. A percentagem de alunos portugueses a estudar noutros países europeus aumentou entre 1998 e 2005 e manteve-se ligeiramente acima da média europeia. Ainda assim só entre 5 a 10% dos alunos beneficiam desta experiência.
O exemplo do programa Erasmus ou dos programas de mobilidade internacional para recém-licenciados servem para mostrar que há oportunidades muito interessantes. E existem tanto no estrangeiro como em Portugal. Quem ensina vê muitos alunos a aproveitá-las ou mesmo a criá-las, envolvendo-se com Organizações Não Governamentais, participando em grupos de teatro, orquestras, tunas, coros e muitas outras actividades em que vão aprender tanto ou mais que nas cadeiras do curso. Vê que os alunos que saem do seu conforto e têm iniciativa aprendem muito com esta experiência. Mas vê também que ainda são uma minoria.
São os alunos que têm de decidir se querem aproveitar estas oportunidades. Mas cabe aos pais e aos professores incentivá-los a quererem ser diferentes, a estarem abertos a novas experiências e a interessarem-se por aprender. Infelizmente na próxima semana começa a praxe nas universidades, que se prolonga por vários meses, seguindo um modelo do tipo militar, em que os alunos ficam em sentido, marcham e recebem ordens e insultos como se estivessem na recruta. Modelo que serve bem os propósitos da formação de soldados, onde a uniformização e o sacrifício do indivíduo face ao grupo são objectivos importantes, mas que dificilmente se percebe na universidade, onde a criatividade, inteligência e imaginação deviam liderar.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
"estou sempre a comer bifes e esparguete"
No comments.
In fact, this is the commment:
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/
In fact, this is the commment:
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Funny to check I have been on the site where they make the 2nd most expensive phone in the world.Check it, here
"Vertu is now taking orders for the Signature Cobra, designed by French jeweler Boucheron, but you had better be quick as only 8 are being made! The Cobra will feature one pear-cut diamond, one round white diamond, two emerald eyes and 439 rubies. Vertu will also be offering a “cheaper” version, ruby free, at $115,000 (£62,162)."
Why not the same in Camdbridge?
http://theplug.net/28/strangerphotos.htm
... forget it... too many ugly people!
... forget it... too many ugly people!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
My sister on the Internet
I still remember the first day I connected to the Internet and I remember how difficult it was.
The first computer I ever had was my fathers' Amstrad. It would run MS-DOS and read Floppy Disks of the size of my hand. I disassembled it and assembled it again several times and I am already wondering if one day I will take out from the garage and it will still be able to run its only application: Lotus.
My father had a Compaq using Win 3.1 which he was not keen on let me use it. The only thing he would let me do for many years was playing Solitaire and make drawings on the Paintbrush, someday he would let me print these drawings on the magnetic printer in black and white. I just hope someone kept one of this master pieces.
I finally convinced my father to buy me a personal computer, it was meant to come in Christmas Day but it did not arrived. Finally, by the end of February we bought it. A brand new Pentium II 300Mhz, what a blast! It even had a Voodo Banshee VGA board to play The Sims I ou GTA II.
My home did not had a landline phone, so I had to install one on my name as no one at home wanted it, and so I did it.
I bought the famous Diamond Supra 56K and in the late 90's as you can imagine the internet was not very similiar to what it is now. This modem was so good that one day I sold it for the same price I bought it but that's another story...
I did not bought my sister but eventually one day she showed up at home, she is smaller than the table kitchen but already owns a Centrino with Windows XP, which she uses to play her +4 rated games, while learning by try-and-error, to match letters with objects and all this amusing stuff made for her age.
I had to start with Alex Kid in the Miraculous World on my Master System which was far less didactic.
She doesn't know, by far, how to write down her name but we wrote her name in a board in capital letters and she copies it to log in her games because they need an user name. It is funny to see her struggling to enter her username by freneticly search the keyboard for "F", "I", "L" and so on, till writing her name "Filipa".
Even funnier was that after she log I tried to play her game, eventually showing off her how to do it. Fool of me. I could barely understand how to browse all those vivid color and objects in the screen: red balloons for the balloon game, black door for exiting, etc.
Our progenitor told me later that she had already completed all the assignments available on that game and she was waiting for me to install something new.
It seems new time I will have to install her something more difficult maybe some endless RPG or just give her the admin passowrd for her to install whatever she likes...
This is to say, the world had changed and the big web is one of its reasons. Either you believe it or not.
Imagining how the future is a very creative mental exercise. You imagine things that do not exist and then put all the existing pieces together in order to make it happen.
I believe on internet and the browser. I do not believe on the hardware and its OS.
From my point of view (and not only), Internet will over take all other aplications. We are/will edit our documents, store our music, use maps, contacts online. But not only: we will massify the use of heavy applications like ERPs, graphic and video editor programs.
The reason is simple: if we can have the same usability, look-n-feel and performance that a fat client can provide us on the most lightweigthed client that exists, the browser, why the well will I have to bother with installations, memory and hard drive problems and other tecnhicall problems.
The future of software applications is being twisted because of the massive internet infrascture and by now nobody needs to wonder himself why Google was so keen on MS Office Engineers, or do you?
Happy comments,
TM
The first computer I ever had was my fathers' Amstrad. It would run MS-DOS and read Floppy Disks of the size of my hand. I disassembled it and assembled it again several times and I am already wondering if one day I will take out from the garage and it will still be able to run its only application: Lotus.
My father had a Compaq using Win 3.1 which he was not keen on let me use it. The only thing he would let me do for many years was playing Solitaire and make drawings on the Paintbrush, someday he would let me print these drawings on the magnetic printer in black and white. I just hope someone kept one of this master pieces.
I finally convinced my father to buy me a personal computer, it was meant to come in Christmas Day but it did not arrived. Finally, by the end of February we bought it. A brand new Pentium II 300Mhz, what a blast! It even had a Voodo Banshee VGA board to play The Sims I ou GTA II.
My home did not had a landline phone, so I had to install one on my name as no one at home wanted it, and so I did it.
I bought the famous Diamond Supra 56K and in the late 90's as you can imagine the internet was not very similiar to what it is now. This modem was so good that one day I sold it for the same price I bought it but that's another story...
I did not bought my sister but eventually one day she showed up at home, she is smaller than the table kitchen but already owns a Centrino with Windows XP, which she uses to play her +4 rated games, while learning by try-and-error, to match letters with objects and all this amusing stuff made for her age.
I had to start with Alex Kid in the Miraculous World on my Master System which was far less didactic.
She doesn't know, by far, how to write down her name but we wrote her name in a board in capital letters and she copies it to log in her games because they need an user name. It is funny to see her struggling to enter her username by freneticly search the keyboard for "F", "I", "L" and so on, till writing her name "Filipa".
Even funnier was that after she log I tried to play her game, eventually showing off her how to do it. Fool of me. I could barely understand how to browse all those vivid color and objects in the screen: red balloons for the balloon game, black door for exiting, etc.
Our progenitor told me later that she had already completed all the assignments available on that game and she was waiting for me to install something new.
It seems new time I will have to install her something more difficult maybe some endless RPG or just give her the admin passowrd for her to install whatever she likes...
This is to say, the world had changed and the big web is one of its reasons. Either you believe it or not.
Imagining how the future is a very creative mental exercise. You imagine things that do not exist and then put all the existing pieces together in order to make it happen.
I believe on internet and the browser. I do not believe on the hardware and its OS.
From my point of view (and not only), Internet will over take all other aplications. We are/will edit our documents, store our music, use maps, contacts online. But not only: we will massify the use of heavy applications like ERPs, graphic and video editor programs.
The reason is simple: if we can have the same usability, look-n-feel and performance that a fat client can provide us on the most lightweigthed client that exists, the browser, why the well will I have to bother with installations, memory and hard drive problems and other tecnhicall problems.
The future of software applications is being twisted because of the massive internet infrascture and by now nobody needs to wonder himself why Google was so keen on MS Office Engineers, or do you?
Happy comments,
TM
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The beer market...
During my times while in Germany, which were by coincidence the starting point for this blog, I always looked at the fantastic price's difference between the supermarket's beer and those sole in bars and discos.
Roughly, a beer costs ~30/40 cents. at any supermarket and, the same beer, costs 3/4/or even 5 Euros depending on the bar. It never goes under 3 Eur independently on which place you go.
The reason is simple: the waiter that picks the orders, pours the beer, brings it to the table, thanks you, register the bill, brings it to you, receives the money, gives back to you the change, thanks you again and receives a tip needs to be payed.
The problem in Portugal is that a beer in the supermarket has the same price but you can get one in any bar or disco from less that one Euro to 2, at the most 3 Euros(even if I never payed such an amount).
The reason is simple: the waiter that also picks the orders, pours the beer, brings it to the table, thanks you, register the bill, brings it to you, receives the money, gives back to you the change, thanks you again demands a lower salary and is not even offended if not tipped.
Can you see the problem here?
1.Leonardo da Vinci · Mobility
Roughly, a beer costs ~30/40 cents. at any supermarket and, the same beer, costs 3/4/or even 5 Euros depending on the bar. It never goes under 3 Eur independently on which place you go.
The reason is simple: the waiter that picks the orders, pours the beer, brings it to the table, thanks you, register the bill, brings it to you, receives the money, gives back to you the change, thanks you again and receives a tip needs to be payed.
The problem in Portugal is that a beer in the supermarket has the same price but you can get one in any bar or disco from less that one Euro to 2, at the most 3 Euros(even if I never payed such an amount).
The reason is simple: the waiter that also picks the orders, pours the beer, brings it to the table, thanks you, register the bill, brings it to you, receives the money, gives back to you the change, thanks you again demands a lower salary and is not even offended if not tipped.
Can you see the problem here?
1.Leonardo da Vinci · Mobility
2.INOV Contacto · International Internships
8.CCUSA · Work Experience USA & UK
I would add:
Work and Travel
Be posted!
P.S. Any doubt about #nums: 1,2,3,4,5,6 send an email to mailme ]at[ tiagomatos ].[ org
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