First ordinary Governing Council web conference
The first ordinary Governing Council of the UB web conference took place on May 15. Members in the session approved several measures taken to cope with the situation caused by the pandemic, and which affect the hiring and TRS position examination and the final assessment of the semester in non-classroom format. During the session, the Governing Council was informed about other issues affecting the functioning of the institution during the crisis, among which are the development of the Plan of lockdown lifting, the second call of the Connecta UB aid program for students with connection problems, the adaptation of the calendar for the beginning of the academic year 2020/2021 in mixt-teaching format, conditions of guarantee and safety of the Virtual Campus and the advances on the Equality Plan.
The first ordinary Governing Council of the UB web conference took place on May 15. Members in the session approved several measures taken to cope with the situation caused by the pandemic, and which affect the hiring and TRS position examination and the final assessment of the semester in non-classroom format. During the session, the Governing Council was informed about other issues affecting the functioning of the institution during the crisis, among which are the development of the Plan of lockdown lifting, the second call of the Connecta UB aid program for students with connection problems, the adaptation of the calendar for the beginning of the academic year 2020/2021 in mixt-teaching format, conditions of guarantee and safety of the Virtual Campus and the advances on the Equality Plan.
Before starting approval points, the rector mentioned the facts that led to the statement by the Rectorʼs team on some media treatment regarding student complaints about how the UB works with non-classroom teaching. The rector highlighted the respect of the UB for the media task in general but expressed his concern for those specific cases in which unfunded statements are published, which are not close to reality and have not been proved. Moreover, he noted that in these actions, such as those recently occurred or those that can come up, the UB will respond with decisiveness.
Then, the manager talked about the Plan of lockdown lifting, which will be gradual and asymmetrical, following the directions by the competent authorities and the safety principles the University of Barcelona has to anticipate. In this sense, the Plan will be modified and adapted at the same rate of the regulation, and will be completed with the Contingency plan, made by OSSMA. Both documents have been written in the Plan Monitoring Commission.
The vice-rector for Students talked about the actions for the student collective, which are the second call of the aid program for student internet access, Connecta UB, the re-activation of the bkUB grant program and the collaboration grants, as well as the online Open Days, aimed at new students, which will take place from May 25 to June 5.
The Governing Council also mentioned the non-classroom final assessment of this second semester. Directions and recommendations to carry this out are gathered in the rectorʼs resolution. Also, they informed about the beginning of the academic year 2020/2021, in a mixt-teaching format, which involves a detailed analysis of the needs to adopt spaces, groups and schedules.
Approved agreements in different fields
Regarding the teaching staff, the Governing Council agreed to postpone the call for long-term tenure and tenure track-2 lecturer positions and to authorize the short-term temporary positions. In the same field, they approved to delegate in the Governing Council Teaching Staff Committee the decision to allow the virtual realization of teaching staff examinations, as well as hiring without examination the adjunct lecturers for the academic year 2020/2021. Then, regarding the academic field, they approved the adaptation of the assessment calendar for the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020 in the different centers and studies.
Apart from the approved measures to cope with the pandemic situation, other documents and proposals were approved in the Governing Council session. The Governing Council approved the Integrity code in UB research, whose goals are to improve quality, impact and results of the research in all fields, establish mechanisms to guarantee scientific integrity, provide good scientific practices for in-training research staff, and promote research integrity culture. The audited annual accounts for 2018, which gather all significant aspects of the heritage and financial situation of the UB until late 2018 and the results and budget resolution corresponding to this annual exercise are another approved issue n the session, which appointed the lecturer Francesca Mestre as member of the Claims Commission to replace Lamber Ferreres, who passed away.