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null Globethics.net Newsletter No 9/2017

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Editorial

Does university prepare students for life? by Prof. Chidiebere Onyia

Library

New collection, Catholic Institute for Development, Justice and Peace (CIDJAP)
Global Ethics Day 2017 reading list: The Golden Rule - 12 key concepts from Eastern spirituality to "take the cannoli"

Publications

Globethics Publications: 1 million, a publishing milestone
New, In the Shadows of Truth: The Polarized Family (2017)
For authors - negotiate with your publisher

Research / Projects

Joint communique from participants of the second African Church Assets Programme (ACAP II)

Events

Globethics Events

  • Fair taxation for development - UN invitation for students and young professionals, 16 October 2017
  • Globethics.net at the World Conference on Online Learning, 16-19 October 2017
  • Global Ethics Day, 18 October 2017 - The Golden Rule: a guiding maxim for ethical development
  • Workshop on practical approach to global ethics, CSR and sustainability, 15-16 November 2017
  • High-level Forum on Balanced and Inclusive Education, 8 December 2017
Other Events
  • 9th Club of Florence seminar on rewriting stories of responsibility, Luxembourg, 26-28 October 2017
Calls for Action
  • Call for volunteers: logistics, communications and reporting
  • Second Call for Papers: Ethics and Energy, 13 October 2017

Head Office

A Marshall Plan with Africa
Globethics.net at the 21st International Renovabis Congress
Ethics, dialogue and breakfast
Biomimethics - Diddier Blasco presents

Regional Programmes

China: second Green Entrepreneurship 'Train the Trainers Programme under the SDGs'
East Africa: Catholic Identity and the Catholic University of Eastern Africa
Francophone Africa: survey on ethics in higher education in Benin
India: encountering families of different faiths, engender and encourage family ethics
South America: Lanzamiento de Qonakuy, Plataforma de Universidades de LA y Caribe por la Agenda 2030 (in Spanish)
Russia: International Symposium on Ethics in Higher Education
Turkey: second edition of Ethics and Compliance Managers Certification Program


Editorial by Prof. Chidiebere Onyia

Does university prepare students for life?

A key factor to consider first is the quality of education and university services – bearing in mind that not all universities are equal, based on the ranking metrics adopted by international regulatory bodies, policymakers and governments. It is evident that select universities are adequately funded and offer exceptional education supported by a highly skilled faculty who challenge students to solve problems and think outside the box. These universities often transcend theoretical learning by offering students the opportunity to learn valuable skills in the real world through internship programmes, while integrating ethically focused learning activities. In addition, extracurricular activities may be offered that provide mentorship to students, facilitate peer learning and teach students about skills and technologies relevant to today's marketplace. However, many universities are not equally equipped and continue to adopt unethical, and unsustainable, means to attract students – focusing solely on the completion of the course curriculum, in some cases, with obsolete learning materials and assessments.
 
The decision by higher education institutions to be adaptive and forward looking is usually dependent on the quality of leadership at all levels. Usually, universities go through a mandated curriculum review process that allows the university leadership to integrate feedback from internal academic planning unit audits in making strategic decisions. Yet, some faculty review teams, if not properly structured, may adopt a minimalist approach without empirical evidence to meet the requirements of the institution and their regulatory bodies. University leadership must therefore have the courage to set ethical standards that impact every aspect of the institutional process with the main objective of ensuring that staff and faculty intentionally prepare students for life, given the role that university experience plays in moulding students' behaviour and thinking about life. What this means, especially in developing countries where access is still a major issue, is that the admission process must reflect the core values of the university so that meritocracy and respect are fully entrenched throughout the student's stay in these institutions. 
 
Higher education institutions may have over promised and under delivered over the years, but there is always time to rethink our current approach to teaching, learning and research. We must ask ourselves these difficult questions at the departmental, faculty and institutional levels, "Are we preparing students for life? If not, what decisions do we need to make to change our institutional behaviour towards meeting the key pillars of student preparation?"  
 
Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, Steering Committee member, Globethics Consortium on Ethics in Higher Education
 

LibrarY

New collection Catholic Institute for Development, Justice and Peace

Globethics.net is hosting an institutional collection of documents from the Catholic Institute for Development, Justice and Peace (CIDJAP), a body of the Catholic Church in Nigeria committed to the implementation of Catholic social teaching. Read more

Global Ethics Day 2017 reading list: The Golden Rule - 12 key concepts from Eastern spirituality to "take the cannoli"

The theme for this year's Global Ethics Day on 18 October chosen by Globethics.net is The Golden Rule. Our library team has selected a range of articles from the Globethics Library around different philosophical, religious and ethical perspectives on The Golden Rule for you to explore. Read more


Publications

 

Globethics Publications: 1 million, a publishing milestone

This month our publications department reached an important milestone. As of October 2017, our publications have accumulated over 1,000,000 downloads! Read more

New, In the Shadows of Truth: The Polarized Family (2017)

Elly K. Kansiime
ISBN 978-2-88931-203-0
 
In this book, the author deals with the hidden realities posed by parents who spend much of their time occupied with work and leisure, while the children are left to their own devices. In the course of these long time periods of separation, children build inappropriate relationships and indulge in detrimental practices that pose both short- and long-term effects to themselves and the family at large.
This book therefore focuses on parental ethical roles in the Uganda African context. It is a very moving family ethical exposition that will build up parents and help them to rethink their approach to family practices. It is a book intended to raise awareness of the subtle dangers that unintentional neglect can cause, potentially damaging their families and their children's future.
 
Order print copies from Amazon.com| Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de
 
 

For authors - negotiate with your publisher

Making books available online increases substantially their accessibility. Making them available for free is the commitment of Globethics.net with our online library of over 5 million documents and our own 130 books, all available online free of charge.
 
If you are an author still publishing with a commercial publisher who would like to make your work more widely available for free, we invite you to consider negotiating with your publisher the right to place your book after a grace period (6 or 12 months) online in the Globethics Library.
 
More and more commercial publishers are agreeing to allow books to be made available since the majority of sales are mainly in the first year.
 
The most recent example of such a successful negotiation is a book by one of our Globethics.net partners, Stephan Rothlin, "International Business Ethics", which was published with Springer 2016 that can now be consulted and downloaded for free from our online library!
 
If you need support or information in the negotiations with your publisher, Dr Ignace Haaz, Managing Editor of Globethics Publications, is happy to advise you. You can write to him at publications@globethics.net.
 


Globethics.net Research / Projects

Joint communique from the participants of the second African Church Assets Programme (ACAP II)

In gratitude to all the facilitators and recognizing the responsibility to be good stewards and improve on resources entrusted to their care, the 26 participants drawn from 11 countries of West Africa, Central, South and East Africa, and representing 16 organizations issued a Joint Communique. Read more


EVENTS

Globethics Events

Fair taxation for development - UN invitation for students and young professionals, 16 October 2017

Globethics.net President, Christoph Stückelberger, will deliver an opening speech at the TaxCOOP 2017 international conference on 'Facing the Challenges of Tax Competition' at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on 16 October 2017. Read more

Globethics.net at the World Conference on Online Learning, 16-19 October 2017

This year the World Conference on Online Learning is organised and hosted by North at the Sheraton Center in Toronto, Canada from 16-19 October 2017. Globethics.net Executive Director, Obiora Ike will be there. Read more

Global Ethics Day, 18 October 2017 - The Golden Rule: a guiding maxim for ethical development

This year Globethics.net is focusing on The Golden Rule, the significance of the idea of ‘treating others as you would like to be treated', as the theme for Global Ethics Day on 18 October 2017. 

We want to hear your stories of how you consider and implement the Golden Rule in your day-to-day life, and how this simple method of consideration has helped establish your own values.

Please send us your story (max 500 words) to infoweb@globethics.net. We will share a selection of the best stories that we receive with the world through our website and social networks to promote ethics and values for a better future. Read more

Workshop on practical approach to global ethics, CSR and sustainability, 15-16 November 2017

Globethics.net together with the CSR Finance Institute is organising a workshop in Geneva, Switzerland on Global Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability. The purpose of the workshop is to examine CSR from the perspective of business and societal goals with a specific emphasis placed on a corporation or institution's stakeholders ... Read more

High-level Forum on Balanced and Inclusive Education, 8 December 2017

We are happy to announce the global High-level Forum on Balanced and Inclusive Education being organised by Globethics.net together with our partner The Education Relief Foundation (ERF) on 8 December 2017 at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Read more

Other Events

9th Club of Florence seminar on rewriting stories of responsibility, Luxembourg, 26-28 October 2017

Calls for Action

Call for volunteers: logistics, communications and reporting

Globethics.net has the pleasure to announce opportunities available to motivated and dynamic young graduates living in or around Geneva, Switzerland to be a part of the success of our next Globethics.net event taking place from 6-8 December 2017. Read more


Head Office

A Marshall Plan with Africa

Dr Obiora Ike, Executive Director of Globethics.net, has been invited to join a committee of experts to advise on a project with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Read more

Globethics.net at the 21st International Renovabis Congress

Globethics.net's Executive Director, Obiora Ike, was a speaker at the 21st International Renovabis Congress, the largest Christian engagement for the renewal of Eastern Europe, organised in Munich, Germany at the University's Faculty of Philosophy from 6-8 September 2017. Read more

Ethics, dialogue and breakfast

Culture connects peoples. This was the main theme of the cultural-political 'white sausage breakfast', which the team of the Ammerserenade invited into the former Braunviehstall of the state estate Achselschwang. Dr Thomas Goppel and Globethics.net Director Obiora Ike discussed similarities between Africa, Germany and Europe. Read more

Biomimethics - Didier Blasco presents

On 14 September 2017, Globethics.net had the privilege to receive Didier Blasco, a practitioner and researcher in Biomimethics for a presentation and discussion. The session was focused around the question: "How can the world be ethical towards nature and draw values from it?" Read more

 

Regional Programmes

East Africa: Catholic Identity and the Catholic University of Eastern Africa

Globethics.net's Executive Director Obiora Ike visited the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya on 20 September 2017 where the Vice Chancellor Prof. Justus Mbae convened a meeting between him and the University Think Tank team. Read more

Francophone Africa: survey on ethics in higher education in Benin

Universities make an essential contribution to the learning of social and cultural values. They are the main reservoirs of qualified human resources and capacity building for sustainable development. However, in Benin, social relationships in this environment do not reflect ethical considerations. Read more

Russia: International Symposium on Ethics in Higher Education

Globethics.net Russia is hosting an International Symposium on Ethics in Higher Education on 3 November 2017 at the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Moscow, Russia. Read more

 

Globethics.net China

Globethics.net India

Second Green Entrepreneurship: 'Train the Trainers Program under the SDGs'Encountering families of different faiths, engender and encourage family ethics

Globethics.net South America

Globethics.net Turkey

Lanzamiento de Qonakuy, Plataforma de Universidades de LA y Caribe por la Agenda 2030 (in Spanish)Second edition of Ethics and Compliance Managers Certification Program