The third Universitat d’Hivern d’Ontinyent (Ontinyent’s Winter University) was inaugurated the 25 November. The Centre Cultural de Caixa Ontinyent (Caixa Ontinyent Cultural Centre) and the University of Valencia Campus in the capital of Vall d’Albaida hosted several lectures, round tables, tours and exhibitions throughout the week under the common topic of territorial sustainability.
This initiative strengthens and institutionalises the relationship, starting in 2011, between the University of Valencia, Ontinyent and Vall d’Albaida through an educational offer that complements the new degrees currently taught in the locality.
Territorial sustainability as a challenge has been the main topic of this third edition of the Universitat d’Hivern d’Ontinyent. The 25 November, the Vice-Principal for Territorial Projection and Participation, Jorge Hermosilla; the mayor of Ontinyent, Jorge Rodríguez; and the coordinator of the seminar on education, José Cantó, inaugurated this programme. From then, several specialists of the University of Valencia have reflected on sustainability from different points of view, specifically, the seminars have been divided in: education and sustainability; sustainability in Vall d’Albaida; and economy and sustainability.
The lecture given by professor Amparo Vilches (Department of Experimental and Social Sciences Teaching) inaugurated the cultural week and allowed the starting of the course ‘Educación y sostenibilidad’ (‘Education and sustainability’). She provided an interesting reflection on sustainability as a challenge for citizens.
The morning session of the 26 November, attended by Joan Torró (Department of Comparative Education and Education History), was focused on sustainability with social inclusion and introduced the social orchard project ‘El Raboser’ with a visit to the place. Professor José Cantó (Department of Experimental and Social Sciences Teaching) moderated the round table in the afternoon, which closed the seminar on education and sustainability. In the last one, the teachers on Secondary Education Lluís Miquel Segrelles (CRA Riu d’Albaida – Guadassèquies –), Patricia Folguera (CEIP Bonavista – Ontinyent –) and Maribel Prats (CEIP Dr.Espluges – Montaverner –) participated.
The seminar continued the 27 November, with the tour to Carrícola, a municipality that is a model for sustainability, that was coordinated by Emili Casanova (Department of Catalan), and the exhibition ‘La biodiversitat amenaçada’ (‘Biodiversity under threat’), which was coordinated by José Cantó (Department of Experimental and Social Sciences Teaching). The evening session was addressed to sustainability in the geographical area of Vall d’Albaida through two lectures. Professor Eva Barreno (Department of Botany) focused on the functionality, biodiversity, impacts and bio-detection of problems in mountains and forests; and professor Pilar Campins (Department of Analytical Chemistry) emphasised the quality of water.
The seminar on sustainability in the Vall d’Albaida ended with a round table on sustainable environmental activities, which was moderated by Gemma Pella, president of the CEVA, and in which the associations representatives Joan Cascant (Microvinya), Raquel Gil (Naturfoc), Adrián Pastor (Ventalls Naturals) and Vicent Guerola (Excoxarxa) participated.
The last course was on the relationship between economy and sustainability. Raúl Abeledo, researcher in the Institut Interuniversitari de Desenvolupament Local, talked about the paradigm of growth and development; Màrius V. Fuentes, director of Health and Safety and the Environment Service of the University of Valencia, addressed the initiative of Campus Sostenible (Sustainable Campus), a programme that coordinates the policy for sustainability of the University and promotes the participation of the academic institution in the main networks for sustainability. The seminar ended with the lectures by professor Joan Romero (Department of Geography), who focused it on globalisation and sustainability, and Joan Ramón Sanchis (Department of Business Management), who talked about social economy and entrepreneurship.
This third edition of the Universitat d’Hivern d’Ontinyent strengthens the collaboration, starting in 2011, between the University of Valencia, Ontinyent’s city council, and the collaboration of Fundación Campus Ontinyent and Caixa d’Ontinyent. An agreement that aims to project the research community potential over its nearest geographical space, to promote the presence and participation of the University of Valencia in the Valencian regions and transfer training, research and knowledge beyond the university classrooms, in a Universitat d’Hivern free of charge and open to the people in Ontinyent and the region of Vall d’Albaida.
Last update: 3 de december de 2013 08:47.
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