Christina Meetoo

On Media, Society and Mauritius

Academia

They put the blame on us

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The University of Mauritius is going through difficult times. This is not new, you will say…

The blame is being subtly shifted to lecturers who are bearing the consequences of drastic changes in policy. In fact, most people are thinking that lecturers have asked for an extra week of holiday because they are utterly lazy. It has even been said on the radio that lecturers were absent yesterday and that students were sent back home for the first day of lectures. Very convenient, isn’t it?

But let me tell you that this is not true. We were present yesterday and we are present everyday at work. People do not realise how much work goes on behind the scene. Unlike primary and secondary school teachers, we do not get any holidays when there are no classes unless we apply for official leave.

The truth is that we were asked by top management to delay start of semester by one week for most courses. If the information did not get to the students, is it our fault?

And by the way, the reasons cited in the media for the delay are completely ‘à côté de la plaque’. More crucial issues are being omitted. And our Union is quite unsuccessful at getting the message across. But for God’s sake, stop putting the blame on us…

Journalists quick to bury UOM

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Wicker Coffin

Originally uploaded by Heaven on Earth Bristol.

Lately, the local press pundits have been reveling in their criticism against the University of Mauritius and to celebrate the wonderful initiatives from the private sector, which according to them, heralds a dazzling academic future for Mauritius. The gist of their discourse is that the University of Mauritius is obsolete and that those private universities will save Mauritius….

If you don’t believe me, read

Although one can appreciate the fact there exist such ventures, one cannot deny that for the time being that there are major differences between those private universities and the University of Mauritius. As an academic of this institution, I am the first to acknowlege that there is a lot of room for improvement, that there are many incoherent decisions, that there are administrative bottlenecks, that there may be some lecturers who are not up to standard (according to students’ feedback), etc.

Let’s compare like with like
Yet, if you compare those private institutions with UOM, it is clear that

    – the programmes offered by UOM are developed by the institution whereas the private institutions rely on distance education programmes franchised to them by foreign universities
    – consequently, lecture materials in private institutions are not developed and tailor-made for Mauritian students
    – lecturers there are not really lecturers, they should be called tutors rather as they do not develop the material; they only use D.E. manuals provided to them by the foreign university. One can even ask whether they actually master the content of the subjects they teach…
    – the academic staff of the private institutions do little or no research as opposed to UOM

Also, I am quite intrigued by the fact that no journalist has cared to investigate the rapidity with which that Eastern University got its authorisation to bear the appellation of university (something the DCDM Business School which is now renamed Charles Telfair Institute does not even have).They were probably too busy doing the promotion of the Charles Telfair Institute….

In a nutshell, I would tend to say that, except for one or two programmes of study (e.g. I acknowledge that the DCDM Design course is good as it has a hands-on practical approach), those institutions are far behind the University of Mauritius. These institutions are here to make money basically, to exploit the unmet demand of people who need diplomas and degrees to get jobs.

Still, the University of Mauritius needs to improve, that one cannot deny.

Busy week on campus

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It’s been a pretty busy week on the Reduit campus for the academic staff. Though students are already on holiday as exams are over, this is not our case (pauvres de nous!).
It’s been a whirlwind of marking of scripts, of placement reports and of dissertations, plus we’ve had our external examiner visiting and examiners boards as well as various talks and lectures.

I’ve attended two of those this past week, the first by our own external and the second by the Politial Science external.

Development Coms
Prof Jan Servaes (from Univ of Queensland, Australia) who talked about ‘Communication for Development and Social Change’ gave some info about the needed move from the Western ‘diffusion and adoption’ model and Lerner’s Modernisation framework to a more bottom-up participatory approach which favours indigenisation and multiculturalism.

Put simply, this means that development should involve people at grassroot level in the process… (for example in the implementation of the UN MDGs or Millenium Development Goals)

But I have some doubts regarding whether this is achievable – I fear that much of the international organisations’ money is spent at the level of bureaucracy rather than where it is most needed.

The British political system
The second talk I went to was given by Prof Paul Shelley (from LSE, UK) who elaborated on the British First Past The Post system of elections. A very interesting talk on the evolution of the system from monarchy to present day and discussions about Proportional Representation.

The clear expose helped understand the behind the scenes of political power, specially how, once they had gained access to power, the Labour Party no longer wanted PR which they had been campaigning for when they were in the opposition.

Looks like politicians are the same everywhere, isn’t it?

Talk on Communication for Devt

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For those who might be interested, there’s a public lecture on ‘Mapping the new field of Communication for Development and Social Change’ this afternoon (Wednesday 14th June) at 4.30 p.m at UOM in Lecture Theatre 2.

The talk will be delivered by Prof Jan Servaes from the School of Journalism and Communication of University of Queensland, Australia. The outline of the talk reads as follows:

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More on the talk later…

On Bollywood Cinema

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Prof Vijay Mishra gave an interesting talk on the critical genealogy of Bollywood Cinema at the University yesterday evening.

He provided an interesting insight into the evolution of Indian films from the mid-thirties (with the dramaturgical traditions and the classical courtesan theme) to the rise of the present Bollywood industry.

It is interesting to note that the film industry in India was given official recongition by the State only in 2000 despite the fact that the first Indian silent was released in 1913 and that India is the biggest producer of films in the world (in volume).

Vijay Mishra pointed out that there is a tension between, on the one hand, the traditional thematics dealt with in Bollywood films (e.g. family and traditions) and, on the other, the new representation modes being employed and which now focus on techno-realism and hyper-modernity. In simple terms, there is a stark contrast between those eternal traditional values and the debauche of wealth and sexual overtones in Bollywood films.

Men as objects to be looked at
I tend to think that there is a form of regression in Indian films as the courtesan theme is being extended to men also (think of Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan exhibiting their muscles in sexy dance numbers). Whereas, in the old Bombay films, films were laden with meaningful dialogues uttered by men whilst women used to dance in a lascive manner, this is no longer the case. Men’s dialogues have been replaced by silly dance numbers as well… So that there is a form of ‘progress’ in the gender balance (women and men dance now and are both to be looked at) but the artistic and asethetical value of films has been lowered!

Mishra also highlighted the ‘diaspora effect’ in the circulation of films as many of those big hit fils (Devdas, Kal Ho Na Ho, Khabie Ghushi Khabi Gham….) are seen increasingly by non-resident Indians in the western world. Could this point towards a wave of nostalgia for their motherland? Mishra says yes, but it is no longer the same Mother India. It is a defiled version which is now being sacrificed on the altar of profitability.