Page 129 - The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology

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100 THE ISA HANDBOOK IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY

carry out teaching activities, facilities are In addition, due to the unusual nature of
negotiated in the area where the regional sci- this program, the student also has to learn
entific communities are located: the use of to identify and negotiate with the relevant
libraries from other institutions, laboratories, individuals, firms, agencies, or institutions
computers with access to global communica- where he/she can carry out field work that
tion systems such as the Internet, sites for the may include observations, experimentation,
recovery of empirical data, among others. and measurements of the object of study.
Group work emerges in the ‘socialization’ 4 Likewise, students have to develop the ability
of results among teachers and students, and to assess the time, monetary resources, and
it takes place in any physical space that instrumentation necessary for their experi-
provides the facilities to gather all of its mental work. Emphasis is put on the stu-
members: mentors, students, collaborators, dent’s capacity for self-expression both
and observers. orally and in writing, including the ability to
CIDE’s collegial body and group of advis- correspond with scholars by e-mail. This
ers know the time required for learning in capacity is necessary in order to succeed in a
each one of the different phases of the grad- program demanding additional initiative and
uate training process, at both the Master’s creativity from the student.
and the Doctoral level. In consequence, they The individualized curricular design and
have the ability to evaluate the progress of the educational practices in CIDE acknowl-
the students in each phase, in line with the edge the diversity of individualities, tempera-
time that has been invested individually in ments, aspirations, and vocations needed to
the student’s educational process and accord- assure equal opportunities to each and every
ing to his/her particular situation. The indi- one of the students by offering a method, a
vidual does not compare him/herself to pace, and a way of learning that suits both the
peers, since neither previous attributes nor specific needs of the student and the object of
the disposition of time will ever be the same. study.
The arrangements described above imply
that effective work time is what determines Institutional planning Institutional policy
the presence and stability of attributes that includes elements that tend to democratize
characterize a scientific worker, and that the learning in a context of deep economic and
pace of learning will be a function of the time social differences. These elements include
invested in processes of academic work, the promotion of financial support for
rather than of any rigid schedule marked by students of lesser economic capacity, in an
the school calendar. effort to achieve equality of access to graduate
education.
Evaluation: CIDE defines student academic CIDE’s policy favors activities for the
evaluation as the development of individual training of teacher-advisers and students,
attributes, measured as the fulfillment of spe- through projects that emphasize the use of
cific activities common to any graduate pro- information of excellence, the study of prob-
gram of quality. Among other standard lems located at the frontier of knowledge, the
graduate requirements, these activities may socialization of knowledge, periodic evalua-
include the number of pages read, the tion (by peers) of the academic activity,
number of filing cards formulated, the qual- and the establishment of links with individu-
ity of the information analysis, the formula- als and institutions dedicated to scientific
tion of bibliographic retrieval lists, the research.
logical organization of the facts identified CIDE recognizes the importance of having
in the files consulted, the interpretation a presence in mainstream science, but
demanded by the identified facts, and the maintaining academic work within the
formulation of a glossary of new terms. bounds of research relevant to regional and