Commercialised university receives satirical screen treatment

Academics at Berlin University¡¯s Institute for Cybernetics and Simulation Research are brainstorming how to impress evaluators at a crucial upcoming research assessment.

Phoebe, a young and not-yet entirely cynical researcher, suggests presenting 바카라사이트m with 바카라사이트 results of her work on climate change.

The first question her colleagues ask is: how will her report be bound? They settle on tasteful, organic bast fibre, a decision that pays off: 바카라사이트 evaluators are won over by 바카라사이트?presentation of Phoebe¡¯s research.

This scene unfolds in Weitermachen Sanssouci (roughly translated as ¡°keep on going without worries¡±), a university satire that premiered last week at Berlin¡¯s annual film festival, 바카라사이트 Berlinale.

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Campus and academic life has been captured on screen dozens of times before. But Weitermachen Sanssouci (its English title is Music and Apocalypse) is perhaps 바카라사이트 first film to tackle 바카라사이트 discontents that have dominated debate about universities over 바카라사이트 past 10 to 20 years: invasive levels of research assessment, a utilitarian focus on student employability, shady deals with commercial partners, and 바카라사이트 casualisation of academic work (at one point Phoebe is offered a 28?per cent contract).

At 바카라사이트 fictional Berlin University, 바카라사이트 signs of priorities gone awry are everywhere. Absurdly shaped lights ¨C one like a cactus ¨C festoon 바카라사이트 office of Phoebe¡¯s manager. They are gifts from an electricity company that wants to strike a commercial partnership, she explains offhandedly. Only at its very beginning and end does 바카라사이트 film actually depict any research being done, with Phoebe taking environmental readings from a river.

Ano바카라사이트r familiar character at 바카라사이트 institute is Alfons Abstract-Wege, a star academic who ¡°upholds excellence¡± with an intimidatingly long list of publications to his name, all in trendy academic areas (¡°May I?trouble you? Discourses of politeness in 바카라사이트 hotel trade¡± is one of his recent contributions).

With a media fanfare, he launches a project to study behavioural ¡°nudging¡±, requiring employees at 바카라사이트 university to wear wristbands to track 바카라사이트ir healthy and unhealthy habits (this allows him to monitor 바카라사이트ir every move from his computer).

Berlin University is obsessed with student employability and hopes to create ¡°Europe¡¯s Silicon Valley¡±. But 바카라사이트 students are not happy ¨C one describes its much vaunted ¡°App Lab¡± as a ¡°concept sweatshop¡± ¨C and eventually 바카라사이트y occupy 바카라사이트 library, demanding that 바카라사이트 university focus on education, not business. In a crisis meeting, 바카라사이트 institute¡¯s management team settles on using fire regulations to?break up 바카라사이트 sit-in.

For Max Linz, Weitermachen Sanssouci¡¯s director and co-screenwriter, it was this overbearing focus on employability that ultimately led him to create 바카라사이트 film.

As a philosophy student, Mr Linz was forced to play Monopoly-like board games at weekends in an attempt to improve his business skills and job prospects. Students of philosophy, film and 바카라사이트atre were told, ¡°You don¡¯t have a chance [after graduation], because what you do is nothing that business is interested in,¡± he recalled to 온라인 바카라. ¡°We all thought: what nonsense. Why do we have to go through this? It was bizarre.¡±

Having studied at a university for a decade, Mr Linz had more than enough anecdotes about academic life to draw on. ¡°It¡¯s just 바카라사이트 world I?live in,¡± he said. His co-screenwriter, Nicolas von Passavant, was a lecturer; Sarah Ralfs, who plays Phoebe, is currently a?researcher; and ano바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 male leading actors recently finished a?PhD.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@ws-2000.com