1 Annual General Meeting of the German Studies Association of Ireland (GSAI) Venue: Humanities Institute of Ireland, University College Dublin Date: 24 November 2012 In Attendance: Sheree Borge (CIT), Anna Bredthauer (UCD), Deirdre Byrnes (NUIG), Noel Deeney (DIT), Siobhán Donovan (UCD), Clive Earls (UL), Sabine Egger (MIC), Kerstin Fest (UCC), Valerie Heffernan (NUIM), Gisela Holfter (UL), Britta Jung (MIC), Stefan Kriechbaumer (UCC), Sabine Krobb (UCD), Szilvia Lengl (MIC), Rachel MagShamhráin (UCC), Geraldine Mitchell (IT Tallaght), Sabine Müller (NUIG), Pól Ó Dochartaigh (Ulster, AGS), Nikolai Preuschoff (UCC), Gillian Pye (UCD), Emma Riordan (TCD), Manfred Schewe (UCC), Hans-Walter Schmidt-Hannisa (NUIG), Christiane Schönfeld (MIC), Franziska Schratt (MIC), Harald Seibel (German Embassy), Arnd Witte (NUIM) Apologies: Jürgen Barkhoff (TCD), Jennifer Bruen (DCU), Doris Devilly (NUIG), Florian Krobb (NUIM), Don Morgan (GDI), Moray McGowan (TCD), Una Merlehan (Letterkenny IT), Tina Pusse (NUIG), Hermann Rasche (NUIG)
Minutes of the 2011 AGM and matters arising from the minutes The minutes of the 2011 AGM were agreed (proposed by Sabine Egger and seconded by Arnd Witte). Announcements Retirements: Dr. Carmel Finnan (MIC) New appointments: MIC: Dr. Helmut Grugger was appointed Lecturer, replacing Dr. Carmel Finnan, and Szilvia Lengl was appointed Sprachassistentin. NUIM: Ulrike Dlubek was appointed DAAD-Sprachassistentin and Gerit Lattacher ÖAD-Lektorin. UCC: Stefan Kriechbaumer was appointed ÖADLektor and Nikolai Preschoff as DAAD-Lektor (replacing Kerstin Fest). UL: Dr. Michaela Schrage-Früh was appointed DAAD-Lektorin. Don Morgan has replaced Annelie Eberhardt as President of the GDI (Gesellschaft der Deutschlehrer Irlands).
Election of Officers Gillian proposed the election of Sabine Krobb to replace Rachel MagShamhráin on the GSAI committee as representative of the Yearbook editorial team. This proposal was seconded by Sabine Egger.
2 As outgoing postgraduate representative on the GSAI committee, Clive Earls spoke about the roles and responsibilities attached to the post. It was agreed that interested postgraduates could nominate/self-nominate by a date to be decided in December (December 14th was subsequently decided by the committee) and that a call for nominations be issued via the GSAI mailing list. Secretary’s Report Deirdre highlighted the necessity of updating – and, if necessary, rebuilding – the GSAI mailing list as the current list is out of date, comprised of people who are no longer paid-up members, and with the added problem of emails bouncing back. It was agreed that only paid-up members would be part of the new mailing list. Deirdre particularly urged postgraduates to join and suggested that the GSAI contact person at each institution could remind colleagues and postgraduates about the Association in the hope of gaining more members. December 14 th was agreed as the date after which only the updated mailing list would be in use. Treasurer’s Report Sheree distributed a statement of financial activities for the academic year 20112012 – see attached documentation. She explained that the balance carried forward as of November 2012 (balance shown on the third last line) was higher than on the previous line because Armin Petras had been unable to attend the conference. Pól Ó Dochartaigh noted how healthy the bank balance was. Report of the Yearbook editors (Germanistik in Ireland) Rachel reported that the backlog of issues was causing significant storage problems. She explained that she was exploring the possibility of online publication and that she would present her findings at the next AGM. Online publication would increase author citations. Rachel thanked the peer-reviewers of the 2012 volume and called for peer-reviewers for future volumes. She also noted that guest-editing would be possible for thematic volumes, with a general editor focusing on the nonthematic section. Germanistik in Ireland has been MLA-listed since 2011. Sabine Krobb announced that the next issue of the Yearbook would be “About Time”, arising from a conference held in UCD in June 2012. Co-Chairs’ Report Sabine Egger reported on the GSAI’s involvement in the campaign against the abolition of the Modern Languages in Primary Schools Initiative. She had attended a meeting in Leinster House in February 2012, representing Modern Languages at MIC and the GSAI, but regrettably the decision to abolish the MLPSI was upheld. The GSAI also participated in the review of the Requirements for Entry onto a Programme of Initial Teacher Education (post-primary). The GSAI made a number of suggestions concerning candidates for German as a subject, including that •
an MA or PhD in German should also be accepted as a valid entry route into post-primary teaching qualifications,
3 •
the requirement for a minimum period of residency in a German-speaking country be reinstated,
•
instead of “a level of performance attained by learners as independent users, which is, broadly speaking, between the common reference levels B1 and B2”, according to CEFR, as suggested in the TC’s draft, a C1 must be the minimum level,
•
the separation of literary genres into poetry, prose and drama in the document be collapsed into one category identified as “literary and film studies” and that, in addition to the category “history of ideas”, the Council should also add the category “historical studies”, subject to the proviso that such modules incorporate proven target-language content.
Sabine Egger attended a meeting of the Teaching Council in Maynooth on this. The Teaching Council of Ireland agreed to consider a six-month residence period in a German-speaking country as a minimum requirement and accepted the proposal for a C1 level. The GSAI participated in the campaign „Deutsche Sprache in Irland” (=GermanConnects). Gillian Pye reported that the GSAI had been invited to the annual meeting of the Europäischer Germanistenverband held in Berlin in May 2012. She thanked Pól Ó Dochartaigh for alerting her to the existence of this group.
Report from Harald Seibel, First Secretary, Press, Cultural and Political Affairs, German Embassy Harald Seibel reported on the marketing campaign „Deutsche Sprache in Irland“, a joint initiative of the German Embassy and the Goethe-Institut. Against the backdrop of falling numbers of students taking German, there was widespread agreement that such a campaign was necessary. A working group had been established; regular meetings were being held in the Goethe-Institut. Herr Seibel explained the various aspects of the campaign, including a DVD made by the Goethe-Institut and featuring interviews with Irish people for whom German plays a significant role (graduates, business people, artists, etc.) and a German Teacher Award, initiated in 2012 by the Embassy. „German connects“ would be the slogan of the media campaign. An advertising agency had been hired to design a website www.germanconnects.ie; there would also be a Facebook page. Herr Seibel reported that newspaper adverts would appear in the Irish Independent and in the Sunday Independent in late February/early March 2013; three weeks of radio adverts would run during the same period. The possibility of German companies in Ireland offering a Praktikumsbörse would also be explored. Beginning in September 2013, a
4 Deutschmobil would travel around the country visiting schools and promoting German. The launch of the „German Connects“ campaign, of the DVD and of the website would take place in Dublin in February 2013. Harald Seibel reported on upcoming events at the Embassy, including a travelling exhibition on the Humboldt-Forum in Berlin, events to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Elysée Treaty, and a number of events to mark the LutherDekade (the screening of a film about Luther, a music project “Reformation und Musik”, and a project “Reformation und Toleranz”). Harald Seibel also noted that the Embassy was looking for certified translators and interpreters. Gillian thanked Harald Seibel for his support.
Reports from associated organisations AGS (Association for German Studies in Great Britain and Ireland) Pól Ó Dochartaigh reported on the ongoing attempts to raise awareness of the importance of learning German. A Professor of German, Colin Riordan, has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University. The AGS annual conference is being held in Cardiff in April 2013; travel bursaries are available for postgraduates wishing to attend. Pól Ó Dochartaigh noted that Higher Education is a devolved responsibility in the UK. The closure of German at Queen’s University has adversely affected the number of grammar-school pupils taking German. He has spoken to many members of the Ulster Assembly about the importance of languages. He asked that the marketing campaign „Deutsche Sprache in Irland“ be extended to include the North; Harald Seibel agreed to explore this possibility. BUGI (Business German in Ireland Group) Gisela Holfter reported on the activities of the Business German in Ireland Group. The Goethe-Institut would be the venue for the next annual meeting, to be held in March 2013. Gisela noted that the Kuratorium Award which the group had received on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of its existence had been used to help sponsor a „Warum Deutsch?“ competition. BUGI also has its own Wiki, set up and maintained by Doris Devilly (NUIG) and Danielle Martin (Shannon School of Hotel Management) WIGS (Women in German Studies) Gillian Pye urged female postgraduates to join the Association, noting that travel bursaries were available to attend conferences. She noted that the next annual conference would be held at the University of Sheffield in November 2013.
5 Alumni Portal Kerstin Fest reported on the establishment of the Alumniportal Deutschland and distributed an information brochure, urging members to join the group.
Irish Business Network Proposal: Student Internship Initiative Gillian Pye reported on a student internship initiative that had been proposed by the Irish Business Network. The network would like to use the GSAI as the point of contact for universities in Ireland. Deirdre Byrnes undertook to ask her colleague Doris Devilly if she would be interested in acting as the main contact person in this regard. The network wished to set up a website, but Gisela Holfter raised concerns about the very tight timescale involved and pointed out that one coordinated and comprehensive website promoting German in Ireland would be more effective than a number of different websites with the same aim. Those present felt that the initiative was a very useful one, but one that needed more time.
Format of future GSAI conferences The question of whether or not to charge GSAI conference delegates was discussed. Gillian Pye noted that UCD had provided no funding to co-host the 2012 conference. Hans-Walter Schmidt-Hannisa felt that charging a conference fee would discourage participation. Gisela Holfter suggested that attendees pay for lunch rather than charging them a conference fee. Regarding the format, Siobhan Donovan commented that attendees liked the two-day format.
AOB Gillian Pye presented Rachel and Clive with tokens as an expression of gratitude for all of their work on the committee. Sheree Borge reminded members to take a copy of the Yearbook with them. Gisela Holfter invited all present to a Glühwein reception to be held at the Centre for Irish-German Studies, UL. Noel Deeney invited members to a reading by Nevfel Cumart and Eoin Bourke at the DIT, Kevin Street on November 27th.
Date and venue of the next GSAI conference Valerie Heffernan and Arnd Witte proposed NUI Maynooth as the
6 venue for the next conference. The beginning of November 2013 was suggested as a provisional date, but Gillian Pye pointed out that this could potentially clash with the annual WIGS conference. She offered to check the date of the latter and then revert to members.
