IUVSTA Workshops, Schools and Technical Training Courses

IUVSTA organises a regular program of Workshops, Schools and Technical Training Courses. In each Triennium, the Scientific and Technical Directorate (STD) is allocated a budget and spend profile for such events. At the start of the Triennium, it will determine the amount which will be allocated to each event which will then determine the number of events which can be approved during the Triennium.

Guidelines for IUVSTA Schools

Purpose and Format

IUVSTA Schools are intended to provide education in a scientific topic within the fields covered by IUVSTA. The school should therefore provide an opportunity for students, particularly those who would not normally have such an opportunity without some support, to attend lectures and discussions with experts in the field.

In order to guarantee the financial stability of such a meeting these meetings are supported by a contribution from the IUVSTA STD Discretionary Fund. They are organized by one or more of the Scientific Divisions.

Size, Duration

Schools will typically comprise 40-80 students. They will normally last one or two weeks.

Participation

It is essential that opportunity is offered for participation of students from all the member countries of IUVSTA, including those in which science is less well developed than in the scientifically most active countries. For this reason, it is envisaged that the school will be advertised through the member societies (possibly via the Divisional Representatives of the organizing Division(s).

To some extent, priority should be given to students from lesser developed countries.

Students would normally be expected to be educated to degree level in an appropriate discipline.

Lecturers should be invited both on the basis of their recognised excellence in the topic of the school and on their ability to communicate effectively.

Venue and Program

It is implicit in the school format that all delegates should be together throughout the meeting and should have limited external distractions. Typically this is likely to mean that the venue will be a hotel, hostel, or possibly a University campus with suitable accommodation for students. Access (transport) for international visitors must, of course, also be considered.

The program should provide a suitable balance of lectures, discussion and, where appropriate, laboratory or other practical sessions.

Some time should be provided for social and recreational purposes so that participants can get to know one another.

Language

In view of the international nature of IUVSTA Schools, they will normally be conducted with English as the primary language.

Documentation

In view of the educational nature of the event, course notes or copies of presentations should be available to the students. If a text book is used, it should normally be provided to the students as part of the school fee.

Financial arrangements

Clearly in running a relatively short school, the potentially substantial fixed cost, shared between a small number of participants, can make the student cost high, or the financial arrangements potentially unstable, or both. For this reason the IUVSTA funding is intended to be applied to the fixed costs, mainly those of the lecturers, so that students will pay little more than their marginal costs. In this way the price for students should be low, and there are unlikely to be serious financial consequences if the total attendance is slightly lower than anticipated. This is the basic philosophy of the IUVSTA financial sponsorship.

Organizers should also recognize that the IUVSTA financial commitment is limited to the pre-agreed sponsorship level. If there is a surplus, it is expected that this would be returned to the STD Discretionary Fund of IUVSTA to support further schools.

If there is a financial loss, this is the responsibility of the organizers, and for this reason, it will normally be appropriate to run the school with the support of a local Vacuum Society or University, etc., who will have agreed to underwrite the school.

Normally, the organisers of the school will establish a bank account specifically for the purpose or establish a designated account within those of the underwriting body. Details of this account should be supplied to the Treasurer of IUVSTA who will transfer the agreed funds by electronic bank transfer.

After the school a summary financial account of the school should be sent to the Scientific Secretary.

Approval and Organization

The normal procedure for organizing one of the IUVSTA Schools will be:

The basic topic, venue, draft program and provisional budget for a school is first developed by the potential organiser(s) in collaboration with one of the Scientific Divisional Committees of IUVSTA (or a collaboration of two or more of them) and presented to the STD for approval at one of the Executive Council Meetings.

Any proposal must be submitted to the Scientific Secretary no later than one calendar month before the date of a meeting of the STD if it is to be considered at that meeting.

The Scientific Secretary will circulate details of the proposal to the Chairs of all Divisions for comment and possible offers of collaboration.

If the proposal is accepted by the STD, it will be presented to the Executive Council with a request for a maximum level of sponsorship funding. This money will be available to the organizers when needed, although some period of notice (e.g. 4-8 weeks) may be needed by the Treasurer of IUVSTA.

On approval, the STD will allocate a number in the IUVSTA School series to the event.

The Division(s) responsible for the organization will ensure that the school is publicized within the Union via their Divisional Representatives.

The organisers will establish a web site for the school and inform the Web editor of the IUVSTA site so that it can be linked from the IUVSTA web page.

The organizers will provide regular progress reports to the STD and the Divisional Committee(s).

The school should be referred to in all publicity as IUVSTA SCHOOL number NN, the specific topic title following as appropriate. This requirement for IUVSTA to be seen as the primary sponsor should be recognized in any possible attempts to obtain additional funding. Major co-sponsorship is discouraged unless absolutely financially necessary.

After the school, a brief report and a financial statement will be presented to the STD, and appropriate balances will be returned to IUVSTA. The report will be sent in electronic form to the IUVSTA Web editor for inclusion in the web page.

Non-compliance or Cancellation

Should the school be cancelled for any reason, any unexpended part of the IUVSTA financial contribution should be returned to IUVSTA.

Should the Executive Council determine that any cancellation was not for good reason, it may require the return of the entire financial contribution, whether or not it had already been spent.

Should the Executive Council determine that the guidelines for IUVSTA Schools had been deviated from in a significant way, then it may demand the return of its entire financial contribution.

Download –Guidelines, Application Form (pdf format)