General Training in European Affairs - Previous projects
General Training Programme in European Affairs 2008
Organized for the first time in 2000 with the support of Phare financing The General Training Programme in European Affairs has become the traditional programme in the training offer of the European Institute of Romania (EIR). In the year 2008 the forth edition took place and was materialized in four training sessions, one of which was organized due to an increased number of requests expressed by beneficiaries.
In the aftermath of a training needs assessment developed by the EIR in 2007 among public officials in the central administration resulted that significant categories of public servants continued to need an introductory training in European Affairs in order to fulfill their work duties. The General Training Programme in European Affairs was especially conceived and destined to this purpose.
The participants at the General Training Programme in European Affairs in 2008 were in their large majority members of the public administration, be it local or central. The total number of participants for the 4 training sessions was 136.
Due to a partnership with the National School of Political Science and Administration and the Soros Foundation in the Republic of Moldavia the programme was also attended by one person of Moldavian citizenship, an employee of the Ministry of Justice.
The course participants from the Romanian public administration were mainly from central public institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government, the National Archives, the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform, the National Institute of Statistics, the Ministry of Education, Research and Youth, but also representative of local administrative bodies such as Bucharest City Hall, Bucharest sectors city halls and county councils. Many of these participants were members of international relations and/or European Affairs departments, as well as judicial directorates of the institutions they represented. The largest number of participants occupies posts such as counselor, but there were also exceptions such as entry level employee, but also mayors. It must also be noted that among the participants there were also students in Political Science and Economics, as well as NGOs representatives.
The General Training Programme in European Affairs is aimed especially at civil servants without experience and advance knowledge in the field of European Affairs and its purpose is the provision of general notions related to the process of European integration, the decision-making process at community level, common policies and financial instruments, rights and obligations of member-states.
Each session took place during a four day period, with a daily duration of actual training of six hours. The four sessions organized in the year 2008 have taken place in the following periods: May 5th – 8th, May 19th – 22th, September 22nd – 25th and October 6th – 9th .
The General Training Programme in European Affairs was developed in the form of thematic modules, structured in the following manner:
- EU institution and decision-making processes
- The legal system of the EU
- Justice and Home Affairs
- Social policies and occupational policy
- Environmental policy
- Internal market of the EU
- The economic and social cohesion policy
- EU budget
- Economic and Monetary Union
The subjects were lectured by a team of six professional trainers most of them coming from the Romanian academic field, but also independent experts, all of them using the experience accumulated through their activities in formal education and professional training, as well as in the field of European Affairs. The programmes were interactive and encouraged the development of critical reasoning.
The team of trainers for the year 2008 was composed by:
- dr. Bonciu Florin – professor at the Romanian-American University, Studies of European Economic Integration Faculty
- dr. Cace Sorin – professor, phD in Sociology and Economics, the Romanian Academy, the Institute of Research about the Quality of Life
- Dumitrescu Mihaela - senior trainer in European Affairs and structural funds
- dr. Luţas Mihaela – professor, University Babeş Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Economical Sciences and Business Administration Faculty
- dr. Stănescu Rodica – dr.engineer, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Applied Chemistry and Materials Science Faculty
- dr. Tănăsescu Elena - Simina – professor, University of Bucharest, Law Faculty
At the end of each session, the participants took an evaluation test, according to which the EIR released a participation certificate.
The evaluation of the training programme by the participants was conducted through the administration of an opinion poll fulfilled anonymously containing questions in which marks were awarded pertaining to the general level of the programme, as well as that of the different modules, but also contained open questions about the most useful or redundant knowledge accumulated during the four days of training. Also there were open spaces for further comments and suggestions.
The assessment of the General Training Programme in European Affairs had as overall evaluations of 37% very good and excellent 63%. The nine modules obtained assessments of good, very good and excellent, this last adjective being used in procentages from 56-70%.
The positive opinions about the course were reflected not only in these figures, but also in the wish expressed by many of the participants of returning to EIR training programmes. Among the most useful themes/information the participants indicated: becoming familiar with EU terminology, the decision-making process, the EU budget, the legal basis of the environmental policy. Featured in the criticism addressed to the program was the generalist aspect of the presentation of the sustainable development concept, the EU History, as well the condensed information in the four days of training and also the need to better show cast Romania’s concrete position on the subjects presented, the need for more practical examples, but also logistical details related to the small capacity of the training hall or the air conditioning installation.
The suggestions and the recommendations were aimed at continuing the programmes, the diversification of themes and the active promotion of these activities in public institutions, as well as the delivery of the programmes in the French and/or English languages.
A small selection of the most representative opinions and suggestions offered by the participants:
- the expertise of the trainers is appreciable; the information was well structured and presented, the coverage area of European Affairs being rather wide
- extremely interesting course, intense and well documented, very useful in the development of general knowledge
- interactive course with practical applicability
- a very useful course for those at the beginning of their career, not possessing a lot of knowledge
- seriousness, punctuality, equality, value, friendship, in one word – professionalism
- the testing system is not adequate considering that the choice of the course is on a voluntary basis
- the programme needs a bit of relating among the different themes approached
- I believe the social and occupational policy module was transformed more in a focus group rather than a training session
The General Training Programme in European Affairs was organized by the EIR at its headquarters in Bucharest, 7-9 Regina Elisabeta bldv in the conference hall.
The project coordinator was Diana Achimescu, diana.achimescu @ier.ro
