Academic year 2010/2011
1st LEVEL MASTER IN EUROPEAN POLICIES AND CAREERS
(in English, for building a career within European and International institutions)
According to the Italian legislation, candidates may enter a 1st level Master if they are holders of a degree with a minimum duration of three years.
Why prepare for European careers and European policies?
European Institutions today deal with much more “sophisticated” functions than in the past and their dynamics has redefined duties and tools. Since the Rome Treaties, new Institutions and agencies have been created and the approach based on “soft legislation” has been extended to sectors previously under full national responsibility, such as social policy and culture.
The Lisbon Treaty paves the way to further Europeanization of policy fields which, so far, have mostly dealt with national and regional institutions. This is a further confirmation of the strengthening of the links between the European dimension and the national and local ones in the field of public policies (multi-level governance).
In the last months, the dramatic impact of the economic crisis has shown that European governance is needed in order to face problems which up to now have been dealt at a national level only.
Furthermore, the stronger links of the national dimension with the European one are not only related to the implementation of the European law, but also to the programming and execution of structural funds as well as to the creation of multinational consortia for sector based programmes (e.g. the research sector).
Economic decision makers consider the European area as their common reference space and consequently adjust their company policies to the enlarged EU context with the perspective of being stronger at the world level.
For those who would like to enter the labour market either as a professional or as a civil servant, it is not possible to be lacking in a strong preparation and a deep understanding of EU policies and the ways in which they are executed.
The “European” labour market of the EU agencies and Institutions has a yearly potential of thousands of open positions. Working in Europe and for Europe undoubtedly provides economic advantages but requires an excellent level of knowledge, professional skills and a good command of foreign languages.
The EU offers young people several possibilities of entering an interesting career. New profiles, such as the “contract agents” (with temporary contracts) have been recently created and thousands of people are covering these new positions, both in the central headquarters and in the peripheral delegations of the Commission in third Countries.
More than 50,000 officials are presently working for EU Institutions under different statutory forms, and two out of three of them are working for the European Commission. About 20,000 officials are working in the Member States for over 30 European agencies.
The activities connected to EU life, and requiring competences in the field, request then about 70000 employees, plus all external people directly or indirectly involved in the EU activities (e.g. lobbying).
Recently, it has been calculated that, in Brussels alone, roughly 150,000 people are working under the European “umbrella”.
It is therefore clear that Europe offers good opportunities to operate in or with international bodies. Presently, we can estimate a potential yearly turn-over of 3-4 thousand people.
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How to enter a European career
The European Institutions adopt an employment policy based on an inter-institutional body which selects reserve lists of European civil servants for all the services. Recruitment is based on competitions managed by a recently created Agency, the “European Personnel Selection Office” (EPSO), which has defined the basis for an inter-institutional employment policy for each kind of competition.
Since the 1st of January 2010, every year, general competitions for various sectors and less numerous competitions for specific skills (e.g. specialists for estate management) are open.
The European institutions operate with the model of the single career for their staff, meaning that the possibility of advancing in career depends on merit, up to the highest level. For this reason, holders of a second level university degree (BAC+3+2) usually take part in competitions requiring a lower academic level (BAC+3).
Being successful in EU competition is not an easy task for the high number of candidates competing for a much lower number of places, and for the different levels of difficulty of the competition phases, which require specific and different skills.
The preliminary selection focuses on abilities related to the capacity of logical reasoning and rational judgement. It will be executed in one of three languages (English, French or German).
For those who passed the first stage, the second stage is a written test aimed at evaluating the ability of dealing with complex dossiers (often on European matters) and the capacity of drawing up synthesis notes and briefings. Furthermore candidates must present their paper work and be able to argue on it.
The last stage consists of an oral examination related to specific knowledge (for sector-based competitions), or (for general competitions) to the ability of judgment on the European implications of European action (e.g. enlargement, management of financial crisis). The evaluation of a candidate's command of foreign languages is a supplementary important factor for selection to the final candidate list.
In this phase only, part of the competition will be done in the candidate's mother tongue.
This scheme is valid in general but it may be slightly adapted to the specific kind of competition.
Statistics show that the success grade is different country to country due not only to the different participation rate but also the ability of the academic national systems to supply an adequate knowledge of European issues, as well as multilingualism and capacity of summarisation and argumentation.
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The Master in European Policies and Careers
EuroSapienza, taking advantage of more than 50 years of experience in the field of European post-graduate and professional education and training, with this Master, it offers formative opportunities to be prepared for all the phases of study and all kinds of European competitions.
In fact this Master offers a strong academic qualification, a wide range of practical knowledge and updated information on the occupational prospects in Europe. Those who may not be interested in European competition will receive in the second semester (see the programme for details) a very consistent deepening based on test cases concerning the Master subjects.
Regular use of official texts of the EU Institutions for study and practical works are innovative teaching methods used to accustom the Master participants with the common European terminology in several languages.
English is a compulsory language but other European languages may be offered depending on the request from at least five applicants per each language.
The teaching staff includes professors from Sapienza University of Rome and officials and former officials of European institutions. During the Master, conferences, seminars and working groups on specific hot topics will be organized with the participation of qualified representatives of the entrepreneurial world and administrations involved in European affairs. An educational visit to the European Institutions is foreseen.
The Master issues 60 credits (one credit corresponding to seven hours of class and 18 hours of individual work).
Fifty out of 60 credits are dedicated to lectures and practice for a total of 350 class hours. Other time is dedicated to the attendance of seminars and educational visits and to the deepening of various subjects, and/or to simulating the different steps of the European competitions (for further details see the programme).
Participants who are not interested in European competitions will get ten credits for the preparation of a final thesis or project work, consisting in an original research on European matters, especially regarding their latest evolutions and prospects.
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Scientific and Administrative bodies
Director: Prof. Maurizio Boccacci Mariani
Didactic and Scientific Council
Administrative Secretariat: Ms. Clotilde PASCUCCI
Master Secretariat: Dr Paola DI SANTO, Dr Gabriele JORI
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