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Corso di preparazione al concorso per le Carriere europee (EPSO-ADMIN 2011)
Detailed information regarding the EPSO (European Personnel Selection Organisation) procedures may be found on on the website http://europa.eu/epso/index_en.htm where the Admission criteria and the related Selection procedure are clearly explained.
EuroSapienza, taking advantage of more than 50 years of experience in the field of European post-graduate and professional education and training, with this Preparatory course, it offers formative opportunities to be prepared for all the phases of study and all kinds of European competitions. The teaching staff includes professors from Sapienza University of Rome and officials and former officials of European institutions. The EuroSapienza Preparatory course provides the highly qualified preparation needed to pass the EPSO competition for building a career within the European institutions and Agencies.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
This section provides additional information to the questions people usually is asking for, if they intend to enrol to the Preparatory course for European Competitions. The EuroSapienza Secretariat and the teaching staff are also available to answer to any other question.
- Why prepare for European careers?
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). 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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Do some degrees give privileged access to the European careers? The EU Institutions and bodies are in need of a wide variety of skills: jurists, economists, technical and scientific staff, linguists, communication specialists, experts in finance etc. (the list is much longer). The EU does not select people according to the idea of “what did you study” but of “what do you know” and of “what are you able to do”. It also considers personal experiences even if not the related to the formal certificates. Therefore all Degrees are equally taken into account because a high percentage of the notions may be new for all candidates, whatever their academic knowledge is. The participants should take into account that, to be successful in the final step of the competition, they must have a solid understanding of the functioning of the EU policies and Institutions and of their working style.
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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. 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.
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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In which way the Course prepares participants to EU competitions? The participants will receive a wide documentation on tests of this kind of competition and the teaching staff will be available to provide for all the necessary explanations. The Course, in addition to the content of the tests, will take particular care of the psychological approach while carrying out the tests, thus exploiting individual capacities in all the competition steps. As the new EPSO approach foresees yearly a set of competitions and an increased selectivity in the starting phase, there is need for a more oriented and focused preparation.
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Do some degrees give privileged access to the European careers? The EU Institutions and bodies are in need of a wide variety of skills: jurists, economists, technical and scientific staff, linguists, communication specialists, experts in finance etc. (the list is much longer). The EU does not select people according to the idea of “what did you study” but of “what do you know” and of “what are you able to do”. It also considers personal experiences even if not the related to the formal certificates. Therefore all Degrees are equally taken into account because a high percentage of the notions may be new for all candidates, whatever their academic knowledge is. The participants should take into account that, to be successful in the final step of the competition, they must have a solid understanding of the functioning of the EU policies and Institutions and of their working style.
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How much European languages should be mastered?
The major part of the selection procedure is carried out in at least one the three most frequently spoken EU working languages (English, French or German) at the candidate's choice. In particular, the “EU terminology” of the chosen language will play a major role in the “assessment” phase. Moreover, some extra-value in the overall qualification is given to candidates who show to know supplementary languages and EU terminology.
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How is teaching organized?
The Preparatory course has a duration of 10 days (41 hours of class plus 100 hours of individual work) and consists of two modules:
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CORSO DI PREPARAZIONE AL CONCORSO PER LE CARRIERE EUROPEE (EPSO-ADMIN 2011) |
1. Introduzione alle carriere europee ed alle relative procedure di selezione di EPSO + Tecniche di concentrazione. |
2. Tests di ragionamento numerico, verbale, astratto e di situational judgement. |
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Can people enrolled in this Preparatory course be also enrolled to an academic course (e.g. a second 1st level degree (BAC+3), a 2nd level degree (BAC+3+2), a Master, or a PhD)? Yes. The contemporary enrolment to any or other university or higher education institutions is allowed.
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What a candidate should do to enrol? In order to participate to the Preparatory course, candidates must comply with the following:
a) Paying a fee of € 850, in one instalment, by bank transfer to:
- Centro di ricerca EuroSapienza
- Via del Castro Laurenziano 9 – 00161 – Roma
- UNICREDIT, IBAN: IT 05 H 02008 05227 000400026322
- Causale del versamento: PREPARAZIONE AL CONCORSO EPSO-ADMIN
b) Deliver the application, by hand or by post, to the Secretariat of the EuroSapienza Research Centre of Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of Economics - Via del Castro Laurenziano, 9, 00161 Rome, including the following documents:
1. Curriculum of the studies and professional activities
2. One photo
3. Photocopy of the Italian Tax Code
4. Receipt of the paid fee (€ 850) Top
How much does the Preparation course cost?
Students have to pay a fee of € 850, in one instalment, by bank transfer to:
- Centro di ricerca EuroSapienza
- Via del Castro Laurenziano 9 – 00161 – Roma
- UNICREDIT, IBAN: IT 05 H 02008 05227 000400026322
- Causale del versamento: PREPARAZIONE AL CONCORSO EPSO-ADMIN
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Which kind of certificate will be issued by the Sapienza University of Rome?
Students who regularly attend the Preparatory course will receive a Certificate of attendance of the "Preparatory course for European competitions", signed by the Director of EuroSapienza.
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