The impact of the Educational Programmes on the Enlargement of the EU

The impact of the Educational Programmes on the Enlargement of the EU

Summarising the impact of the European educational programmes on Central and Eastern European countries, we can see a “positive perturbation” of the national educational politics of those countries, following the direction of “alignment to the Community standards”. We can remark a successful implementation of the educational programmes, the main beneficiaries being those directly involved in the programme (young people, students, professors), but it also can be seen as a long term impact through the creation of new higher education institutions, capable of displaying new projects regarding the European integration. We emphasise that through these programmes the sensitization was achieved of those involved in “reaching the Community standards”.

In January 2002, when I started the preparation of the conference – together with the students from AEGEE – there were some questions about the organisation of such event in Romania. We felt that the role of the Community educational programmes in building a European mentality was huge, and not only for the youth from the candidate countries, but also for the youth from the member states. The actual impact of these Community programmes on the enlargement of the EU was clear, long before the extended analysis of the data, and the conference confirmed what we anticipated.

The “Babes-Bolyai” University in Cluj and its Faculty of European Studies were the ideal hosts for such a debate. “Let me confirm that your choice for the place of the conference is very good and that we will be very attentive to any new ideas that will be revealed here”, underlined Mr. Andrei Marga, the rector of the university.

During three days, 21 lecturers and 100 students from 12 European countries succeeded to study the whole range of Community educational programmes, reaching some conclusions which will certainly influence the future development in this sector.

The main directions of the conference were supplied by the spokespersons of AEGEE from Brussels:

• Pedro Panizo, president of European Students’ Forum (AEGEE) Europe,
• Karina Haeuslmeier, co-ordinator of the European project EURECA (European Education Campaign), but also by the spokespersons of the European media (EURACTIV).

We greet the presence of all the Romanian institutions, which play an important role in the educational process and the European integration, to the discussions:

• The Romanian Presidency, through the Presidential Counsellor Mr. Florin Lupescu,
• The Ministry of European Integration, through the presence of Mr. Vasile Puscas, Minister Delegate with the Ministry of European Integration, Chief Negotiator with EU,
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the presence of Miss. Mihaela Trif, from the Direction European Union,
• The Ministry of National Education, through the presence of Mr. Constantin Corega, State Secretary and the presence of Miss. Luminita Matei, Director at Direction European Union,
• The Ministry of Youth and Sport, through the presence of the counsellors Oana Sarb and Lucian Viscoltel.

The presence of the spokespersons of the agencies for the implementation of the Community educational programmes in Romania, gave substance to the discussions:

• Mr. Dan Grigorescu, Executive Director of the Romanian Tempus Bureau (1991-2001) and presently the Executive Director of the Romanian National Socrates Agency,
• Mrs. Mihaela Dumitru from the European Youth Co-operation Agency (EUROTIN) Romania,
• Mr. Nicolae Fekete, Expert Co-ordinator of the National Bureau for Professional Formation Leonardo da Vinci, Romania.

The academic world of Cluj-Napoca was absolutely present at the conference. We underline the presence of:

• Mr. Andrei Marga, Rector of the “Babes-Bolyai” University, Vi ce-President of the European Universities Association and Minister of the National Education between 1997 and 2000,
• Mr. Nicolae Paun, Dean of the European Studies Faculty and the Jean Monnet Chair in Cluj.

The political group was also represented, not only at the regional level, by:

• Mr Vasile Soporan – Cluj County Prefect,
• Mr. Liviu Mendrea – Vice-President of the Cluj County Council,
• Mr. Remus Lapusan – Local Counsellor,

but also at the national level:

• Mr. Grigore Zanc – Cluj County Senator and Minister of Culture in 1996.

Most of the speeches are to be found in the brochure of the conference and that is why we will present the conference’s conclusions, in the following three dimensions:

• Political:the impact of the Community educational programmes on the reform of the educational systems in Central and Eastern Europe;
• Academic:the impact of the Community educational programmes on the educational institutions in Central and Eastern Europe;
• Social and cultural:the impact of the Community educational programmes on the direct beneficiaries.

I. Political: the impact of the Community educational programmes on the reform of the educational systems in Central and Eastern Europe

Considering that the conference took place in Romania, and that a great number of Romanian decision makers were present during the debates, the impact of the educational programmes on the enlargement of the EU was often limited to the case of Romania. Although, we do not believe that this factor explicitly influenced the final result of the conference, because, as Mr. Vasile Puscas – Minister Delegate with the Ministry of European Integration, Chief Negotiator with EU – underlined: “The case of Romania is, at the educational level, similar to those of other candidate countries, and not accidentally, all these 12 countries have already closed, for the time being, the negotiation Chapter 18 – Education, Training and Youth.”

The Union enlargement is unquestionably one of the most important challenges of the first decade of the 3rd millennium. “For Romania, the adhesion to the EU represents the only viable option which can guarantee the complete and final re-integration into the value system promoted by Western-European democracies, the system to which it belongs through history, culture, tradition and geographical location” said Miss. Mihaela Trif, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For a clear image of the present reform process, we can quote Mr. Ion Iliescu, President of Romania: “With the assistance of the European Union, Romania develops a considerable process of reform of the educational system. This reform involves the establishment of an educational and permanent professional formation system.”

Romania closed, for the time being, the negotiations to the Chapter 18 – Education, Training and Youth, and assumed, through the position document, that, in the field of education and professional formation, it will promote educational politics, compatible with European politics, regarding the assurance of equal chances for everybody, the assurance of the mobility of students, foreign language classes, the European dimension of the education, non-discrimination, the use of educational technologies, of long distance education and continuous formation. “But the dialogue is not accomplished, not even provisionally. Romania constantly sends to the EU documents that are relevant for the educational process”, added Miss. Luminita Matei, Director at Direction European Union for the Ministry of National Education.

The profound changes that took place on the political map of Europe at the end of the 80’s, initiated, in all the ex-communist counties of the Central and Eastern Europe, great reform processes, with an emphasis on the educational systems reform. This reform has always had and will always have an important suppo rt, not only moral, but also material, in the educational programmes of the EU. Prof. Dan Grigorescu, the Executive Director of the Romanian National Socrates Agency, stated that “in the Romania’s adhesion process, the first chapters that were opened and that were closed with good results are those regarding the educational field”.

As rector, but also as ex-Minister of the National Education, Mr. Andrei Marga expressed his contentment regarding the Community educational offer: “as university, we were benefit from these programmes and I can confirm that they were extremely useful, and that through completeness they truly prepared the enlargement of the European Union. They prepared Romania for the participation to the whole process of European integration.”

Not only did the Tempus programme play a role in influencing the post-communist educational politics, but also the Leonardo da Vinci programme. “The last 5 years in which Romania participated in the European programme Leonardo da Vinci, were marked by a process of continuous growth and successful accumulations. The participation to this programme of professional formation contributed to the articulation of the national educational and professional formation systems’ reform with the European one, it encouraged the transfer of good professional formation practices, from the EU countries towards Romania and the other way round, also”, expressed Mr. Fekete from the Leonardo da Vinci National Bureau of Professional Formation Romania.

To sum up the study of the impact of the programmes on the educational systems’ reform in Central and Eastern Europe, Prof. Dan Grigorescu stated: “The contribution of the Community programmes to the development of the Romanian educational system is essential, establishing the firm progress towards an absolute compatibility with the European systems. Romania’s participation to the TEMPUS, SOCRATES and LEONARDO da VINCI programmes, and the results obtained until now, authorised our country to be, along with other 28 European countries, the signatory, in June 1999, of the Bologna Declaration, whose essential objective is the creation of the European higher education area”.

II. Academic: the impact of the Community educational programmes on the educational institutions in Central and Eastern Europe

To emphasise the role of the Community educational programmes in the development of the academic environment, Prof. Dan Grigorescu said: “The impact of Tempus programme is often compared with a Marshall Plan for the higher education of the ex-communist countries of Europe. The TEMPUS programme had an important role in sustaining, in a discreet, yet lasting way, the national pre-adhesion strategy, through the elaboration of the European dimension of the universities’ curricula. It has to be mentioned that through two successive TEMPUS projects the Faculty of European Studies of the Babes-Bolyai University was created, which offers classes to both the undergraduate and graduate level. At the Universities of Timisoara, Iasi and Bucuresti Master and Ph.D. departments for European studies were created.”

Prof. Andrei Marga confirmed the importance of the TEMPUS programme for the “Babes-Bolyai” University from Cluj-Napoca: “Due to the TEMPUS programme two new faculties were created: Faculty of European Studies and the Faculty of Business, many new departments: ecology, social assistance, foreign languages, and many new laboratories.”

To complete the image, Prof. Paun, Dean of the European Studies Faculty added: “In 1994 just a few were confident in the future of this institution. Due to two JEPs (Joint European Projects), perfectly implemented in the ’90’s, we grounded a solid faculty, at which presently study around 1400 students. We hold the premiere for Romania: since 2001 this faculty is the first Jean Monnet Chair, which confirms the leader role of this institution among the European educational area for Romania.” < p align=”justify”>The institutional effect of the projects that unfolded during this phase was the foundation of multiple centres of continuous and of long distance education in most of the public universities all over the country. The area that the programme covered was distinct: “In the TEMPUS projects almost all the accredited universities from Romania took part (44 from 49 in 1999), along with academic institutions and industries, institutions and organisations from all the 15 EU member states”, reminded Mr. Dan Grigorescu.

This programme has also prepared the increase of the level of compatibility of the educational programmes and plans, in all the departments, creating a solid base for applying, in Romania, the credit transfer system, compatible with the European system (ECTS), for the recognition of the university studies at the European level.

III. Social and cultural: the impact of the Community educational programmes on the direct beneficiaries

The speech of Mr. Vasile Puscas, Minister Delegate with the Ministry of European Integration, Chief Negotiator with EU, clearly states the essence of this topic: “The Community programmes Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates, Tempus unfurled in Romania allowed thousand of students and professors to get in touch with the European educational programmes, with the efficient European politics. These programmes permitted the students to be more competitive. In the context of the adhesion to the EU, Romania needs very well prepared specialists in different fields, from engineering to economy or agriculture, who know the European politics and who are capable of making the connection between the Romanian economy sectors and the market of the European Union. The connection with these politics can be applied through the Community educational programmes which offer to the Romanian students the contact with those knowledge and necessary abilities to perform on the EU’s market. ”  

The European Council defined in Lisbon as primary utensils for the development of the European mobility of the students, professors and researchers, the participation to the European programmes in the education and professional formation field, Socrates II and Leonardo da Vinci. ”Since 1997 Romania actively has taken part in the Community programmes in the education and professional formation field and has created the institutional structures capable of administrating these programmes. During the last years, the reports of the European Commission stressed the ascending evolution of the number of students and professors that benefited from these programmes”, remarked Mr. Constantin Corega, State Secretary in the Ministry of National Education.

“Through the Socrates (Erasmus) programme a continuous flux of student and professor mobility from Romanian and EU’s universities was created. Up till now, over 7000 students and almost 2000 professors benefited from Erasmus grants”, accentuated Mr. Dan Grigorescu.

The mobility projects – 2000 and 2001- are spread over 15 domains, among which a greater importance is given to education, tourism, computer science and energy. For example, the formation of professional competencies, the development of new curricula, the evaluation and the certification of the competencies, the adults’ education, represent the priority aspects of the projects regarding the educational domain. “The impact of the mobility projects – 2000 and 2001 – can be evidence to both the institutional and at the beneficiary level. Thus, at the institutional level, the development of the competencies for the professional formation and for the communication with a view to training on the job, represent the primary impact”, uttered Mr. Fekete. He also pointed out the linguistic dimension of the impact: “At the beneficiaries’ level, the impact on the participants to the projects materialised in the development of the professional competencies, in the expansion of the linguistic competencies and in the enlargement of the capacity of usage of the new computerised technologies. The progress of the communication and linguistic competencies represent an important gain of the projects displayed on the individual development of the participants”.

In Central and Eastern Europe the problem of changing the mentalities is more and more brought into discussion. Mr. Fekete pointed out: “The participation to the projects produced changes in the motivation and attitude of the beneficiaries regarding the profession practised. The contact with the European labour environment represents, for the beneficiaries, reference points in the projection of the aspirations regarding one’s profession for which he/she prepared, stimulates the motivation for improvement by referring to the European standards and develops the initiative spirit.”

Prof. Dan Grigorescu summarised: “the argumentation of the degree of European compatibility of the higher education system, due to the 10 years of implementation of the Tempus programme in Romania, ensured the achievement of the eligibility conditions for the participation of our country, starting with 1997, to the European co-operation programmes in the education and youth domains: SOCRATES, LEONARDO da VINCI and YOUTH FOR EUROPE. The first two and especially the components of the SOCRATES programme: Erasmus – designed for higher education, Minerva – development of the long distance education, and Grundtvig – the education of adults – have coincidental objectives with those of the TEMPUS programme, facilitating the perpetuity of the started process of modernisation of the educational system from Romania.”

The young people present at the discussions expressed their opinion regarding the role of these Community programmes on the enlargement of the EU. Some quotes are important in order to feel the role of these educational programmes in the life of the young Europeans:

• The mobility of the students has an impact on the cultural exchanges. It is an efficient lesson for seeing other cultures ‘at their home’.
• These programmes are veritable windows towards Europe, unique opportunities for finding out more about the process of European integration.
• When taking part in these programmes, someone can see the European reality.
• These programmes allow the development of a solid base of the Union, leading to an authentic EU, built by young people.
• They motivate the youth towards Europe.
• They actually change you, having great impact on the enlargement of the EU.
• The personal advantage is very important for those engaged in the educational Community programmes. Back in the home country, the participant has new ideas, useful for the future development.