High-tech help on way to speed path for students seeking ideal EU courses

Date: 25/04/02

By Simon Coss

DESPITE the huge number of EU studies programmes now available, potential students can still find it surprisingly difficult to find the courses that fit their often quite specific needs.

The problem is particularly acute for people already in work who are looking to brush up their skills in a particular area of EU policymaking.

Ironically, more and more universities are offering precisely these sorts of training programmes for EU policy experts.

But many students complain that finding out what is available can often be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

They often have to trawl through hundreds of websites and databases, and many argue that when they do come across a course that fits their needs it has been more by luck than judgment.

But according to the Brussels-based European Community Studies Association (ECSA) all this could soon be about to change.

'At the moment it is a problem,' says ECSA General Secretary Luciano di Fonzo.

'But we are trying to update our database so that students will find things easier in the future,' he adds.

ECSA's plan, says di Fonzo, is to create a one-stop-shop online database containing information on all EU studies programmes currently available in Europe. Once the service is fully up and running, users should be able to key in their specific course requirements and be presented with a list of training or academic programmes that meet their needs.

'This is our idea. It is hard work but we hope the service will be ready within a year,' di Fonzo says.

One of the latest specialised courses that could benefit from the ECSA project is an MSc in European Food Regulatory Affairs that has been created by the universities of Cork and Dublin, in the Irish Republic, and the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland.

The course is innovative, as it will be taught entirely over the internet, allowing students from across the EU and even further afield to enrol.

Students from the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and France have already signed up for the programme despite the fact that it has not yet been widely publicised and lectures do not begin until October this year.

'Aside from the distance learning, what we are offering is an interdisciplinary approach,' explains Dublin University's Aideen McKevitt.

In other words, the course should ensure that students with a scientific background know about the legal aspects of EU food policy while lawyers have a clearer understanding of the science involved.

The Venice-based European Masters degree in Human Rights is another example of an EU studies course with a strong professional training element.

The degree is coordinated by the University of Padua, in Italy, but was designed by 27 different academic institutions from across the EU.

Unlike the Irish food safety degree, the Venice MA is a more traditional residential course which, its founders say, provides 'substantial training for working as academics or staff in intergovernmental or non-governmental organisations'.

Of course, one of the best ways to find out about courses such as the Venice MA or the Irish programme will always be to come to European Voice's annual EU studies fair in Brussels.

The next such event takes place in March 2003.

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