Rapidly changing EU landscape means extra ‘specialist’ training

By Federiga Bindi

Date: 22/04/04

LAST year, I was taking my students to a conference in Paris (where I was an ERASMUS student in 1989-90) and I realized that I am among those first former ERASMUS students to be now sitting "on the other side of the fence". To what extent have European studies changed since 15 years ago? And have we had an impact on this evolution?

I went to France with the ERASMUS programme, because my university only offered two classes in European affairs - history and law. When I came back from a full year of European studies, I was considered a specialist and hired by a newspaper. Today, it is almost impossible to become an EU specialist in one year - policies and regulations are now so numerous and wide in scope that the most one can hope to become in only a year is a specialist in a single area.

In 1989, our aim was to understand what the EEC "was' and how it "worked". Today, a student intending to specialize in European studies must decide in which field to do so: EU history, EU political integration, European economics, EU law, etc.

Fifteen years ago, those few who undertook European studies were all "traditional" students, ie graduating in disciplines such as political science, law or economics. Today, such degrees commonly include introductory classes on the EU in their curricula. EU studies are now starting to penetrate "non traditional" degrees, too. It is my belief that basic classes in European integration should be made compulsory subjects, in the same way that many degrees require students to take basic classes in national institutions and law.

However, despite the "Bologna process", which aims to establish a European Higher Education Area by 2010, in which staff and students can move with ease, university regulations are still the domain of the member states, thus the diffusion of EU-related modules in curricula varies from country to country. European studies are most widespread in the UK. In Italy on the whole law, economics and humanities courses usually only offer classes in European law, economics and European integration. This is partly the reason why in Italy European political integration is considered to be part of the "political science" academic discipline. Thus a specialist in European studies aiming to get a permanent post at a university still needs to pass a competition in political science. When the reform of the Italian university system was taking place in the 1990s, I was part of a group of academics lobbying for European studies to be recognized as an independent degree and European political integration as a discipline per se. We won in the first case, but not the second, as it would have significantly affected the power games that are hidden behind the classification of disciplinary fields.

Yet, despite these unresolved problems, European studies have dramatically increased in the past 15 years: former ERASMUS students who have moved to the "other side of the fence" have been the driving force behind this growth.

Fifteen years ago, European studies specialists were a few brave pioneers that could be counted on the fingers of two hands: EEC scholars were in fact "specialized generalists" on the process of European integration.

That is no longer possible: the community of academics involved in European studies encompasses a plethora of topics. It is a relatively young community that is highly international and mobile, moving around Europe and beyond (particularly in the US). But, most of all, "European studies" is not a single discipline anymore, rather a wide set of disciplines. Adjustments still need to be made to coordinate this interdisciplinary diversity within the somewhat rigid world of academia.

However, it is only a matter of time before even the most conservative university systems adapt to the growth and evolution of studying "Europe".

• Federiga Bindi teaches European political integration and is responsible for the European office of the University of Rome, Tor Vergata.

Article looks at the development of European Studies courses over the last fifteen years.