Course T1

Teaching Nr.

T1.

Title

EU policy-making: current issues and strategies

Prof. in charge

 Dr. Boglárka Koller

Typology

Lecture  (10 hours) + Seminar (20 hours)

Description

Objectives: The aim of the course is to equip students with skills that enable them to identify current policy challenges and to demonstrate suitable strategies to solve them.

This course is intended to offer theoretical knowledge and practical skills to analyse a number of current EU policy issues covering issues of the single market, social and environmental policies, cohesion policy, Common Agricultural Policy, Economic and Monetary Union, Justice and Home Affairs and EU foreign policy. Students also gain insights into the contemporary debates about the future of EU integration.

Target group: Master students who plan to work in EU institutions or in EU related national public service positions, but who already have a solid knowledge of the European Union.

Accordingly, the course has two main parts:

1. In the first part, in the frames of lectures, the functioning of EU institutional structure and political system is analysed. The EU governance system and the interaction of EU and national institutions are examined. The process of EU institutional reform is also introduced. (10 hours)
2. In the second part, in the frames of the seminars, the students participate in policy-making group projects. Groups of 3-4 students select a current policy issue of the EU, carry out research on the subject, analyse data and develop the team’s own policy proposal. Additionally, they have to present their ideas to the other groups.

Assessment: Given the practical nature of the course, the assessment is the following: students are required to participate in a policy-making group project (50%) and to submit a 10 pages long term paper (50%).

Teaching materials: all the lecture notes and project works are going to be uploaded to Moodle open soured learning platform operated by NUPS.

Required literature:

• Helen Wallace, Mark A. Pollack and Alasdair R. Young. 2010. Policy making in the European Union (6th edition!), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Hix, Simon and Bjorn Hoyland (2011). The Political System of the European Union. Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (3rd edition).
• S S Andersen & K A Eliassen (Eds), Making policy in Europe, 2nd Edition, Sage, 2001.

Impact

Students are equipped with skills to identify current policy challenges and offer suitable solutions to them.

In this course the theoretical knowledge and practical skills are developed parallel. In the short term, students are motivated to contribute with their own ideas to EU policy making. They also learn how to be strategic, critical and effective in a team work. In the long-term, these young individuals are going to become decision-makers and will be able to use their creativity and analytical skills to produce valuable policy proposals. Moreover, debating the current issues and the future of the EU also contributes to motivate our students to be active in policy debates of the Union.

Semesters

Autumm (odd), plus one-time Spring (even) in 2016 (2015/2016/2)

N° of hours

30

Discipline of

audience

Master of International Public Service, Master of Law Enforcement (OCG spec.)

Year/type of study

 2nd cycle (Masters)

Nature

 Optional

Credits

3