An in-depth understanding of EU decision-making mechanisms as well as a refined knowledge of Community policies and their mysteries are often key both for good governance of the public domain and for good management by economic and social actors of their own interests. This essential mastery of the ‘European dimension’ was for a long time the privilege of a handful of insiders. But, in the last few years, this somewhat exclusive domain has gradually opened up to others. Running in parallel with the ongoing expansion of the EU’s areas of competence, more and more initiatives (be they from the world of universities or private organisations) have been set up to make this knowledge and mastery of the ‘European thing’ accessible to the widest audience. However, today, such is the range of training ‘formulae’ on offer that it often leaves students and professionals facing an embarrassment of riches in terms of choice.

The aim here is neither to hand out seals of quality for ‘good training in EU affairs’ nor to offer any kind of list of top training courses but merely to help readers make more informed choices. Shedding light in the prevailing gloom is no mean feat and, in the first instance, requires an answer as to how to classify the courses. Should one, for example, focus only on the content of the training courses provided? Here, one would need to list legal, political, economic and even multidisciplinary training. But such a list would run the risk of offering precious little in terms of clarification given that that these courses are offered in nearly all the establishments.

Is it therefore preferable to produce a list by type of establishment? At first sight, classifying them in this way seems very appropriate. The outline of this is straightforward. On the one hand, there are different types of ‘grandes écoles’ [a form of tertiary education], such as the College of Europe located in Bruges, Belgium, and Sciences Po Paris, France, the ‘European affairs and international relations’ departments of universities and a hundred or so EU studies institutes that are connected, such as the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK. All these establishments offer master’s degree programmes in EU studies. On the other hand, there are various private institutes that offer more specialised training to develop careers and not to lead to certificates.

But the reality is that things are divided up in a much more complicated way. For example, in various EU member states, universities and ‘grandes écoles’ can also offer specialised training courses that do not lead to certificates.

TRAINING COURSES LEADING TO CERTIFICATES

Given these brief points and out of concern for clarity, Europoliticshas therefore focused on another distinction, differentiating training courses leading to certificates and those not leading to certificates.

Where, as with any type of education, a training course leading to a certificate aims to introduce someone to a subject and/or to qualify that person, the certificate issued at the end of the training is subject to a specific procedure. Apart from a few exceptions, we are talking about a degree or a certificate approved in each member state, as stipulated in Directive 89/48/EEC, by a competent authority. In addition, these training courses leading to certificates are very generally taught by universities, institutes attached to the universities, ‘grandes écoles’ or establishments recognised by the state.

In the area of EU affairs training courses, the certificates that are most frequently handed out are ‘master’s in European Union studies’, ones with a legal, political, economic or even multidisciplinary focus. Since the ‘Bologna reform’ (see separate article), a master’s is generally a two-year course. While this course is generally run during the day in establishments set up for this purpose, the number of online master’s courses has grown in recent years. Here, one could give as an example the master’s of the Centre of European Law of King’s College in London (UK), taught through distance learning.

Double degrees are also offered by several establishments. Such is the case with the Institute of Political Studies in Strasbourg, which teaches two master’s in EU studies in partnership with other universities. The Franco-German master’s in cooperation with the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) or the Franco-Polish one with the Jagellonian University of Krakow.

In addition, there are numerous establishments that only offer a one-year course, equivalent to the second year of a master’s according to the Bologna classification (see separate article). Here, we could cite five master’s run, each one for a period of a year, by the College of Europe, an essential point of reference for EU affairs training. To be admitted, a student must usually have completed four years of higher education studies (which corresponds to a first year of a master’s course or 240 credits) in law, political sciences, economics, European studies, history or international relations. In fact, this year of training at the College of Europe is undoubtedly meant as a year of specialisation.

Finally, real complementary master’s can also be offered. In this category, a student must have a master’s certificate (ie five years of studies or 300 credits) to apply for such a training course. Here we can give the complementary master’s in European law of the Institute for European Studies of the ULB (Université Libre de Belgique).

‘CAREER TRAINING’

Training courses that do not provide a ‘degree’, commonly called ‘career training’, have a quite different aim. In the area of EU affairs, this kind of education mainly aims to provide targeted knowledge and knowledge to boost careers. This is why these training courses generally attract people active in the job market looking to specialise or update their knowledge. For the most part, these types of education take the form of brief seminars (one or several days). However, there are also seminars that last a long time (six months minimum) and they are generally organised into several sessions of a few days per month, with some of them taking place in Brussels, such as, for example, the MBAs offered by ESSEC, a European management school in France.

There are lots of establishments offering this kind of training course. First of all, there are private organisations, for the most part based in Brussels. The course offered by the European Training Institute (ETI) is a typical example of this. The establishment offers training courses on comitology, communication and negotiation, regional programmes or the EU’s decision making system and lobbying. And for each theme, different seminars are organised over one, two or five days. It is worth mentioning that people following these types of training course are considered as ‘clients’, 70% of whom come from the world of business.

Such training courses are also organised by the universities and the ‘grandes écoles’. Here, we can cite the training sessions (career development sessions) of the European Studies Institute of the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium), the EIPA (European Institute of Public Administration in the Netherlands) seminars or the tailored training courses offered by the Ecole Normale d’Administration in Strasbourg, France, which are run over a longer period. The Academy of European Law (ERA) of Trier, Germany, which is a public foundation, can also be listed in this category. The ERA, a professional training centre, has various targeted training courses in the area of European law.