Grant of the European Commission

Lifelong Learning Programme

Sub-programme - Jean Monnet Programme, Key Activity 1

Action type - European Module

Project title - "European Integration Advocacy Training"

Project number №199755-LLP-1-2011-1-UA-AJM-MO

Grant agreement № 2011-3366 / 001 – 001

   Practical guide on conducting trainings in European integration studies «European Integration Advocacy Training»

   In the conditions of aggravation of competition among the leading universities of the world  it is extremely important for them to obtain international grants, because, as it is known, almost everyone of them, according to the developers of many educational rankings, vividly illustrates the competitiveness of a higher educational establishment and quite informatively reflects the value and relevance of educational and scientific product that is created within it. No exception in this case can be numerous grants of the European Union, which strongly supports those universities and research teams who are able to suggest new and original ideas associated with its activities. Considering the abovementioned, the proposal for cooperation between the EU institutions and universities is not limited to the affiliates of the recent Member-States. That is the policy held by Jean Monnet Programme managed by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. July 8, 2011, it informed the Rector of Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, that our university’s application for the EU grant to support the project «European Integration Advocacy Training» was successful. It was also reported, that there were 160 projects supported from 39 countries among 617 applicants who submitted the request for the EU funding. Most of the non-EU beneficiaries were the universities of Canada, Croatia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, USA and Ukraine mainly in the field of law and political science. In the sphere of economics there was only one project supported, and it was suggested by our university.

Department of European Integration of the Faculty of International Economics and Management serves as the core unit for the project implementation, involving young and promising experts, who work at the Departments of International Management and International Finance. The Jean Monnet Module leader is prof. Viktor Chuzhykov, who is in charge for the management of the project.

   The project “Advocacy for European Integration” aims to overcome the stereotypes and correct the false information about the EU among the general public, especially in the peripheral regions of our country. Basing on the personal beliefs of the project team trainers and according to the Jean Monnet Programme priorities, in the process of implementation of the planned measures we plan to overcome the old deficiencies of educational system in Ukraine, including:

   - the use of outdated Soviet-type methods of teaching (according to modern standards, lecture shouldn’t last longer, than 35 - 40 minutes, and it should be followed by the interactive teaching methods, including business-games);

   - the concentration of educational activities only in the capital-city (the project is being implemented in the three cities - Kiev, Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk);

   - lack of access to the up-to-date information by some specific population groups (the project is designed primarily for the non-experts in the economic realm, people with disabilities, national minorities (e.g. Crimean Tatars)).

   The correctness and necessity of this project was proved by its successful implementation during October 10-15, 2011 in the framework of five-day training in Simferopol at the premises of the Crimean Subdivision Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman among the teachers and students of the non-economic specialties. It is especially necessary to emphasize the fact, that the working language of the training was Ukrainian, which had not caused any comprehension difficulties or resistance on the part of the audience. The positive reaction of the local population was confirmed by the rave comments and numerous questions addressed to the project manager and trainers at the Crimean TV, which has devoted a series of programs to our EU module activities.

Participants of the Jean Monnet European Module 

“European Integration Advocacy Training”

Training sub-module “EU Fiscal System”

Summing up. “Green ribbon” exercise.

Certification procedure

   24-25 November 2011, DG Education and Culture of the European Commission held a Global Jean Monnet Conference titled “European Economic Governance in an International Context”.

   It is widely known, that the aim of the Jean Monnet Programme is to increase knowledge about the European Union by promoting excellence in teaching, scientific research and discussion of the European integration process at the higher education institutions worldwide. With a long tradition of exchange of views at a high level on the EU political priorities, the Global Jean Monnet Conference of 2011 was a forum to promote constructive dialogue between scientists and top-level politicians on the study of economic and institutional aspects of the nature of the present financial crisis.

   There were about 400 scientists invited to take part in the conference, 350 of which participated, representing over sixty countries. Unfortunately only the author of these lines was invited to represent Ukraine. The similar quota was left for Russia and Kazakhstan. Instead, European, American, Chinese and Japanese schools of integration researchers were presented fairly well.

   For the first time, the main speaker at the Jean Monnet Conference was Robert Mundell, Nobel Prize laureate in Economics, the author of the theory of optimum currency areas, “the father” of the euro zone. In addition, the list of participants included former presidents, as well as several European Parliament MPs, diplomats, Jean Monnet Chairs and a number of officials of European Commission, European Parliament, the Committee of Regions and other EU institutions. The conference demonstrated a high degree of concern of the scientific community regarding the future development of Europe.

   In his speech, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso stressed that the Jean Monnet Programme is extremely close to him. He noted that at this crucial moment of European integration there is the need for calibrated solutions and development of systemic models of the situation management. “The world around us is changing rapidly”, — he said, and therefore also on the old continent there must be some changes. In a globalized Europe, the aim of such shifts would be saving lives, protecting values and promoting the prosperity of its citizens. The European Commission President stressed the importance of shared responsibility, as necessary for the existence, which is based on the principle of solidarity: “We need banks that are able to lend money, and governments, that are able to borrow, companies that are willing to invest, and consumers that are willing to spend; bold reforms at the national level and enhancement of cooperation and governance at the European level”, – said Barroso. And further: “We can not lose time if we want to save Europe from losses of the last decade and emerge from the crisis stronger and more united.”

   A. Vasiliu, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth said that the European Union is going through one of the most serious crises since its foundation: “Euro is one of the pillars of the Union. When it is threatened, our Union and its ability to move forward are  endangered as well”, –she said. “There is no more competent and influential group than Jean Monnet network, which could shed the necessary light on the existing problems” – A. Vasiliu added. The Jean Monnet Programme was the most successful in the implementation of life-long learning actions, which according to independent experts’ assessment had very high level of quality. She stressed, that the Programme was a key element of the new initiative “Erasmus for All”, which was presented by the Commission before the conference. As for the future, the Commissioner wished to guarantee the participation of a new generation of professors and researchers in contribution to expanding the horizons of learning for the society, creating a “Jean Monnet trend” to pool the scientific knowledge and experience. The Commissioner stressed the importance of intellectual power of professors participating in this scientific network.

   The Vice-President of the European Parliament, A. Podimata, said that the current crisis is systemic and significant, and influences decision-making process and trust of all the EU institutions. Although improvements have been made in terms of policy coordination (meetings in October and July), however, it’s important to do more and faster, in order to prevent the judgment that institutions do too little and too late. Similarly, we need not only “a medicine”, but also the analysis of the main causes of the crisis. Together with the budget deficit, Europe is facing a certain lack of democracy, based on the belief that too many decisions were made by small groups of people and they have not always been transparent in nature. She said that in order to get a response from Europe its necessary to make the transition from the intergovernmental to the public level. The decision  will not bring a “big bang”, but step by step will make it possible to solve the problem.

   Prof. Robert Mundell, Nobel Prize laureate in Economics (Columbia University, USA), called for fundamental reforms in Europe. The scientist conducted an exhaustive comparison of the historical lessons of monetary regulation in the United States, and proposed to create the Ministry of Finance of the EU with the right to control the budgets of the Member States. He presented it as part of a more profound institutional reform of the European Union in a federal direction. According to R. Mundell, Europe has a terrific choice, since it can get back to work on the cover and restoration of fiscal and debt independence of Member States, or go ahead with a strong centralized supranational Ministry of Finance. According to the professor, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to go back through the currency crisis, but also difficult to go forward, because for such a system it’s necessary to significantly transform the nations’ sovereignty. In return for the transfer of its sovereignty to the “European Central Government”, Member States will benefit from solvency and financial system of the euro area, which would be just as advanced as in the United States. Another important advantage for the euro would be a Eurobond market. However, according to the researcher, it is dangerous to issue Eurobonds unless the control over budgets and policies is established. As for the future of the international monetary system, professor R. Mundell suggested the creation of a global currency (“INTOR”). This global currency could be based on the Eurodollar and each member of the newly established fund will have its share.

   Prof. N. Baltas (Jean Monnet Chair at the Athens University of Economics and Business) said that monetary and fiscal policy of the European Monetary Union still remained unfulfilled. Eurozone needs a mechanism to combat the crisis of sovereign debt in the most effective and predictable way. European politicians should focus on: developing fiscal adjustments favouring growth; solving structural reforms to raise potential growth; coordinating and improving the reform of the European economic governance.

   Professor O. Butorina (Jean Monnet Chair, Head of the European Integration Department, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russian Federation), said that Russia had de facto two baskets of international currencies (55 % $ and 45 % €). The Central Bank of Russia decided to intervene in this process, because private companies are increasingly using euro. In addition, 50 % of imports coming from Europe are paid in this currency. Thus euro became a recognized international currency.Politically and socially, the main issue to be solved is the following: are European citizens ready to fight for their being a part of the EU, and whether the social model of the European Union is strong enough to maintain its authenticity in the age of globalization. Prof. Butorina finished her speech in quite an optimistic way, telling that instead of the protests in the streets of the European cities she would like to hear the words, “United Europe will never be defeated”.

   Prof. Dai Bin Grall (Jean Monnet Professor and honoured Director of the Centre for European Studies of University of Fukang and the Secretary General of Chinese Society for European Studies) said that the current global financial crisis began because of abuse of dollar advantage and the budget deficit was connected with indulging the United States. Thus a huge amount of speculative capital around the world was created. China believes that through the consolidation of the EU Member States fiscal policy and budgetary positions an effective mechanism for monitoring financial markets and institutions should be established. Europe, based on its resources, can also overcome the critical situation. Professor said that it is vital to strengthen the role and functions of the European Monetary System and the Central Bank of the eurozone. However, he noted that China needs more guarantees provided when buying Eurobonds. The scientist agrees that the current crisis provides the necessary impetus for implementing reforms and adjusting policies in the European Union, but until then China will remain sceptical about the purchase of Eurobonds.

   Of course, the list of original performances could be continued by defining the critical statements of British scientists on the proposals of Robert Mundell on the establishment of the Ministry of Finance, and relevant criticism of this idea by the researchers from other countries of the euro area. And continued by the “soft” discussion of the devaluation of the euro by Italian scientists and their inherent soft and not “not quite” humour concerning the consequences of “combining efforts” and technocratic trends analysis (Greece, Italy), appointments of the scientists who do not belong to any political party to the government positions, and therefore do not seek compromises in the areas of monetary regulation, where they are as impossible as in the multiplication table.

   It seems that another lesson that emerges from this Conference is the need for the participation of Ukrainian scientists in the “global network of researchers”, joining which is an important task for our university. I am sure that Jean Monnet Programme will also largely contribute to this.

Conference participant: Head of the European Integration Department,

Ph.D., D.S., Professor Viktor Chuzhykov

   As the part of the grant received by our University from the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency to implement the action “European Integration Advocacy Training” (registration number 199755-LLP-1-2011-1-UA-AJM-MO), Director of the Crimean Economic Institute of KNEU, Victor Reutov and Head of the European Integration Department of Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman Viktor Chuzhykov acted as experts in the TV program “European integration. Crimean aspects”. In the interview, they covered the broad range of issues related to the European integration, including the introduction of the European standards of higher education in Ukraine.

   In 9 - 13 April 2012 the second five-day training was held at Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman. Among the listeners of the training, in accordance with the terms of the grant, there were mostly teachers and students from the non-core specialities, representing engineering, medical, law and political sciences, journalism, etc.). This facilitated the interdisciplinary diffusion of knowledge about the European integration.

   A positive outcome of the second phase of the training was 80% increase in the listeners knowledge, assessed by means of comparing the results of the initial and final testing. This proved the effectiveness of the selected didactic methods.

   The atmosphere of the training was characterized, above all, by genuine interest of the participants to the issues discussed during the sessions, awareness of national interests of Ukraine in the process of convergence with the EU, critical thinking concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the European integration policy.

    One of the important achievements of this phase was the deepening of the partnerships between trainers and trainees of the project, which resulted in a positive synergy effect of joint (cooperative) learning in the implementation of the goals and objectives of the training.

Institualisation of the EU delivered by professor Chuzhykov

Role business-game “Allocation of the CAP quotas in the EU”

Who and how spends money in the EU (Associate professor, Ph.D., Oleksandr Fedirko)

Crisis / post-crisis EU budget (Version of the associate professor, Ph.D., Volodymyr Tokar)

Team work

Participants and organizers of the training with the certificates of participation

     During the 2012-2013 academic year under the Jean Monnet Foundation grant and a treaty signed between the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency and KNEU two trainings were conducted (in Dnepropetrovsk and Simferopol), which revealed a strong interest in the issues, proposed by the project, as well as poor familiarity of non-economists with the EU institutional setup, and mechanisms of the EU policies implementation. Most notably it was identified in Dnepropetrovsk, where the training was attended by a number of environmentalists, engineers and professionals of non-economic occupations.

The photo-report of the European Integration Advocacy Training implementation (the third stage) at Dnepropetrovsk

    The trainees liked participating in the business games, micro-presentations, and team-work. The levels of the training audience’s expertise in the European integration issues, which were assessed at the beginning and in the end of the training, differed by 2-2.5 times.

Starting the European Integration Advocacy Training at Simferopol

Sub-module healthcare services market in the EU

Team-work

Post-assessment of the EU studies knowledge level

Module leader and the participants of the training at Simferopol

   The fifth and the sixth stages of the project "European Integration Advocacy Training" have been implemented according to the schedule during the period September 30 – October 4, 2013 and April 14 – 18, 2014 on the premises of SHEE "Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman".

   The training was attended by 35 and 19 persons respectively. It is worth noting that even in difficult conditions of military conflict in the country the public interest in European integration issues is not fading away!

FINAL REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE JEAN MONNET EUROPEAN MODULE “EUROPEAN INTEGRATION ADVOCACY TRAINING” (№ 199755-LLP-1-2011-1-UA-AJM-MO)

     European Integration Department of the Faculty of International Economics and Management SHEE “Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman” successfully completed the training activities for the three-year grant project Jean Monnet European Module “European Integration Advocacy Training” (№ 199755-LLP-1-2011-1-UA-AJM-MO, implementation period: 01/09/2011 – 31/08/2014). Grant agreement envisioned six phases of the project implementation –two 40-hour training sessions each year.

     The key success factors which secured high quality and adaptability of the training were the following: active use of an interdisciplinary approach; establishment of an interdepartmental team of professional trainers (training was developed by the representatives of the departments of European integration, international finance, international management, and the Centre for International Relations); professional specialization of training developers (trainers) on a narrow range of selective educational topics for which they have high personal achievements in research and applied studies; geographical diversification of trainees’ groups and departure from the traditional over-centralization of such projects in the capital-city; combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies to assess the educational product value added, created in the flow of the project.

     One of the core guiding principles of the European Module “European IntegrationAdvocacyTraining”was the geographical and professional diversification of the training audience which provided for the regional targeting of the project (see Figure 1), wherein the overwhelming majority (57.6 %) of the total (184) participants was related to the regions situated outside the capital – Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk.

     The implementation of the first phase of the project - a five-day training on 10^th –14^th October, 2011 – held in Simferopol at the CrimeanEconomic Institute of SHEE “Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman” for  teachers and students of non-economic specialties has proved the correctness and feasibility of the project. It is essential to emphasize the fact that the training was conducted only in Ukrainian, not causing any resistance on the part of the students. The positive reaction of the local population was confirmed by the rave reviews and plenty of questions addressed to the project manager and team members on Crimean TV, which devoted a cycle of telecasts to the European Integration Advocacy Training during 2011-2012. 

     During April 9 – 13, 2012 the second five-day training event was hosted by Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman in the city of Kyiv. Training audience in accordance with the terms of the grant again was dominated by the teachers and students of non-core professions (engineering, medicine, law, political science, journalism etc.), facilitating the interdisciplinary knowledge diffusion effect of the European studies.

     During the 2012 / 2013 school year, two 40-hour trainings in Dnepropetrovsk and Simferopol were held, which revealed a strong interest in the study issues stated, but at the same time – a weak understanding of the essence, structure and mechanisms for implementing EU policies by the participants of non-economic occupations. Most notably it was unveiled at the training in Dnepropetrovsk, which was attended by a great many of environmentalists, engineers and experts in other non-economic areas.

     The fifth and the sixth stages of the project had come under schedule on September 30 – October 4, 2013 and April 14 – 18, 2014 at Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman (Kyiv, Ukraine). The trainings were attended by 35 and 19 people respectively. It should be noted that even under severe conditions of military conflict inside the country, the public interest in European studies did not die away, and as it turned out later (in March with the signing by Ukraine of thepolitical part, and in June 2014 – the economic part of the Association Agreement with the EU) - not in vain!

     The fundamental principle of the implementation of the training was the focus of its content on the non-economic specialties (geography, regional studies, law, political science, economics, journalism, information technology, computer science and other technical occupations), which resulted in the careful selection of educational material, elaboration of the most clear and favourable for the unprofessional listener educational technology. However, training has gained high popularity among economists experiencing urgent objective need to increase their professional competence in the field of European integration. This fact suggests, that the project was really important and the implementation period selected – timely and adequately meeting the cognitive request of the audience!

     Also we can argue that the interdisciplinary project “European Integration Advocacy Training” formed synergistic relations with other our Jean Monnet projects – economic European Module “EU Innovation and Investment Development” and the Jean Monnet Chair (Professor Chuzhykov) “European Regional Development Model” focused mainly on regional studies. This allowed positioning the Module at the initial level of the European Union cognitive identification.

     The main tool for the quantitative assessment of the training activities was a methodology of determining the rates of competence of students developed by National Council on Economic Education (USA) adapted by professor Chuzhykov, which is based on the preliminary (pre-assessment) and final (post-assessment) knowledge control. The advantage of this evaluation technique is that it allows capturing the increase of trainees’ competence through the use of the identical set of tests, focused on some theoretical and applied aspects of the European integration both at the beginning and at the end of each of the six stages of the training project. Thus, we determined the differentiation of competence not only within the same training group, but also managed to perform the cross-group comparative analysis. As it derives from Figure 2, although the six training groups had almost the same (quite low) initial level of the European studies competence, the final rate of success was characterized by a certain variation for the benefit of the capital region, which might be explained by the qualitatively diverse (in terms of education, skills and age) structure of the training groups. 

     The efficiency of the training technology is also confirmed by the use of innovative teaching methods, which allowed to increase the level of competence of the project participants by an average of 62.9% (see Table 1). At the same time, the idea of regional geographic diversification of the training audience proved its feasibility, as the initial level of its European studies competence was on average 16% higher in Kyiv compared to the other regions of the country. 

     In order to summarize and disseminate the effects of the project completed the module leader Professor V. Chuzhykov and the module team member Associate Professor O. Fedirko took part in the Jean Monnet conference “EU Eastern Partnership – from Capacities to Excellence”, which was held at the Latvian University (Riga, Latvia) June 11-13, 2014. In their speeches the members of the training team summarized the main problems of the methodology of European and regional studies in Ukraine, focusing in particular on the nature of information requests from the Ukrainian society in the field of European studies, the comparative analysis of regional innovation development, as well as the prospective ways of harmonization of socio-economic development of Ukraine with the EU imperatives.

     In general, the overall effect of the training may be evaluated through the benefits of multiplication effect, as many teachers who were involved in this and received all presentation materials received the opportunity to actively use it in their daily activities.