Piloting a social work doctoral programme: Ukraine’s vignette

In Ukraine the last decade was marked by significant changes in social work education development that evidence its academization and professionalization. International cooperation was a useful catalyst in these processes. The above has specific implications for developing the three cycles of social work education in Ukraine – Bachelor, Master and PhD programmes. Implemented in 2009–2012, an international project involving six European countries supported piloting of the first PhD programme in social work in Ukraine. This programme encountered a set of challenges that originated from the particularities of social work education in Ukraine and the broader academic context. Participatory observations and reflections demonstrate the challenges evident in Global North–Global South professional relations. Ukrainian social work education history evidences permanent localization of the international standards and experiences that have had various effects on social work academization.     

Bilingual Education Theater: Behind the scenes of Latvian minority education reform

Focusing on the political nature of education policy making in the post-Soviet context, this paper questions whether, how and to what extent the bilingual education reform under way in Latvia contributes to social integration among different ethnolinguistic groups. The paper begins by tracing the emergence and institutionalization of bilingual education reform in light of long-term education development trends prevalent during the 1990s. Based on press analysis, document review, and in-depth interviews with major education stakeholders in Latvia, it reveals that there exists a growing disjunction between 'policy-talk', 'policy action' and 'policy implementation', resulting in the legitimization of education spaces that once were and continue to be functional, hierarchical and divisive.     

Bologna and student mobility: a fuzzy relationship

The national ministers in charge of higher education of the majority of European countries agreed in the late 1990s to embark on reforms on the way towards a “European Higher Education Area”. The major aim was to increase and enhance international student mobility, whereby the establishment of a convergent system of “cycles” of study programmes should be the major operational objective. Actually, the spread of the bachelor-master structure seems to have triggered an increase of degree mobility from outside Europe to Europe in the early years of the so-called “Bologna Process”. This, however, slowed down subsequently. Moreover, the Bologna Process has not led to a growing pace of intra-European degree mobility. Since 2009, a new target is in the limelight: By 2020, 20% of graduates should have had international experience through study or internship in another country for at least some period. Actually, however, the rate of the event of student mobility during the course of study had been already quite high in many European countries around 2000 and did not increase further substantially thereafter. Thus, the quantitative target is a challenge for some countries with low outwards mobility. Altogether, the Bologna Process rather seems to have improved the conditions and the quality of intra-European mobility more substantially than its quantitative development.     

Luxembourg's Foreign Policy: Does Small Size Help or Hinder?

As a very small state, Luxembourg would not appear to qualify as an influential foreign policy actor either in Europe or the world. Yet the country's international influence has long belied its reputation as a small state. This article reviews the literature on small-state foreign policy and finds that it offers numerous contradictory conclusions. As a case study it then addresses Luxembourg in the 1990s, with particular attention to two themes: its active participation in the European Union (EU) and its policies directed at maintaining economic prosperity. The paper goes on to explain Luxembourgish foreign policy behaviour through three levels of analysis and assesses to what extent smallness is a benefit or a hindrance to Luxembourg's success in meeting its international goals.     

Social welfare in rural Europe

Rural development has been identified by EU leaders as one of the priorities of European structural policies, and as one of the objectives of cohesion policy. Yet despite this commitment, we are very poorly informed about how ordinary people live across the rural areas of Europe, their incomes and quality of life, and their perceptions of policies and economic and social change. This paper argues that greater attention should be devoted to issues of poverty, disadvantage and social exclusion in rural Europe by both policymakers and researchers. This is particularly crucial at the present time as rural Europe is subject to major structural changes deriving both from changes in rural economy and society and from policy initiatives such as the Maastricht Treaty and the Single European Act. These are over and above the wider trends operating throughout Europe in relation to employment, fiscal crisis and ageing, for example. A central requirement is for the articulation of policies for tackling economic and social exclusion (e.g. Poverty 3, Exclusion 1), on the one hand, with those directed towards rural development (e.g. Leader 2), on the other. Fundamental household survey work is required to increase our understanding of what constitutes rural disadvantage, which client groups are affected, and how policies can contribute towards relieving their disadvantage, preferably through client-based instruments rather than less appropriate area-based approaches. The last part of this paper presents preliminary results of such a survey, focusing on issues of employment, housing, poverty and quality of life.     

International Migration and State Sovereignty in an Integrating Europe

This article examines the development of migration policy competencies of the European Union (EU) since the 1990s. It pays particular attention to policy framework that developed after the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties entered into effect in 1993 and 1999 respectively.
In order to chart these developments, the article focuses on five analytical themes that illustrate key trends in EU migration policy. Reasons for and implications of shift from "pillarization" in the Maastricht Treaty to "communitarization" in the Amsterdam Treaty.
— Blurring of the distinction between external and internal security.
— The role that supranational institutions such as the European Commission are playing (or trying to play) in policy development.
— Debates about migrants' rights in an integrating Europe.
— Links between migration and EU enlargement.
It is argued that far from weakening EU member states or symbolizing some "loss of control", EU cooperation and integration have thus far helped member states consolidate and reassert their ability to regulate international migration through the use of new EU-level institutional venues. This raises legitimacy issues as the EU moves into politically sensitive policy areas.
Although talk of "fortress Europe" is overblown, the EU is likely to face legitimacy challenges on both the "input" (democracy, openness and accountability of decision-making) and "output" (implementation and compliance) elements of decision-making.     

Migration policy objectives for European East-West international migration

The study contains selected results of Delphi research (subjective judgements concerning the future on a collective expert basis) on international migration between Central/Eastern (C/EEc) and Western European countries. Taking part in the research were 109 scholars and officers (70 in the first Delphi round and 39 in the second round) from all over Europe – mainly sociologists, economists, geographers and demographers dealing with the topic of migration.
Results indicate growing problems and tensions in societies, the division of Europe into two parts, and the triggering rather than pacifying of further antagonisms and hostile anti-immigrant attitudes on the Western side. As predicted, it seems that the West will further try to curb immigration by applying tighter restrictive measures. Regarding competition between Eastern Europeans and Third World immigrants in Western Europe, the preferred opinion is that "the C/EE immigrants will not significantly affect the activities of the Third World immigrants in the West because they will attempt to gain posts/jobs at higher levels of the social ladder."
Concerning policy objectives, the two most important general aims were how to contribute to migration stabilization in the East, and how to maintain and further develop stable democratic order and promote economic development.
Policy objectives devoted to specific migration issues indicate that more international cooperation, more information and more democracy/tolerance is necessary. Shared objectives should be: (1) to intensify mutual contacts; (2) disseminate information on rules and regulations regarding international migration as well as to tackle the issue of harmonizing the given migration controlling systems and statistics within Europe; and (3) provide further support for temporary labour contracts for Eastern professionals and manual workers in the West.     

Reinventing the international approaches to globalization: The Helsinki Process

Abstract

In the last ten years we have been witnessing an essential change within what we might call the ‘international approaches towards globalization’. This change is not to be considered only as being incremental but rather fundamental as it consists not merely in a strategy-oriented shift but in one of principle. From the ‘worst enemy of the poor’, globalization turned into a ‘phenomenon that we all have to take profit of’. This essay will analyze the turning point in the anti-globalization attitudes by using the study of one of the most recent and important international programmes on globalization, the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy, under the aspects of the historical reform of the international approaches towards globalization.     

Doctoral studies in social work: exploring European developments

Recent discussion in the UK about the place of doctoral work in social work education and research has been paralleled by some comparative research in Europe. This paper relates some of the findings to other literature and experience of comparative developments in social work education. While debates in some countries echo UK concerns, social work educators in other countries are struggling with more fundamental questions about the relationship between social work and other social sciences or with organisational arrangements which ‘disadvantage’ professional education. Unlike experience in the US, it seems that in Europe the extent to which social work is seen as a discipline that contributes research based knowledge to professional practice is variable.     

高职班级“企业化”管理模式下的职业道德教育探索

随着高职教育改革的不断深入,通过工学结合,校企合作促进学生职业素质和能力的培养,已成为高职院校的共识。文章从产学结合、轮岗实训到顶岗实习的角度提出并探讨了高职学院班级"企业化"管理模式下的职业道德教育的创新,着眼于学生的职业素质培养和对工作岗位的适应能力,培养学生可持续发展能力,创新了高职人才培养模式。     

土耳其对非洲地区的经贸合作

土非经贸合作近年发展迅速,引起国际社会广泛关注。这在很大程度上源于土耳其自1998年以来的一系列政策改革和相应的机制平台建设。但需要指出的是,尽管土非贸易、投资和援助都增长迅速,但土耳其对非政策改革和机制平台建设的政策效果尚未完全显现,主要因为土非经贸合作起点较低,量的增长并未导致质的变化,特别是土非贸易在土耳其对外贸易中所占的比重变化不大。因此,未来的土非经贸合作还有很大的提升空间,尽管土耳其对非政策的内部逻辑尚有待完善。     

Social Work Doctoral Education in Australia: The Case for Further Development

ABSTRACT

Social work education in Australia has been based in universities since the 1940s. There are now 32 higher education providers offering social work programs across Australia. The significant growth in master’s level qualifying programs in Australia, along with recent higher education policy changes, has increased the need for social work academic faculty members with doctoral qualifications. This paper presents the findings of a scoping review of literature on social work doctoral education. Despite a growing literature on social work doctoral education in international contexts, the review found that there is a lack of Australian research and evidence on social work doctoral pedagogy, the number and diversity of doctoral students, the doctoral student experience, and doctoral graduate employment intentions and outcomes. Addressing the lack of Australian research in this area would be an important step to enabling Australian social work to address future research training and capacity needs and directions.

IMPLICATIONS

• There is a lack of research on Australian social work doctoral education and this is a neglected aspect of social work scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) research.

• Research into social work doctoral education would provide baseline information on the number and diversity of students, doctoral student experiences, graduate outcomes, and employment intentions.

• Development of social work SOTL about doctoral education would support future research capacity and enable the advancement of social work research knowledge and skills.

     

浅析以就业为导向的高职院校专业课程模式的构建

改革开放以来,我国高等职业教育快速发展,随着发展的深入,人才培养的效果和社会就业市场的需求之间的差距也显现出来。人才培养质量与课程设置直接相关。文章从以就业为导向的课程模式的角度,分析目前高职教育所采用的课程模式实施过程中存在的问题及其原因,提出了解决问题的切实可行的措施和办法,以供高职院校参考。     

Defining,censuring, and resolving: the EBRD,collective organic intellectuals and the global financial crisis in Eastern Central Europe

ABSTRACT

The paper asks what role the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plays in coordinating policy reform in post-crisis Eastern Central Europe (ECE). How did the EBRD attempt to mitigate the effects of the crisis and what role did the institution play in the configuration of a post-crisis European political economy? The paper analyses the content of the annual EBRD Transition Reports (TR) as representation of thinking in the EBRD Chief Economist’s Office on the salient concerns relevant to its region of operations. The paper analyses TRs from 2007 to 2013 assessing the discursive shifts inside the EBRD establishing (1) how the TRs frame whether the region is in crisis, (2) apportioning censure for causing crisis and (3) how the EBRD TRs delineate the development of appropriate policy responses to the crisis. In conclusion the paper situates these processes as evidence of a further iteration of ‘fail forwards’ neoliberalization.     

20 years of Bologna - a story of success,a story of failure

The Bologna Process is a unique harmonisation process taking place outside the policy-making framework of the European Union. It aims at enhancing the comparability and compatibility of higher education structures and degrees across Europe, as well as to institutionalise quality assurance mechanisms. The aim of this article is to provide a condensed, up-to-date overview of the Bologna Process with regard to structural characteristics, before embedding it into a discussion on processes on voluntary policy convergence and to which extent we should be able to find this kind of policy harmonisation in the realm of the Bologna Process. Related to this are questions why this, in principle, completely voluntary process of policy harmonisation, has appealed to so many countries and why they might or might not feel committed to the implementation of its policies and tools.     

如何发挥政府在校企合作中的主导作用

当前,企业参与校企合作积极性不高是制约职业教育改革和发展的瓶颈.文章分别从高职院校、企业、政府三个角度分析了导致企业不愿意参与合作的原因,提出政府要充分利用组织优势,建立系统合理的政策体系,统筹搭建校企合作平台,发挥好“红娘”作用,促使校企早日“联姻”.     

Researching social work: Doctoral work in the UK

This paper discusses some current issues in relation to doctoral studies in social work in the UK. It draws on recent research and other sources to illustrate that our knowledge about the scope and scale of such doctoral work is limited. However, developments within the discipline and the wider policy and institutional context of professional education suggest that research (in general) has an increasing profile. This trend, together with debates about focus and research approaches in social work, has implications for the possible extension of opportunities for doctoral studies. It is further suggested that 'professional doctorate' programmes or 'PhD by publication' routes may be more suited to the needs of doctoral students in social work, given different career paths relative to students in some other disciplines.     

A critical friend: Monitoring and evaluation systems,development cooperation and local government. The case of Tuscany

The role of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems in the field of development cooperation has globally increased in last decades. International and regional organizations, as well as states, local governments and NGOs have largely adopted the tools provided by M&E in order to enhance transparency, effectiveness and efficiency. The paper aims at verifying how and to what extent the implementation of M&E systems has affected the overall quality of international cooperation projects financed by a local government. After a literature review on M&E in development cooperation, the research analyzes the wide range of activities (evaluation ex-ante, mid-term, final, monitoring, consultancy) carried out by the Evaluation Team of the XY in the last eight years in behalf of an Italian local government: the Region of Tuscany. The paper reveals the strategic significance of adopting M&E systems in the medium-long term.     

Bringing experiential educational groups to the United States: an analysis of group development in an international travel and study program

International exchanges and travel and study projects have been gaining popularity in many fields including social work. Embedded in a group context, the success of these initiatives depends heavily on the group process of all members involved. This article analyzes the impact group dynamics have on an international travel and study project that brought 11 doctoral students and their dean from Ethiopia for a one-month experiential education program. A model of group development, which emphasizes behavioral outcomes in groups (forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning), is presented as an organizing framework. The discussion draws on a qualitative analytical study, which revisits Tuckman's model, and proposes a revised model that defines group development stages by individual, group, purpose, and work concerns that drive conflict throughout all group stages. Implications for social work education include de-emphasizing stages of group development, being mindful about what is known about small groups, and improving empirical research and training for leading international groups.