Learning objectives
Competences to be developed and expected outcomes
a) Knowledge and understanding : at the end of the course the student will have a thorough understanding of the EU institutions and the way they work, of economic policies of the European Union, of the problems related to the development of the territory, of the regional policies of the European Union,of the regional database of Eurostat. The student will acquire the capacity to understand the main issues of the present debate on the European economic and political crisis
b) Applying knowledge and understanding: the student at the end of the course will be able to design a research project on the topic of regional development; to collect, process and interpret regional statistics; to make comparisons between different regions; to suggest projects of local development; to write reports and to present the results of his own work
c) Making judgments: the student will be able to understand critically the issues related to the institutional functioning of the European Union and in particular the policies of the European Union in the field of economic development and social and territorial cohesion.
d) Communication skills: the student will improve his written communication skills through the reports and the oral communication skills through the public presentations.
e) Learning skills: the student will be able to manage databases, to produce and elaborate statistics, set up tables and graphs, using statistical software for the drafting of economic reports on local economies.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of economics both micro and macro. Basic knowledge of statistics. Familiarity with Excel. There are important intersections with the courses in European economy, Development economics and Cooperation and competition among firms.
Course unit content
The content of the course is as follows:
- Institutions and policies of the European Union
- Strategic priorities of the European Union
- Economic and social disequilibria in the European Union
- The theories of spatial agglomeration of economic activity
- The cohesion policies of the European Union
- Local economic development policies
- Guide to the use of the Eurostat Regio Data Bank for the study of the regional economies
- The economic and statistical analysis of regional economies
- The design of a local development project
Full programme
Cohesion policies have been implemented in the European Union since 1988 to reduce the huge economic and social disparities at regional level. These policies have acquired importance over time to become the most important item in the European Union budget. The first aim of the course is to analyze economic and social disequilibria within European Union, the rationale of cohesion policies, the way in which these policies have been implemented, the projects realized, the results achieved, the problems left unsolved.
The second aim of the course is to train students in the design of development projects at local level. Each student, under the supervision of the teacher, will be required to carry out an economic and social analysis of an identified area, to outline a local strategy of development for that area and to suggest few key projects. The content of the course in detail is as follows:
- Institutions and policies of the European Union
- Economic and social disequilibria in the European Union
- Cohesion policy of the European Union
- Local economic development policies
- Design of a local development project
Bibliography
ATTENDING STUDENTS: didactic material will be delivered all along the course and made available in the website.
NON ATTENDING STUDENTS
Topic 1: History and Institutions of the European Union
1) Michelle Cini, Nieves Perez-Solorzano Borragan, European Union Politics, Sixth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2019, Chapters 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
This book is available in the Department library
Teaching methods
The Course is based on a project of innovative didactic which includes teamwork and public presentations. The distribution of hours will be approximately as follows:
- 8 hours in a Computer-Lab for the description of the Data Bank and for practice
- 30 hours of lectures for the theoretical and institutional part
- 25 hours of team work for the public presentation of the team-works
Visiting professors will be invited to deliver speeches on issues related to the present problems of the European Union
Assessment methods and criteria
The final assessment will be different for attending and non attending students. Attending students are those who follow the project work. For them attendance is compulsory.
For attending students, the final mark will be the outcome of:
a) an evaluation of the written report on the regional economy and on its public presentation in front of the class (70% of the basic mark)
b) an evaluation of the draft of the project of local development and of its public presentation, in front of the class (30% of the basic mark)
c) an evaluation of a public oral presentation on a theoretical issue. A score between -2 to + 2 will be attributed over the basic mark got in the two previous tests
Knowledge and understanding will be evaluated in the theoretical oral test, and in the design of the report and of the project of local development.
Capacity of applying knowledge and of making autonomous judgments will be evaluated in the written report on the regional economy and on the design of a local development project
Oral communication skills will be evaluated in the presentation of the report in the classroom, in the presentation of the local development project and on the theoretical discussion. Written communication skills will be evaluated in the written regional report.
For non attending students there will be a written exam with three open questions on the three main topics of the course: 1) History of the European Union, 2) Institutions of the European Union and 3) Policies of the European Union Time available will be 90 minutes.
The answer to these questions will assess knowledge and understanding of the issues addressed, the ability to make independent judgements and written communication skills.
Other information
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