SOCIAL SECURITY EDUCATION IN EUROPE: SURVEY RESULTS Dr. Maria Mousmouti, CECL

Summary Purpose : to collect information on the experience of the institutions participating in the EFESE-project and their expectations from it Method : online questionnaire Duration : December 2014 - April 2015 Participants : Three partner Universities, Seven satellite partners, a non-profit research institute

What does social security education look like? Courses on social security exist in all participating Universities - mandatory and optional undergraduate and postgraduate programmes (courses in general Master programmes and EMSS) and doctoral studies life long learning activities summer school Variety of topics – common topics: European and International Social Security Law - Other existing courses have a national focus Focus on Law - Economics - Social Science. Other faculties include: social work, administration, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Health and Medicine, Social Technologies; Science; even Mathematics

Audience : a closed group Relatively small audience. Average number of students: 20-50 (only 2 sp report between 50- over 100 s) Relatively small number of academics: 3-11 (partners) to 5- over 20 in sp relatively small number of researchers : 1- 5 (in 2 p and 3 sp), from 5-20 (1p, 1sp), and from 20- 50 (1sp)

Teaching Methods Conventional teaching methods (classroom teaching) including group exercises and projects Additional methods include case studies, case law analysis, workshops Distance learning/ e- learning are used to a small extent (1 p, 2 sp). Courses are offered in national languages – few are available in English Some courses for foreign students are available

Study material Textbooks in national languages, Powerpoint presentations Class exercises and notes Textbooks in English (2 p, 4 sp) Additional material: legal sources, selected articles in different languages and videos (1 p, 2 sp)  

How digital is social security education? Explicit policy for on-line education is not uniform practice (5sp, 0p) Learning platforms are widely used Streaming video and open platforms not widely available (1p, 2sp) Motives for online courses exist including support training (2p, 5 sp) Video material is not produced for regular teaching activities - Lecture recordings are not a common practice (1p, 2 sp) Infrastructure to support on line education is available but not everywhere and is not uniform Audio-visual support units exist (1p, 6sp) as well as facilities for video conferencing, web- conferencing and video recordings, recording sets (2 p, 4 sp) and computer facilities for HD video editing (2 p, 3 sp)

(great) expectations ? INNOVATION in social security education! increased feedback from research, interaction between academia and the professional world, development of ‘common’ social security courses with a ‘European’ content, exchange of knowledge and practices (comparison) and new topics.

What can efese contribute? Identify joint topics and teaching approaches Useful way to collect and make available access to information on social security systems Stimulate a critical approach Opportunity to rethink courses and objectives Opportunity for information and ideas on problems in other countries Transfer of practices and sharing of knowledge Synergies

YES the interested audience is increasing, there is a need to educate young people in core European values, as a result of the economic and social crisis and the need to modernize national courses.   All partners and satellite partners agree that course exchange can be an aspect of modernization as it can lower costs, maximize quality, enable the exchange of topics, modernize knowledge, enable contacts between researchers and institutions. A format for on-line education would allow courses to be shared without tutor or student mobility.

A joint curriculum? YES Option 1: Common development of a course catalogue of social security topics which universities can use in social security education Option 2: Joint programme by partner universities Option 3: A multiple degree programme between partner universities and Option 4: development of joint courses which can be shared between partner universities

Information collected and exchanged Transfer of knowledge on best practices Overcome the limited presence of social security in national curricula Cross fertilisation of ideas Increase the critical mass of students Encourage networking and exchange of experiences Qualitative advancement – EU perspective

a more ‘European’ understanding of social security, more uniform opportunities for students around Europe, emphasis in (social security) research findings emphasis in the modern society’s needs.

Opening up social security education? YES - Opening up social security education to a broader public is a welcome development. T0 whom? students, professionals, researchers, policy makers at national, European and international level and social security administrators. Judges, Politicians, broader public Possibility to bridge research, education and practice

Social security education in the participating countries offers a solid basis on which EFESE can build An important ‘menu’ of social security courses is available with overlaps but important complementarity – different disciplines and approaches are involved - Existing courses and teaching material can be used as a starting point Experiences with distance learning differ significantly, same as infrastructure and facilities yet digitization is a clear trend EFESE can contribute to the innovation, opening up and ‘Europeanisation’ of social security education

Want to learn more? Visit our webpage http://efese.eu/