Teaching and Learning-European Union Policies

European Union Policies is a specialized mandatory course that is offered to 2nd year International Relations and European Union undergraduate students. The structure of the curriculum is divided into IR and EU Studies courses.

The course European Union Policies is one of the core disciplines in the International Relations and European Studies Curriculum. This course has crossed significant changes over the years in terms of academic content, pedagogical approaches or instructors responsible for the teaching activities. The module leader(dr. Cuglesan) teaches this course for several years; the current proposal represents the outcome of a long process of reflection and several years of teaching this course in terms of designing the teaching activities in order to meet the needs of the students for academic and labour market purposes. The current version of the course and seminar activities represents the perfect blend between policy analysis skills, top-down approach(knowledge on the history and evolution of EU Policies) and bottom-up approaches (case studies on the member states) as well as consolidation of academic writing, research skills and digital competences

Pedagogical Approach

The course is divided into four modules: What are EU Policies? (8 hours), Theoretical approaches and instruments(16 hours), History and Evolution of EU Policies(16 hours), Case studies(16 hours) on the new member states(RO and Bulgaria).

Module 1

What are EU Policies?

students are familiarized with the definition of public policies and their classification

Module 2

History and Evolution of EU Policies

students are introduced to several instrumental policies, selected on the basis of several criteria:
a. the competences exercised by the EU: exclusive competences(Monetary Union),
b. shared competences(Cohesion Policy, Agricultural Policy, Environmental Policy,)
c. support competences(Educational and Cultural Policy).

Module 3

Theoretical approaches and instruments

aims to introduce students to two types of approaches in the analysis of public policies: the Europeanization umbrella concept and the policy cycle process, which students make use of in the case studies dedicated to RO and BG and in the context of the writing assignments

Module 4

Case Studies

Case studies on the new member states(Romania and Bulgaria) looks at the response of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU Policies discussed in the previous modules, by employing the problem-based learning approach.

This course differentiates itself in the landscape of teaching practices, by promoting a full menu approach in terms of academic content and pedagogical approaches.

Academic content

enabling the knowledge on the history and evolution of EU Policies;
enhancing the research skills of the students by emphasizing on the theoretical instruments of policy analysis;
Case studies on the new member states(Romania and Bulgaria) and the response to EU Policies;

Pedagogical approach on the development of digital skills

promoting active learning and student centred pedagogies, by using the problem based learning method;
implement the Digital Competence Framework 2.0, especially three key components out of the five key areas. The students will consolidate their digital competences especially in the framework of the team research on the evolution of Romania and Bulgaria after their accession to the EU.

1. Information and data literacy

1.2 Evaluating data, information and digital content

1.3 Managing data, information and digital content

2. Communication and collaboration

2.2 Sharing through digital technologies

2.4 Collaborating through digital technologies

5. Problem-solving competencies