Veidlapa Nr. M-3 (8)

Course Description Status: Approved

Course Description Version: 24/25.P.1.00

Description Period: 2024./25 academic year pavasara semestris

Study Course Accepted: -

Study Course Description

Regional and Social Policy of European Union Member States

Main Study Course Information

Course Code
SZF_050
Branch of Science
Governance and Administration; Political science
ECTS
6.00
Target Audience
Political Science
LQF
Level 7
Study Type And Form
Full-Time

Study Course Implementer

Course Supervisor
Tatjana Muravska
Structure Unit Manager
Karina Palkova
Structural Unit
Faculty of Social Sciences
Contacts

Dzirciema street 16, Rīga, szf@rsu.lv

About Study Course

Objective

This course aims at deepening students’ knowledge of the EU competences in regional policy and EU approach to the social dimension and competences of Member States in social policy. The task of the course is to offer insight into the concept of regional and cohesion development and social models in the EU. The regulatory environment and implementation of the Cohesion policy will be studied. Attention will be given to labour market policies and models as well as and public health models. Special attention will be given to students’ discussions and debates.

Preliminary Knowledge

European economic integration.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge

1.Students will gain awareness about EU regional and social policies, their social, economic, legal and regulatory aspects; knowledge about facts, concepts and theories that support understanding of the course subject, as well as dynamics that shape EU regionalism and social trends in the EU and its Member States.

Skills

1.Students will acquire skills to: • assess and explain socio-economic events and their development in EU regional and social policy areas; • analyse EU regional policy using a variety of analysis methods; • make suggestions for the necessary improvements to EU social including public health policy.

Competences

1.Students are able to perform independent, critical analysis, apply economic methods in the planning and implementation of the EU Regional Policy and Social Policy, perform the assessment of economic parameters of regional and social systems.

Assessment

Individual work

Title
% from total grade
Grade
1.
Individual work
-
-
• Work with literature. • Search, summarising and analysis of data. • Case study. In order to evaluate the quality of the study course as a whole, the student must fill out the study course evaluation questionnaire on the Student Portal.

Examination

Title
% from total grade
Grade
1.
Examination
-
-
The report should answer a question or task related to one of the course topics. It must contain the reasoning behind the problem. Students should seek to submit or discuss different views on the subject and develop the author’s opinion based on reasoning and evidence.
2.
Examination
-
-
• Activity during the interactive lectures – 60%. • Solving situational tasks in classes – 40%.

Study Course Theme Plan

FULL-TIME
Part 1

  1. Raising regionalism in Europe

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. EU Regional and Cohesion Policy: development progress

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2
3.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Role of cohesion policy in promoting the development of the EU

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. EU budget: focus on cohesion

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Investing in regions in the European Union

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2
3.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. Digital Single Market in the regional context

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. EU social dimension and indicators of social progress

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. EU migration policy and immigration to the EU

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2
3.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. EU policies and activities in public health

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2

  1. EU social dialogue and social partners

EventType
Modality
Location
Contact hours
1.
Lecture
On site
Auditorium
2
2.
Class/Seminar
On site
Auditorium
2
Total ECTS (Creditpoints):
6.00
Contact hours:
46 Academic Hours
Final Examination:
Exam (Written)

Bibliography

Required Reading

1.

Visa literatūra ir angļu valodā un piemērota gan latviešu, gan angļu plūsmas studentiem

2.

Jānis Aprans. EU Region Policy (2014). Teaching Material. Edited by Tatjana Muravska. Riga, University of Latvia Press, - 64p.

3.

EU Social Dimension – An Innovative and Reflective Society (2014). Teaching Material. Edited by Tatjana Muravska and Biruta Sloka . Riga, University of Latvia Press, - 84 p.

4.

An Agenda for a Reformed Cohesion Policy. A Place-based Approach to Meeting EU Challenges and Expectations (2009), Report by Fabrizio Barka, - 218p.

Additional Reading

1.

European Structural and Investment FUNDS and European Fund for Strategic Investments Complementarities. Ensuring Coordination, Synergies and Complementarity (2016), European Union. – 24p.

2.

Permanent Revolution in Cohesion Policy: Restarting the Reform Debate (2018). European Policies Research Centre, United Kingdom, European Policies Research Paper No. 93.- 43p.

3.

Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (2016). Joseph E. Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, Jean-Paul Fitoussi. OFCE-Centre de recherche en économie de Sciences Po.- 291p.

4.

David Elkins. (1995). Beyond Sovereignty: Territory and Political Economy in the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge, 2009, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, - 308p.

5.

Andreas Faludi. (2018). The Poverty of Territorialism. A Neo-Medieval View of Europe and European Planning, Delft, University of Technology, the Netherlands.- 200p.

Other Information Sources

1.

Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion. European Union.

2.

Andreas Faludi. ESPON Seminar Video

3.

Regional policy. European Union.

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