Public law and Euro-Mediterranean management education:
Right to education for a coherence
Between training models and ongoing change
Gabriella Cangelosi*
Index
1. Education: a fundamental human
right
2. Creating
the Community of Democratic States
3. Agreements
for a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
4. A
Democratisation in the European Union’s External Relations as a promotion of
fundamental Rights
5. Education
in Arab Countries: a Euro-Mediterranean perspective
6. Background
for a management education
7. A strong
multidisciplinary approach
9.
Conclusion: guiding principles for a Euro-Mediterranean management education
ABSTRACT
Education is
a fundamental human right. This paper analyses the management education and its
developments in the Euro-Mediterranean area through the Constitutional studies
of right to education.
One of the
main objectives of the proposal is to identify the most appropriate training
models to facilitate ongoing change. So a right answer can be a right way to
create, first of all, a connection between training and public policies and,
especially, to promote a possible implementation of the various action plan of
the many countries interested.
Key words: management education, training, Euro-Mediterranean area,
public law, public policies, right to education.
1.
Education: a fundamental human right
Historically,
education was defined in many different ways but not as a human right and this
heritage colours local laws and policies in most countries.
A great deal
of attractive rhetoric about integrating (so called “mainstreaming”) human
rights education into all education has been generated during the past decade.
Now the right
to education is promoted and protected at all levels (from local to global) and
it fully reflects the interplay between the dual processes of globalization[1]
and localization which are taking place.
The right to
education[2]
can be analysed by focussing on the corresponding governmental obligations on
two levels: on the level of individual states and on the level of global and
regional inter-governmental structures within which governments act
collectively.
On the first
level, individual states are held primarily responsible for ensuring that human
rights are effectively safeguarded and respected by public law and public
policies.
On the second
level, global economic and fiscal policies can constrain both the ability and
the willingness of individual governments to guarantee the right to education.
The
identification and elimination of obstacles to the realization of the right to
education is the key to progress.
2.
Creating the Community of Democratic States
The
perspective of a Free Trade Area
should be accompanied, following the example of what is happening in Europe, by
a funding framework enabling social cohesion and solidarity policies to be put
into practice to mitigate its possible negative consequences.
In the
Barcelona Declaration (1995), the Euro-Mediterranean Partners agreed on the
establishment of a Euro-Mediterranean
Free Trade Area (EMFTA) by the target date of 2010[3].
Promoting
education, training, modernisation of management, creation of infrastructure,
competitiveness and innovation are measures which require significant financial
outlay on the part of the Union compatible with the ambition of the proposal to
construct a Community of Democratic States[4].
Such measures are a part of European shared responsibility.
Creating the
Community of Democratic States means establishing an characteristic action plan
and some intermediate goals, in which control of performance creation of the
Community of Democratic States.
There are
many different indicators, for example the economic development, so we can see
that in the Euro-Mediterranean area has not brought enough strength to face the
still high rate of population growth.
This growth
is especially demanding on the collateral needs of the population, and in
particular, in the field of education and in the capacity of the system to
place them into a labour market that faces the challenge of absorbing them.
This is a key
factor in developing the region with social cohesion.
3.
Agreements for a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership
The
Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, held in
Barcelona on 27-28 November 1995, marked the starting point of the
Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (so called Barcelona Process).
This
Partnership, brings together the 25 Member States of the European Union and 10
States of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region (Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and
Turkey), had three chapters: political, economic and financial, and cultural,
social and human[5].
A dialogue
has been established at the level of experts on certain sensitive issues, such
as the human rights. Creating a climate of trust and dialogue, has been
established between Arabs, Europeans, Israelis and Turks and has been
favourable to the European Union’s external presence.
During the
Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg (May 2005), were
adopted consensual conclusions, proposing the following as priority fields for
the future: human rights and democracy, sustainable economic growth and
education.
The
perspective of a Euro-Mediterranean area of higher education and research has
been perceived by several theorists as a basic condition providing
opportunities to study and work in a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual environment
characterised by equal opportunity and equal dignity. And so it’s very
important the creation of an “integrated higher education space”, characterized
by great flexibility and a high degree of articulation in the training given.
As part of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership process, a new generation
of bilateral agreements (1998-2005) have been set up between the European
Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Mediterranean
partnership countries of the other. These replace the first generation of
agreements, i.e. the cooperation agreements of the 1970s.
The European Union between 1998 and 2005 concluded seven
Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements with the Arab Republic of Egypt, the
State of Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Lebanon, the
Kingdom of Morocco, the Republic of Tunisia and the People’s Democratic
Republic of Algeria. These agreements provide a suitable framework for
North-South political dialogues.
They also serve as a basis for the gradual liberalisation of trade in
the Mediterranean area, and set out the conditions for economic, social and
cultural cooperation between the EU and each partner country.
|
Act |
Entry into force |
Official journal |
|
Decision
2005/690/EC, People’s
Democratic Republic of Algeria |
01.09.2005 |
OJ L 265 of 10.10.2005 |
|
Decision
2004/635/EC, Arab
Republic of Egypt |
01.06.2004 |
OJ L 304 of 30.09.2004 |
|
Decision
2002/357/EC, Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan |
01.05.2002 |
OJ L 129 of 15.05.2002 |
|
Decision
2000/384/EC,
State of Israel |
01.06.2000 |
OJ L 147 of 21.06.2000 |
|
Decision
2000/204/EC,Kingdom
of Morocco |
01.03.2000 |
OJ L 138 of 09.06.2000 |
|
Decision
98/238/EC,
Republic of Tunisia |
01.03.1998 |
OJ L 97 of 30.03.1998 |
Table a: Acts References
The agreements stress that cooperation should promote economic and
social development. Opening permanent dialogue should stimulate reforms that
take account of fundamental social rights and the most disadvantaged sections of
the population. The forms of cooperation in these areas vary from one partner
country to another.
Cooperation actions are mainly intended to manage the movements of
persons and workers, to ensure that the role of women in public life is
promoted, to enable social protection systems to be developed and to promote
improvements in living conditions.
The parties are, also, committed to actions to spread knowledge about
different cultures and increase mutual respect between them. The agreements
refer to the crucial role played by education and professional qualifications,
and the importance of core international labour standards.
4. A Democratisation in the European Union’s External
Relations as a promotion of fundamental Rights
Benita Ferrero-Waldner
(European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy[6])
said[7]: Respect
for human rights is one of the most fundamental and universal values of our
world. All of us, in our official capacity and in our private lives, have a
responsibility to promote and protect the rights of our fellow members of the
human family, be that at home or elsewhere in the world.
Since the Treaty of Rome[8],
the European integration has been founded upon and defined by universal principles
of liberty and democracy, respect for the rule of law, human rights and
fundamental freedoms.
In this context, we recognise the crucial role of education, also, for
political, social and economic development.
Education and training are crucial for the national future and
euro-mediterranean perspective. High quality and accessible education is
essential for all citizens, such as future entrepreneurs, workers, researchers.
Euro-Mediterranean-level actions on culture are indispensable for
promoting a sense of Euro-Mediterranean Area and to support an evolving
identity of each country.
We must be strained to bring about a better understanding of others’
cultures and wider recognition of a common heritage, completely we respect the
cultural diversity.
Promoting, so in a spirit of new governance, forms of active
participation for citizens, particularly young people, thus contributing to the
development of mutual understanding and trust and a spirit of tolerance, in a
Euro-Mediterranean Area open to the rest of the world.
5.
Education in Arab Countries: a Euro-Mediterranean perspective
South
Mediterranean countries (such as Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria,
Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine to which we refer to as Maghreb and Mashreq) have
witnessed a peculiar improvement in education[9].
As the “Arab
Human Development Report” also emphasised, the most serious problem facing Arab
education is its deteriorating quality (AHDR, 2002, 47-51). This emphasis, as
noted in the “Arab Human Development Report 2003”[10],
will be laid on that crucial aspect of education and its impact on knowledge.
In fact, about education, the recommendations are the following:
®
Education
reform should be a main and permanent item on the agenda of summits and
meetings.
®
There is
still much room to create pan-Arab educational institutions and enhance the
efficiency of existing ones, both governmental and nongovernmental.
®
Higher
education is perhaps one of the most important areas of Arab cooperation with
Europe.
®
Graduate
studies, research and publication are among the areas that should be given
priority in such cooperation efforts.
®
Networking
among educational institutions using ICT (Information & Communication
Technologies) and creation of knowledge networks among researches would be
effective means of building collaboration.
®
For expanding
and improving education the following are important; Self education or learning
to learn means greater focus on tools of education.
®
Benefiting
from modern educational technology and ICT, these technologies can play an
important role in formal and in informal education.
®
There should
be a constant evaluation of education.
®
The role of
the teachers’ should be rethought in light of a new, multifaceted understanding
of their task based on guiding, coordinating, evaluating, teaching, etc.
®
The
decentralization of the educational administration should be encouraged: There
should be more freedom.
®
Areas of
expansion and improvement in education with a special emphasis on women and
girls include the following:
- Adult education
- Pre-school education
- Children with special
needs, particularly the gifted.
- Technical and
vocational education
- Higher education
- Cultivation of
talents in early childhood.
Now this development
has, also, an impact on Economic Growth. In fact a recently published study of
the World Bank entitled “Gender and Economic Development”[11]
highlights that a reduction of the gender gap in education may translate into
an increase in the GNP per capita and a correlative increase of the economic
growth by 0.5 to 0.9% per year as demonstrated in the Asian countries.
Moreover, it mentioned that in high development countries, an increase by 1% of
the enrolment of women in secondary education translates into 0.3% increase in
the GNP per capita.
6.
Background for a management education
The development of Euro-Mediterranean partner countries requires the
strengthening of management capabilities and capacities, and especially in
small enterprises.
In this context management education must be adapted to their type and
characteristics with training activity directed to: learning and applying the
“Quality approach”, as well as those methods and procedures for monitoring and
measuring improvements must also be adapted to the type of country, with each
economy and social and political assets.
First of all the response requires a common and innovative “Approach to
Quality”, as well as to educational and training tools for the dissemination of
a common approach. The information and communication society can make this
approach accessible to the Euro-Mediterranean regions.
Recognising the crucial role of education for political, social and
economic development, each Euro-Mediterranean partner must improve equitable access
to quality education in line with the Millennium Development Goals and the
Educational objectives. So these partners must undertake measures aiming to:
ensure equality of access to quality education at all levels for girl and boy
students; reduce disparities in educational achievement between
Euro-Mediterranean states under internationally recognised education standards;
enhance graduate employment through efficient, high quality higher education
and greater co-operation across higher education and research; increase
awareness and understanding of the different cultures and civilisations of the
region, including through conservation and restoration of cultural heritage.
Many studies have concentrated their attention on the development of
Euro-Mediterranean Management models (based on the relationship between many
different elements), so we have four approaches: the personal Development
(Learner centered); Anglo-Saxon management approach; Euro-Mediterranean
management approach; Euro-Mediterranean values and culture (identity).
7. A strong multidisciplinary approach
“to develop the human resources and promote
understanding between different cultures and rapprochement between the peoples
of the euro-mediterranean area”
Barcelona Declaration, 1995
Since years there is a debate about the new universalism of fundamental
rights, that mainly regarded the expansion capability of the Constitutional
State, connected to the generalization of a common heritage of fundamental
rights and so to the right to education.
This scientific debate showed a strong multidisciplinary approach to
identify the most appropriate training models to facilitate ongoing change.
Under the point of view of constitutional rights studies, we remember
the works by Peter Haeberle, that focused on concepts like “cooperative
constitutional State”, “open society of the interprets of the Constitution”,
“global image of the constitutional State” and “common European constitutional
law”.
Under the point of view of legal philosophy studies, the most recent
study about the dimension of rights in the scenery of the multicultural
societies has been deeply influenced by the contrast among positions based on
the classical liberalism, communitarism and multiculturalism. These positions
are been found in the works by Brugger, Huster and Kymlycka.
In Italy in the last years the debate on the new universalism of human
rights caused a particular confrontation, which involved scholars of
constitutional law, political and legal philosophy like Ferrajoli and Facchi.
We want to put under evidence that this debate (regarding the
constitutional cosmopolitism) is a phenomenon with a continuity, able to be
critically analysed. After an initial enthusiasm about the chance to export
typically west-oriented systems, the doctrine is now careful about the chance
of generalized success of this approach.
We therefore see the opportunity to study the fundaments of a
educational model (based on a new universalism of human rights) and of its
difficult to be adopted in the praxis.
In the economy law the study of the material dimension of the
fundamental rights as fundament of a possible observation of the phenomenon
following the opposite dimension of power, already accepted by the
constitutional law studies, is under analyse and stressed the attitude of
“private powers” to reduce the spheres of individual liberties like the public
powers do.
The Italian doctrine aims to affirm the warranties of fundamental rights
and values of constitutionalism also in the new relationships among private
powers present in the juridical systems. An interesting methodological
perspective can come also from the study of the relationships between big
international companies and juridical production, in front of the reduction of
the fundamental rights to mere interests in the normative process of the
“globalization”.
We can generally affirm that the juridical and philosophical-political
science paid a occasional attention to the topic of this paper.
This subject has instead always been analysed by interesting but
nevertheless partial approaches by now; thanks to the need of a research aimed
to a sever study of the constitutional cosmopolitism also taking account of the
foreign studies – American, English and French - already started.
8. A constitutional approach: the development of
fundamental rights in the Euro-Mediterranean Countries
The message is clear: we intend to help the experts in a evaluation
about the theory of constitutional process in consideration of the recent
democratisation processes as well as of the development of fundamental rights
in the Euro-Mediterranean Countries.
This approach analyses the aspects of the democratisation processes in
the Euro-Mediterranean area, in order to put under evidence the various aspects
of the different local forms of constitutionalism in this region; it considers
the juridical dimension of the relationships between individuals and private
powers.
The main goal is to give a right answer can be a right way to create,
first of all, a connection between training and public policies and,
especially, to promote a possible implementation of the various action plan of
the many countries interested. This is to obtain a final verification of the
reliability of the theory of constitutional cosmopolitism, which means to evaluate
if it is possible to recognize homogeneous propagation processes of rights and
warranties into the Euro-Mediterranean area.
The cosmopolitan approach is a typical aspect of the
constitutionalism, at least from the beginning of the big bourgeois Revolutions,
that fixed its basic principles from a juridical perspective. The universality
of human rights is in fact affirmed from 1789 on, and since always represented
a stable principle of the western juridical heritage, although hardly
maintained in certain periods.
The Constitutional State until its actual structure had very
different and often hard developments. Nevertheless, its conceptual model seems
to be very homogeneous and compulsoriness, also for the homogeneous cultural
environments where this model took place.
The continuing differentiation of the western societies,
already started at the beginning of the 20th century, but increased through the
multiculturalism approach, put the constitutionalism theory under pressures
very hard to eliminate through the mere integration.
The analysed area has recently been affected by
democratisation processes that deeply redefined the characters of the
institutional structure. We can remember the sudden and contradictory process
followed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European Countries, as
well as the hard and difficult democratisation of some Arabian Countries of the
Euro-Mediterranean area, first of all Turkey, candidate to become a member
State of the European Union. There are obviously different religious, cultural,
juridical contexts affected by such democratisation processes; however, all of
them seem to agree with some fundamental premises typical of the
political-juridical Western tradition, as the protection of fundamental rights,
also through a difficult attempt to define the border lines between political
experience and religious faith.
We must define through a comparative approach similar and
different aspects between these constitutional traditions.
In order to evaluate the compulsory functionality of a
Constitutionalism of human rights in recently democratised Countries, as well
as in Countries affected by expansion of the multicultural society. A further
goal of the project is therefore to define the relationships among individuals,
intermediate groups and public powers on the ground of the human rights and the
juridical warranties, of the political participation, of the use of financial
resources, and of the local private autonomies.
The societies are affected also by globalization process,
that realize a space of juridical relationships impossible to insert in a
national or international order: for the Eastern European Countries it is
necessary to analyse how the join of the free market by most of these Countries
can go together with the principle of equality and the fundaments of the
welfare state. For the Arabian Countries it is instead necessary to evaluate
the laicism principle as regards the effectiveness of the constitutional rights
in religious traditions and institutions radically different from the
fundamental values of the culture of rights and liberties.
The constitutionalism showed from its first times a compulsory nature,
typical of a tradition aimed to influence the political and juridical
structures through certain basic principles realized in a millenary human
experience.
The theoretical approach of this study must therefore be proofed taking
account of the normative holding of the protection of fundamental rights in the
considered geographical areas, affected by a growing join to values and
structures of the European constitutionalism.
9. Conclusion: guiding
principles for a Euro-Mediterranean management education
The Barcelona
Process promotes intercultural dialogue and aims to build social, cultural and human
partnership among the peoples of the Euro-Mediterranean area.
The creation
of a Euro-Mediterranean area of higher education and research has been
perceived as a basic condition when providing opportunities to study and work
in a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual environment characterised by equal opportunity
and equal dignity.
An
Euro-Mediterranean cooperation involves tasks and challenges for Europe as a
whole and the Mediterranean as a whole. This is a peculiar relation, in fact,
regional, decentralized, flexible cooperation schemes (throughout the region
and between the region and Europe) should be explored.
Open debates
need open spaces. First of all, the dialogue between civil society and local,
regional, national and intergovernmental representatives in the region should
be encouraged; spaces for cultural and educational interaction should be
multiplied and supported.
The
development of intercultural competence, the sharing of knowledge, and capacity-building
are essential for strengthening a genuine Euro-Mediterranean cooperation.
This
cooperation should be a tool for replacing mutual stereotypes by a realistic
recognition of common ground, differences and inequalities and, furthermore, it
should be based on genuine partnership. Dialogue and cooperation need mobility
in all directions, and the international community should oppose the building
of both real and mental walls which prevent such mobility. Cultural operators,
intellectuals, educators, researchers and journalists often lead the way in the
process of understanding. Their mobility has to be facilitated and supported.
However
migration should be approached in a way which stresses mutual benefits.
Intercultural competence should be valued in cultural policies and programmes.
Cooperation
and the sharing of knowledge should contribute to the development of
educational policies and sustainable cultural infrastructure, especially in
regions where cultural policies are presently weak, or where cultural
infrastructure is or has been destroyed.
This “Euro-Mediterranean project” requires various investigations to be
made. These should be entrusted to experts to deal with: the identification
(using topics of action) of operators that can be rapidly mobilized; the
examination and evaluation of information transfer systems that are already
organized within existing networks in order to broaden them; the examination of
the possibilities for widening and gathering these networks to open them to all
interested Euro-Mediterranean partners; draw up proposals for the organization
of this network.
It is necessary focused attention on some specific aspects of training:
continuous training, high training and remote training.
There are the specific goals in the field of training: to promote
training as a way to develop territory and civil society; to favour dialogue
between the several actors involved in education and training systems; to
promote interregional comparisons on training (at national, European and Euro-Mediterranean
level); to define innovative training modalities and pathways; to contribute to
the improvement of the skills certification process and to facilitate the
mutual recognition of the same between actors from different areas.