GROWING TOGETHER. Contents. Newsletter of the Department of Public Policy

Transcription

1 Newsletter of the Department of Public Policy Contents 2 Foreword by Head of Department 3 Interview with Professor Richard Batley 5 A Study Visit to Brussels 7 A Wealth of Job Opportunities for our Graduates 8 National Conference on Local Governance 10 Lessons for Research and Policy 11 Public Policy Programmes 12 A Student-Centred Department Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy University of Malta

2 Foreword Dear colleagues and friends, Another academic year has drawn to a close. Already, most of us are engaging with the commitments that summer brings job-hunting and jobs for students; conferences and research papers for academic staff; and, hopefully for all of us, some time for rest and regeneration. This has been a good year for the Department of Public Policy. One landmark that stands out is the study visit to Brussels organised very ably by the Editor of this newsletter, Robert Micallef, for the Honours students. We intend to make this an annual event, a distinguishing characteristic of our Honours programme in Public Policy. Work on renewing the programme of studies of the Public Policy Major and the Honours year has been accelerated. No less than five new study units have been developed. The Diploma in Political Studies, which continues to attract highly motivated students, will become a three-year Higher Diploma. The incoming MA class has settled at fifteen students. Much effort has gone into revitalising the curriculum and utilising VLE as a powerful learning resource. My goal is that, at the start of the new academic year, every study unit will have an active, well-planned VLE site. This will help us students and lecturers to keep in closer contact, to interact outside the lecture rooms, and to plan our learning experiences more rigorously. The Department and its members continue to be actively engaged in public affairs. In April, the Department organised the second public lecture in memory of Anton Tabone, founder of the Gozo Civic Council fifty years ago, taking the recent reform of local government as its theme. Next year, a distinguished overseas speaker will deliver the first lecture to honour the memory of Malta s first President, Sir Anthony Mamo. One of the distinguishing features of our students is their active role in civil society associations. The members of this year s Honours class, Alan Buhagiar, Joseph Caruana, Lara Maniscalco and Francesca Rossi, were exceptionally active in non-governmental organisations or voluntary work, frequently in leadership roles throughout their time at the University. Their public-spiritedness, often at considerable personal cost, is commendable. Amid the welter of activity, I hope that each of us finds time for contemplation for searching reflection about the events around us, for reappraisal of personal commitments and experiences, for recreation that is not simply entertainment. This is a vital characteristic of academic life, though it is often overlooked in our world which is obsessed with deadlines and productivity. In truth, unless each of us, students as well as scholars, sets aside time and makes an effort to engage in deep reflection, we are likely to find our endeavours growing sterile. I encourage all of you to commit yourselves to this queen of scholarly pursuits during the long vacation. With every good wish for a successful close to the academic year, Edward Warrington Head of Department

3 NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC POLICY Interview with Richard Batley Emeritus Professor, School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham Richard Batley is Emeritus Professor of Development Administration at the International Development Department, School of Government and Society, University of Birmingham. His research interests are in government, regulation, urban policy, service delivery, non-state service provision, public-private partnership, and aid management. He has experience in Britain, Latin America, Africa and South Asia. He is currently completing a research project on relations between government and non-state service providers in three South Asian countries and is lead adviser for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the development of a handbook on contracting out government funding and services in fragile states. In this interview, he talks to Robert Micallef about his experience, his views on education and public sector reforms and his work at the University of Malta. Q - What is your connection with the University of Malta? A - I am currently external examiner for the University s Department of Public Policy. My role is to review and confirm that the Department s undergraduate and MA programmes meet a high international standard which they do! Before being appointed to this role last year, I already had a link with the department which dates back to 001. For several years we brought the international students on the University of Birmingham s Masters in Governance and Public Management to look at public sector reform in Malta. We were supported by Edward Warrington and Godfrey Pirotta. Q - Can you tell us something about your department at the University of Birmingham? A - I am a Professor at the University s International Department of the School of Government and Society. Until 009, we were a school of Public Policy covering international development, British central and local government, urban and regional studies and health services management. In 009, the University decided to put us into a new School with Political Science and Sociology. Q - What lay behind this change? A - The idea was to create a broader based academic institution. In my view, we were better in a specialist School of Public Policy that combines research and postgraduate studies with their practical application. Q - I understand that the University sector in the UK is now subject to radical reform. A - Yes, partly in response to the financial crisis, the government is removing all subsidies to the university sector and replacing it with fees. Students will take private loans and repay them over 30 years. At the same time, British universities are under continuing pressure to raise their academic performance, although they already rank well internationally. 3

4 reform has been ill-informed. We are always pulling up the roots to see if they are growing! I would prefer a more incremental approach, building on experience of what works. Q What are the key current reforms in the UK? A Nobody expected that a Liberal-Conservative coalition government would emerge from the election in 010. And nobody expected it to be so radical. At the same time as massive cuts in public expenditure on welfare, public services, the civil service and defence, there are also fundamental reforms in the structure of health, education and social services. The declared aim is to make them more accountable, responsive and efficient. They are facing mounting resistance. Q Are you involved in studying these new approaches? A Yes, but indirectly. My own work is mainly at an international level, particularly in developing and emerging countries. Surprisingly, one of the few areas in which British government expenditure is continuing to expand is in aid for development. My own research, teaching and consultancy have focused on approaches to public service delivery that involve governments in collaboration with non-state actors. Q How can we find out more about your work and department? Q Do you see the current UK government, a coalition of liberals and conservatives, as a reforming one? A The UK is often seen as a conservative nation, but I would say that we have been in continuous throes of change since Every British government feels it has to come in with a radical new agenda. Since most of our political leaders have had no experience of government, a lot of the A - You will find more about my own research at our departmental website: oviders.shtml. For an excellent general resource of information that should be of interest to staff, students and policymakers, I would suggest you consult our Governance and Social Development Resource Centre ( It is a free service paid for by the British and Australian governments.

5 A study visit to Brussels The Honours Public Policy students describe their experience in Belgium during a study visit to Brussels held between 13th and 17th February. by Joseph Caruana, Lara Maniscalco, Alan Joseph Buhagiar and Francesca Rossi As a handful of students who have just finalised their Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) in Public Policy, we tried our best to experience the full extent of life at the University of Malta. Over the course of the past years we have developed a strong friendship which is reinforced by the sense of belonging at the Department of Public Policy. In our final year of studies this experience culminated in a day trip to Brussels: the heart of European policy making. The idea for this trip had been brewing in our minds ever since Prof. Godfrey Pirotta brought the subject up during our nd year class. Following this conversation we proposed, on several occasions, to organise a trip to Brussels together with the department. Yet it came as a surprise when, on the first lecture of our final year of studies, Dr. Warrington raised the possibility of organising this trip together with Mr. Robert Micallef: an offer which we accepted instantly. The organisation of the study visit was very constructive and students were given free hand to contribute in the full cycle of the process. Under the lead of Dr. Warrington, the study programme was coordinated by Robert Micallef, who secured visits in the main institutions of the European Commission (DG SANCO, DG AGRI & ELARG), European Parliament, European Council and the European Economic and Social Committee, including informal meetings with public officials. Further meetings were also organised with the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU, Malta Business Bureau, Business Europe, European Youth Forum and the European Liberal Democrats Party. All these meetings were all held over 3 days all of which were mainly characterised by a public transport From left to right: Alan, Francesca, Lara and Joseph at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, the headquarters of the Council of the European Union. strike, which started on our arrival and ended on departure! On a positive: we did more sightseeing around Brussels than expected and our appetite was never missing. The highlights of this study visit differ amongst our class, therefore a short testimonial is given by each one of us on the meetings which best rekindle our experience. Malta House Opposite the landmark European Commision building of the Berlaymont, in a soaring and striking building, around forty members of staff work to sustain the strong relationship between the European Union and the Maltese government. Anis Cassar and Chef de Cabinet Jean Pierre Schembri explained to us the role of the Permanent Representation in Malta House. The main aim of these representatives is to put pressure on those issues which are currently of paramount importance to the Maltese government: such as immigration, funds and fisheries. Later we met with the Permanent Representative Ambassador Richard Cachia Caruana who in spite of his commitments was very open and flexible to meet us. The motivating meeting revolved around important matters such as: his role, important political affairs, communication skills and also the response he obtains from both Maltese and European institutions. Alan Joseph Buhagiar Malta Business Bureau & BUSINESSEUROPE In addition to the role of Malta's permanent representation in Brussels we were presented with the workings of the Malta Business Bureau (MBB). In fact, the first meeting in our programme was held with Mr. Omar Cutajar, Brussels representative of the MBB and permanent delegate to BUSINESSEUROPE. This

6 meeting was followed by another at the offices of BUSINESSEUROPE with communication advisor Mr. Andrew Jackson, who explained to us the representative role of the organisation and the way in which advocacy is conducted. These meetings strongly complemented the lectures on Supranational Governance which we attended as part of our course. Office of the Cabinet of Commissioner John Dalli From the Office of cabinet of the Commissioner John Dalli we were greeted by Mr. Edward Demicoli, who is responsible for institutional relations and communication. This insightful session raised a lot of questions on the impartiality of the commission to national and sectoral interests and on the relationship among different European institutions. This meeting was followed by a press briefing which gave members of the media opportunity to question top officials on various EU matters. Joseph Caruana European Economic and Social Committee One of the highlights of our visit was attending a plenary session at the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) which convenes at the European Parliament Building. The EESC is a consultative body made up of trade unions, employers and other representatives of other interests adding up to around 30 members. Anna Maria Darmanin (a Maltese citizen) is the newly elected Vice-President of the committee, responsible for communication. It was very interesting to see at first hand the members representing different interests express their views. Unfortunately, due to security delays and our tight programme, we did not have the opportunity to meet Anna Maria in person in Brussels, however with the help of Robert Micallef a meeting was set in Malta to discuss our views on the session we attended. Lara Maniscalco European Youth Forum A visit which we really enjoyed was the visit at the European Youth Forum. Just a few meters away from the Berlaymont, there was this small apartment turned into very cosy and welcoming offices: the offices of the European Youth Forum. The meeting held with the Secretary General of the organization, Mr Giuseppe Porcaro was very interesting and he was very much aware of the situation in Malta too. The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is a youth-led platform, representing 98 NationalYouth Councils and InternationalYouth Organisations from across Europe. The YFJ works to empower young people to participate actively in society to improve their own lives, by representing and advocating their needs and interests and those of their organisations towards international institutions. It was very interesting to go round the offices meeting other members of this Forum while getting to know the role of this Forum within the European Sphere. But the most interesting discovery was the table soccer table in the middle of the office. We could not leave without having a game and Giuseppe Porcaro told us that the table was a present from past Executive Members to the organisation. Francesca Rossi This study trip has managed to provide our class with an applied understanding on the workings of European policy making.this gave closure to a number of study units attended over the course of the Bachelor degree in Public Policy. We hope that our positive experience leads the department to set greater importance on such opportunities for students in the future. Since this allows students to apply theories learnt in lectures and to gain fuller knowledge from the lectures attended. We wish to thank Dr. Warrington, Prof. Pirotta, our respective tutors and all academic and administrative staff for the making us feel part of the Department of Public Policy all throughout our University course. Your advice and guidance on academic matters has been invaluable to us all. 4th Year Public Policy Class

7 NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC POLICY A Wealth of Job Opportunities for our Graduates By Mario Thomas Vassallo Graduates who join one of our programmes can expect their efforts and results to be well rewarded. Our students acquire leadership and management potential thanks to their high intellectual capacity, international perspective, creative approach, imaginative ideas and confidence. All our graduates talk of a competitive advantage over the rest due to their a broad palette of business skills rather than becoming a narrowly-focused technical experts. Former graduates of the Department today hold leadershippositionswithineverysectorandinparliament, foreign affairs, the higher offices of the Public Service, Local Councils, EU institutions, SmartCity Board of Directors, the media and national and multi-national companies. Because of our knowledge-based programme graduates of the department are seen by private/public/ngo sector employersasafullyroundedproduct thatcanbeentrustedwithpositions of leadership. All of our former studentsareinresponsiblepositions and although you may not hear about it nearlyallofthereformscarriedoutinmalta over the last twenty years had been entrusted to our graduates. The following is a list of job vacancies entailing a qualification in public policy that have appeared on various issues of The Sunday Times. Such a versatile list of careers and employers is in itself a proof that our slogan we make leaders out of ordinary people is a successful reality for all of our graduate community. Job Vacancies Training Coordinators Project Executives HR Coordinator Industrial Relations Programme Manager (Risk Management) Chief Officer Strategy & Programme Management Bank Consultants Project Coordinators Consultant ICT Industry Manager Rural Development Programme Senior Officer DG European Anti-Fraud Office Project Writer EU Grants Applications Deputy Director DG Regional Policy Senior Manager Manager Local Development Strategy Graduate Officers EU Funds Officers Employers/Recruiting Agencies National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE) Konnekt Talent Search & Selection Cabinet Office - OPM MISCO APS Bank Malta Council for Economic & Social Development (MCESD) Malta Government Technology Investments Limited (MGTIL) Gozo Action Group (LAG) European Commission D-Consulta European Commission Transport Malta Majjistral Action Group (LAG) Maltese Civil Service Office of the Prime Minister

8 National Conference on Local The Department of Public Policy joined forces with the Local Councils Association (Malta) to organise a national seminar on the devolution of power, sixteen years after the introduction of local councils in Malta and Gozo, and on the first anniversary of major reforms intended to improve the management and accountability of local government. The activity was held on Saturday morning, 9th April 011 at the Birkirkara Local Council. The event focused on the following central question 8

9 NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC POLICY Governance Is the devolution of power a reality or a myth?. The seminar is linked to the Memorial Lecture in respect of Dr Anton Tabone, founder of the Gozo Civic Council. Though the event was open to the general public, it was particularly targeted to the country's mayors and councillors as well as to students and researchers who have a keen interest in matters of local governance and European affairs. The official programme included the presentation of research papers and a discussion with a panel of domestic experts. Politicians, mayors, academics and policy practitioners had the opportunity to discuss the theme from an array of different perspectives. The line-up of speakers included Parliamentary Secretary for Local Councils Dr Chris Said, Labour Member of Parliament Dr Stefan Buontempo, Dr Edward Warrington, Mr Michael Cohen, President of the Local Councils Association. The seminar included the participation of the Association of Local Councils Executive Secretaries. The event was co-ordinated by Mr Mario Thomas Vassallo, a member of staff at the Department of Public Policy. 9

10 Lessons for Research and Policy - a UK experience by Maria Brown During the recent workshop Longitudinal studies: lessons for research and policy held in May 011 at the British Library (London) I had exposure to cutting-edge methodological outlooks concurrently employed in policy and census research in the UK. Speaker John Hobcraft from the University of York described well-being as one of the priority areas in contemporary British policy-research. Researching well-being implies researching perceptions of people, amongst other aspects. Indeed, this was followed on by Nick Buck from the UK Longitudinal Studies Centre of the University of Essex; also the principal investigator of Understanding Society the UK Household Longitudinal Survey. Buck exposed the benefits of consulting innovation panels composed of contributors who feed-in fresh blood during the research process, particularly in the case of longitudinal and census research since these entail an element of repetitiveness. In this way, one can minimise the risks of reinventing the wheel. Albeit both speakers criticised a top-down research approach, I was surprised by the absence of direct reference to a dialogical approach, as well as by the absence of evidence of community input in the research process. Another interesting proceeding gained from the workshop experience was exposure to the use of boost samples in policy research to ensure a representative presence of minorities amongst research participants. From a critical stance, my reserves lie in the obvious risk of making the sample less representative of the whole population. However, in my opinion, the benefit of employing boost samples lies in the opportunity to inspire or recommend a no-one-size-fits-all research-based policy strategy. To explain better, if the benefits of using a representative sample lie in the possibility of making research-based generalisations, conversely, the intended bias of a boost sample might yield to research findings that shed light on traditionally voiceless social groups. In the past decades this approach was advocated by Freire and critical education researchers, amongst other schools, but less so employed in census research. Thus, whereas traditionally a representative sample inferred a cross-section of the population obtained through scientifically sophisticated sampling techniques, today this may be replaced by or (paradoxically) combined with an element of unrepresentativeness. Further information about this event is available at 0 Maria Brown is a Sociologist and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Malta within the departments of Public Policy, Social Policy and Social Work (FEMA); Education Studies (Faculty of Education) and the European Documentation and Research Centre. maria.brown@um.edu.mt 10

11 NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC POLICY Students and members of staff during a visit to Comino, Summer 2011 Programmes The Department of Public Policy seeks to prepare students and practitioners for significant professional and managerial positions. The curriculum of our academic programmes is designed to equip students with the competencies of contemporary public and private management, provide broad understanding of the role of administration in policy formulation, implementation and evaluation processes, and provide a sound foundation in ethics. The Department offers the following programmes: Diploma courses Diploma in Political Studies...details mes/diplomacourses Undergraduate courses Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Public Policy and any other major area offered by FEMA Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Public Policy...details mes/undergraduatecourses Postgraduate courses Masters of Arts in Public Policy Doctorate of Philosophy...details mes/postgraduatecourses 11

12 A Student-Centred Department The Department of Public Policy forms part of the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy (FEMA) at the University of Malta. Since its inception in 198, the Department has been totally committed to the highest quality research, learning and service in the areas of policy formulation, survey research, organisational change, and institutional design. Equipped with a versatile array of professional academic expertise, the Department of Public Policy provides students with the factual, analytical, practical, and theoretical skills necessary for contemporary policy design, implementation, and evaluation. Furthermore the Department promotes direct linkages both with other national and European academic agencies and also with the business world through fieldwork, study visits, applied research assignments and dissertations. The Department cares for its students and provides them with support during the course and in advancing their careers. Students also find a strong element of accountability and staff is always willing to provide guidance and pastoral service. Our coursework marking scheme is open and transparent, so that students have a means of knowing how their marks are arrived at. Our Vision: To make leaders out of ordinary people. Our Mission: Our Goals: To empower students and policy practitioners to take leadership positions by acquiring cutting-edge competencies in the fields of political, economic and social development through quality education, knowledge creation and research design. To provide students, administrators, managers and others who participate in public affairs with challenging leadership development opportunities in private/public management and policy making. To equip under-graduate and post-graduate students of all ages with competencies that will improve the quality of policy formulation and decision-making in governmental, non-governmental and business organisations, locally and abroad. To draw academia, business and government into mutually beneficial relationships that contribute to good governance, national competitiveness and social stability. To train scholars and researchers who can contribute to the development of the policy science. Newsletter Editor: Robert Micallef, Resident Academic at the Department of Public Policy Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy, University of Malta robert.micallef@um.edu.mt