Endorsements

These are some excerpts of what some people have written about the proposal for a Jean Monnet module on Population and Human Capital Policy in the European Union at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi:

Anonymous external reviewer, European Union's Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency:

The proposed module is very relevant and of high significance for the host institution and the country. It is designed to create public awareness about the demographic challenges in the EU and Romania. It intends to discuss human capital and population policies of the EU with regard to their impact on Romania. The module is timely and covers issues like migration, education, fertility, brain drain and social policies. The module would foster new teaching, and the added value is that it targets an underdeveloped region. The module would be the first Jean Monnet teaching activity in the department of political science and international relations. The proposal clearly and fully describes its relevance to objectives and priorities of the Action.

Simon Hix FBA, Professor of European and Comparative Politics, and Head of the Department of Government of the London School of Economics and Political Science:

The course addresses a highly salient topic for European politicians and policy-makers: the changing demographic structure of Europe and the management of the intergenerational and interregional (migration) conflicts that are emerging as a result of these demographic changes. The proposed course would connect intellectual analysis of these issues to general theoretical and empirical work on EU politics and policy-making in a highly creative way. This promises to be a very stimulating course, which could be a model for similar courses at other universities.

Cristian Ghinea, Director of the Romanian Centre for European Policy (CRPE)

We have published and organized debates on issues related to social and educational policies, intimately related to the contents of this module. CRPE finds that this initiative would be very beneficia! for the EU studies sector in Romania, as it would generate greater visibility to this important field at nationallevel. Given the geographical and cultural proximity of the University of lasi to Republic of Moldova, where CRPE has opened a branch in 2012, this initiative is likely to have an impact in the neighboring country as well.

Fabio Franchino, Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social and Political Sciences of Universita degli Studi di Milano:

This is a very interesting module which investigates, in an encompassing way, the interlocking dynamics between free movement of persons and migration policies, on the one side, with population policy and human capital accumulation, on the other. The module is highly interdisciplinary in nature, relying on economics, demographics, political science and policy analysis, with a particular emphasis on the overlapping nature of several policies that are frequently treated independently but they all clearly affect population dynamics. This is really an innovative feature. I am not aware of modules that bring together these different dynamics and make them relevant from a European-wide perspective. The module also highlights the demographic challenges facing Europe and the extent to which they are successfully addressed by national policies. It explores the pressures for and the constraints to the development of a more integrated population and human capital policy in the European Union.

Stephan Stetter, Chair in International Politics and Conflict Studies in the Department of Political Science of Universität der Bundeswehr München:

In this course, which is based on a coherent mix of descriptive, theoretical and normative approaches to the study of demographics and human capital policies in the EU, Prof. Varela addresses a crucial policy area in Europe. The module strikes new ground by introducing students to the concept of an emerging EU policy on population and human capital, thus reaching out to terrain so far rather uncharted in EU integration studies, both from a research and a teaching angle.