Opinion of Lleida's mayor, Àngel Ros

Having a degree in Physical Science from the University of Barcelona, being a Doctor in Computer Science from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and an MBA from "Instituto de Empresa de Madrid", Àngel Ros is currently the major of our city Lleida.

As every first thursay of every month at 6 o'clock, Àngel Ros, the mayor of our city Lleida, sets up a chat in which the citizens can ask him any doubt or transmit their worries.

Last thursday 4th April, we sized this opportunity to strike up a conversation and see what he actually thinks about mainly two themes.

Our talk was the following:

Euroenigma: “Good morning, we have heard that our city has joined forces with Foix (France), Ferrara (Italy) and Lérida (Colombia). What are the benefits that these joining produce? How is the youth able to derive full benefit from them?”

Àngel Ros: “You are right. We contribute in development cooperation projects with Lérida (Colombia) and we are still doing cultural and festive collaborations with Foix and Ferrara. If you have projects left to be developed, do not forget to count on the Youth Councilor Oriol Yuguero. Moreover, we have done a collaboration project among older volunteers from Ferrara and Lleida, and it would be nice if we could do something similar with the youth.

Euroenigma: “Thank you very much. Do you think that there is the possibility of standardising the European education in order to guarantee better results and a greater training for the European youth?”

Àngel Ros: “I’m not sure. I would bet on programs like Erasmus grants, as its generalization and widening. Above all, I think that our country should wager for the languages. It is truly one of our weakest spots, and when you move in the commercial world, you become aware of that affair. 

In addition, Cristina Torrent, a Lleida's councilor, has recently been involved in our blog divulgation. We want to thank her very much!

We want to invite you to visit our city's website. 

http://www.paeria.es/cat/

PROPOSALS

A COMMON EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Problem:

As the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results reflect, there are huge educational differences between the State Members of the European Union. While some countries have really good results others are under the average. One of the most unevenness subjects is English.

Hypothesis:

Introduce a common educational system which promotes the EU values to give the European students the same opportunities to develop their minds. What we cannot allow is the rise of a European society with lack of knowledge. 

Measures:

-  Promote the interest for the studies among the students by the use of grants and         educational programmes.

-      Unify the educational system between the State Members to eradicate their differences.

-     Teach the same subjects and invest the same hours for each subject in each country.

-     Reduce university fees to let more students study in the European university that they want to.

-     Take a compulsory and common exam for all the students who want to enter at the university.

-     Require the same level for all the teachers and strengthen the figure of this job because they are the ones who prepare the future generations.

Conclusions:

As Spanish and European students we are worried about the current situation we are living. This provokes a feeling of insecurity about how our future is going to be like. Looking at the graphic above, we can see that there are important educational differences between countries. For this reason, we think that our proposal should be studied by the MEPs.

Education in Europe

THE EUROPEAN EDUCATION GRANTS

Nowadays, people need to be really prepared; therefore the students are always looking for any chance to study abroad, so they have more possibilities to find a job which they like.  That’s why grants are very important in a student life, but, what exactly are them?
The European Commission awards money in the form of grants in order to implement projects or activities in relation to European Union policies.  These grants are a form of complementary financing, so The EU does not finance projects up to 100%;
The grant beneficiaries are mainly private or public organizations, and exceptionally individuals. Some of the applicant requirements that the applicant should have are a Curriculum citae (CV), letters of recommendation from current head of department and proposed host or mentor, for example; without forgetting that applicants should not be enrolled in other fellowship programmes.
All applications are examined and evaluated on the basis of criteria that have clearly been announced in the calls for proposals, while ensuring equal treatment; candidates are individually informed of the final decision concerning their proposal.
As grants are made with public money, the European Commission applies the principle of transparency.

However, we can’t talk about grants without mentioning one of the most important and known kind of education grant:  the Erasmus programme (European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) is established by the European Commission and some money is given to  university students and sometimes teachers from the EU so they can study in the different countries from the EU and the three other countries which are included in the European Economic Area: Island, Liechtenstein and Norway. There are also deals with Turkey and Switzerland.
The grant, which helps students with their work life, means freedom. Living in a foreign city always implies learning its language and meeting new people who in the future can possibly help you.