Tuesday, April 08, 2014

The annual meeting of directors of the Schools of Political Studies was held this year in Venice on 3-4 April. The meeting was held in the office of the Council of Europe at the famous Italian city, which is also the venue of the Venice Commission, another important structure of the Council of Europe.
The purpose of this meeting was to discuss and coordinate school’s directors about the implementation of the program in their respective countries, but also simultaneously empower the role of school’s participants in the World Democracy Forum, which will take place from 3-5 November 2014 in Strasbourg.
The focus of this event was also finding ways to further engagement of alumni, a network numbering thousands of participants in 19 countries where schools operate. Various discussions and ideas on this commitment will continue in coming months between the Directors and the Council of Europe, in order to ensure a proper ground for increasing the role of alumni.
The gender mainstreaming with a focus on increasing the participation of women in politics was treated in the form of a workshop, where directors analysed the situation in their countries and discussed the possibility of further involvement of this issue on schools programs.