International Bulletin on Youth Research

M.A. European Youth Studies

What is the project?
This is a curriculum development project bringing together first-rate teaching and research expertisefrom universities throughout Europe. It aims to create a unique Master’s degree in European YouthStudies which will be genuinely international and intercultural in conception, design and delivery andwhich will integrate theory, policy and practice in the youth field. To facilitate the developmentalstage, an application is being made to the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme(LLP), sub-programme Erasmus, for funding for a Multilateral Project to conduct a CurriculumDevelopment Project for a complete cycle of study (36 months).

Who is involved?The development project is a partnership which brings together the key individuals and institutionsin European youth research. Eleven regionally-based consortium universities are supported by 11further associated partners providing complementary expertise (see overleaf for details). The projectis actively supported by the Council of Europe’s Directorate of Youth and Sport and by theCoE/EU’s Partnership on Youth. All told the project represents an unrivalled and unprecedentedconvergence of experience and expertise in European youth studies.

What is the rationale?The project addresses several priority needs, identified at successive European Youth Ministers’Conferences, EU Presidency Conferences on youth issues, and related EU policies and actions(including the White Paper on Youth and follow-up developments; Lisbon Process ET2010 priorities;and the European Youth Pact). Specifically there is a need for a full Bologna 120 ECTS Mastersdegree, designed to: raise the quality of education and training in the European youth field; enhance thecapacity of all professionals concerned with youth to work in transnational and intercultural contexts;contribute to evidence-based understanding and dialogue between research, policy and practice in youthstudies and youth-related social professions in Europe, thereby ultimately strengthening the integrationand participation of young people in society. Such an ambitious programme will not just happen, it needs tobe carefully nurtured and developed: hence this project.

What will the project lead to?The partners are confident that over a period of years the development project will be seen to haveresulted in: an established, accredited and genuinely transnational and intercultural higher educationqualification in European youth studies; the convergence and consolidation of the discipline(s) anddiscourse of this emergent field; evidence of youth policies and practices being much more informedby, and in turn able to inform and influence, youth research; the direct production (throughintegrated international research programmes involving staff and students) of significant newknowledge and understanding of young people, and the generation of further youth research(ers) atPhD level; ultimately providing a solid basis for a systematic and comprehensive ‘European youthreport’.

The M.A. EYS will fill an education and qualification gap at national and European levels,and it promises to set new standards for higher education innovation in Europe. We welcomeand value your support in helping to make it a reality.

To find out more see the following website:
http://www.youth-partnership.net/youth-partnership/about/MA_presentation.html
or contact Yael Ohana, Project Assitant to the MA EYS Consortium at
yael@frankly-speaking.org

M.A. EYS Consortium
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Lynne Chisholm, Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck, Institute of Educational Sciences
(Austria), Consortium Chairperson
Ass.-Prof. Charles Berg and Prof. Dr. Helmut Willems, University of Luxembourg, Faculty of Humanities, Arts
and Educational Science (Luxembourg)
Dr. Eva Cendon and Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Ada Pellert, Danube University Krems, Department for
Continuing Education Research and Educational Management (Austria)
Prof. Dr. Vassiliki Deliyanni, Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki, School of Psychology (Greece)
Dr. Maurice Devlin and Dr. Gavan Titley, Departments of Applied Social Studies and Media Studies, National
University of Ireland, Maynooth (Ireland)
Prof. Dr. Carles Feixa, University of Lleida, Department of Social Anthropology and Geography
(Catalonia/Spain)
Prof. Dr. Helena Helve, Mikkeli University Consortium, University of Kuopio, Department of Social Work and
Social Pedagogy (Finland)
Ass.-Prof. Dr. Siyka Kovacheva, Paissii Hilendarski State University, Department of Social Sciences,
Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
Prof. Dr. Raffaele Rauty and Dr. Maurizio Merico, University of Salerno, Department of Social and Political
Science (Italy)
Prof. Dr. Nicole Vettenburg and Dr. Filip Coussee, Gent University, Department of Social Welfare Studies and
Flemish Youth Research Network (Belgium)
Prof. Dr. Howard J. Williamson, University of Glamorgan, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (Wales/UK)
Curriculum development consultant: Prof. Dr. David Jenkins, London Arts and Educaton
Satellite Group (associated partners)
Dr. Marilyn Clark, University of Malta, Department of Youth and Community Studies
Prof. Dr. Gestur Gudmundsson, University of Iceland, Department of Sociology of Education (Reykjavik,
Iceland)
Prof. Mgr. Ladislav Machácek, Ss. Cyril and Mehodius University Trnva, Centre for European and Regional Youth
Research (Slovak Republic)
Dr. Sorin Mihai Mitulescu, Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Political Sciences Faculty (Romania)
Mr. Andu Rämmer, M. A., University of Tartu, Department of Sociology (Estonia)
Ass. Prof. Dr. Marcin Sinczuch, University of Warsaw, Youth Research Centre (Poland)
Prof. dr. sc. Inga Tomic-Koludrovic, University of Zadar, Department of Sociology
Prof. Dr. Mirjana Ule, University of Ljubljana, Centre for Social Psychology (Slovenia)
Prof. Dr. Sabine Walper, Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Institute of Education (Germany)
Council of Europe/European Union Youth Partnership: Hans-Joachim Schild, Strasbourg

March 26th, 2008