The Hertie School (Berlin), Luiss (Rome) and King’s College (London), aim to educate a new generation of policy-makers and public managers by offering a European public policy and management programme called European Capitals. This programme is intended for executives and high potentials who aspire to become effective, outward-oriented and visionary leaders. It is designed to help them learn from other countries’ policy and management experience and to address the main challenges they are facing.
Despite their long-standing participation in the EU and the fact that all are parliamentary democracies, Germany, Italy, France and other European countries display strong differences as far as the functioning of government is concerned. Coordination at the European level is limited to a thin layer of internationalised civil servants whereas the bulk of government bodies remain immersed in their national legal, institutional and intellectual contexts.
This is more of a concern today, as policy preparation and coordination within the EU has become more intergovernmental. National governments can no longer limit themselves to being knowledgeable on the way “Brussels” and the EU institutions work. They cannot rely solely on initiatives from the EU. Especially in case of the Brexit, the situation is very complex and a profound understanding of specifically “British” ways in public policy and administration is becoming more and more crucial.
Current and future leaders need first-hand experience of how other countries work and modernise. Government executives need to be prepared for dealing with their counterparts in Berlin, Rome, London, Paris and other European states.
The programme contributes to building a pan-European network of future leaders by:
- Sharing the best public management practices and providing evidence-based policy reforms from the participating countries
- Focusing on current policy issues and the emerging challenges all public and private organisations face
- Building on participants' skills to turn the programme into a cross-country management and policy lab
Program design
The three country modules to be held in Berlin, London and Rome will offer practical insights and a state-of-the-art curriculum , including:
- Expertise: high quality seminars by academics employing various interactive learning formats,
- Dialogue: meetings with leading experts from government, business, and civil society,
- Insights: visits to relevant institutions to gain first-hand insights into their inner workings,
- Public Events: invitation to take part in public discourses and engage with distinguished speakers,
- Peer-learning: participants are co-producers of knowledge, co-designers of the process, and co-creators of the outcome.
Given the high degree of interaction among the group, each module will also provide room for discussion, group work and reflections. All modules will include seminars by academic experts, dialogue sessions with leading practitioners, visits to relevant institutions, networking and group building activities.