CONSIDERATIONS IN THE PROCESS OF COURSE DESIGN

 

 

 

From the beginning of the nineties, Partium Christian University (Oradea, Romania) had a continuous relationship of cooperation with the Department of Sociology of Debrecen University (Hungary). Our joint research projects focused mainly on the characteristics of economic and social life in the two sides of the shared border region between Hungary ad Romania, the emerging new social trends and institutions, as well as on opportunities for regional development and cross-border cooperation. During these years we developed together a coordinated vision, a unitary theoretical and methodological perspective concerning the interpretation of social transformations taking place in the region.

 

The advancing process of European integration produced however major changes in the situation of the two countries, which reached a critical point at the beginning of the new millennium, when most of the previously agreed concepts and approaches seemed to fell apart.  The fact that Hungary joined the EU in 2004, while Romania as a short term accession country will likely join in 2007 or even later, proved to be particularly important in this regard. It became clear that the diverging contexts of the two countries would require distinct research approaches and political strategies.  In the same time, however, the necessity to think about cross-border regional development in mutually agreed terms remained, of course, as imperative as before.

 

Recognizing this need, the two Sociology departments located at the two sides of the border, but nevertheless geographically and spiritually so close to each other, decided to hold discussions in order to see what kind of educational response would be most adequate for the challenges posed by the different pace of  EU enlargement in the two countries. Both our day to day teaching experience and the outcome of our joined or mutually supervised research projects focusing on various aspects of cross-border cooperation (funded, among other international donors by Open Society Institute and the Carpathian Foundation) indicated an increasing distance and differentiation in the way of thinking and the emerging of distinct approaches to the integration process in the case of various population segments living in the two countries, including members of the emerging youth professional elite. We found that this differentiation originates mainly in the differences of perceptions caused by differences of economic development, political culture and the mentality of people, which are only amplified by the different EU integration calendar of the two states.

 

Thus the major question posed for us as university educators was how to integrate this diversity of thinking and perceptions into a new, superior unity of shared theoretical and methodological vision.  We needed to find the optimal framework in order to be able to discuss with our students concerning their views, both in term of similarity and difference. We aimed our students to better understand the roots of their diverse or contradictory perceptions, become aware of the social significance both of their own and of each other’s approaches, so as to be able to overcome the obstacles and identify viable solutions of acting together effectively and efficiently.

 

Another important conclusion drawn from our shared research projects and discussions pointed to the fact that a coherent and unitary concept of regional development would require the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of relevant economic, social, political and cultural phenomena.  During recent years new social problems emerged, which, in a globalizing world, need to be analyzed in their mutual influence, rather than separately, if we are to achieve any significant success in dealing with them.  

 

Taking into account the above considerations, we agreed that our most urgent common task would be to propose to our students a shared understanding of the concept of regionalism and an adequate theoretical and methodological framework of teaching and research in the field of regional studies. The major course topics which resulted from our discussions were carefully selected so as to reflect as much as possible the structure of contemporary scholarship, as well as of the intellectual and political debates concerning the roles and functions of regions, regionalism and regional policies in the emerging united Europe.

 

In the same time, our aim also was to design a course which can adequately reflect the complexity of global/local dynamics, which is especially demanding in case of East European countries, currently facing the process of integration into the European Union. In particular, taking into account the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural character of our region, we regarded important to introduce topics related to the institutional and political frameworks in which the respect of (ethnic, national, religious, local, regional) identities represents the source of integration and co-operation rather than the ideological motive for divisions.

 

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