Compétences en culture informationnelle à l'Université de Fribourg: planification de sessions de formation pour les étudiants en langues et littératures slaves

La formation en culture informationnelle permet aux étudiants, dans l’environnement d’abondance informationnelle actuelle, d’identifier des besoins en information, de localiser l’information, de l’évaluer et de l’utiliser de manière critique et éthique. Ces compétences sont le mieux acquises lors d’une formation complète. Le présent travail final se propose d’explorer les étapes importantes de la planification de sessions de formation en compétences documentaires pour les étudiants de Bachelor en Slavistique de l’Université de Fribourg. Pour cela, les besoins de notre public-cible sont analysés, les objectifs généraux et particuliers de la formation - à partir du référentiel des compétences en culture informationnelle - sont identifiés, les aspects organisationnels des sessions de formation (formes, rythmes, structure et méthode d’enseignement) sont étudiés et les types d’évaluation sont définis. Une proposition de quatre unités de formation est présentée à la fin du travail

Fiscal federalism in Switzerland : relevant issues for transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe

Its highly fragmented structure of local governments and serious horizontal fiscal imbalances make Switzerland a surprisingly powerful model for Eastern European countries that are currently facing the challenge of fiscal decentralization. In spite of the substantial differences in the tradition and current practice of intergovernmental fiscal relations, transition economies may learn valuable lessons from the Swiss case in the fields of direct democracy, horizontal cooperation, expenditure and revenue assignment, and fiscal discipline. Among other conclusions, the authors suggest that subnational authorities can effectively fend off recentralization attempts of the central government if they engage in spontaneous cooperation to enhance the efficiency of public service provision. Together with an adequate fiscal equalization scheme, interjurisdictional cooperation also permits the reconciliation of the objective of an increasing devolution of powers with the existing regional disparities. The authors also show that the principle of subsidiarity can best be safeguarded by anchoring the expenditure and revenue powers of subnational governments in the constitution or in a similarly strong law. With regard to fiscal discipline, the combination of a"golden rule"with direct democratic instruments of budget control is proven to be successful in enhancing the accountability of local politicians toward their constituencies.

The Impact of Legislature and Citizens on the Budgeting Process in Switzerland: Lessons for Central and Eastern Europe

Scholars evaluating national and local budget procedures in Central and Eastern Europe generally advocate a greater role for legislative bodies and citizens. Mature federations and decentralised countries in Western Europe are often cited as prime examples of participatory budgeting which is supposed to lead to greater fiscal discipline, a better allocation of public resources and higher administrative efficiency. This paper investigates the strengths and weaknesses of legislative activism in Switzerland, with special regard to its ability to answer the double challenge resulting from a push for new expenditures and lower taxes, on one side, and an attempt to maintain deficit levels close to zero, on the other. While the strong consensus orientation, the careful regulation of revenue and expenditure assignment, as well as the systematic use of voters' right to direct participation are perceived as key to the success of the Swiss democracy, this study also highlights how these features can limit the effective influence of the parliament on budgeting and planning. Central and East European countries may learn several lessons from the Swiss case, all of which are rather thought to add an input to long-term reforms rather than provide immediate solutions. The analysis points out some serious limitations of the hierarchical budgeting model as well as the consequences of a haphazard and opaque expenditure and revenue assignment. It reminds, however, that the dynamic process of post-socialist transition requires governments and parliaments to preserve a great deal of flexibility in the budget procedure. At the same time, new methods of public management and a greater transparency of public budgets are examples of tools that may be introduced on the medium term without the risk of slowing down the transition process.parliament; legislative; budgetary procedure; direct democracy; intergovernmental fiscal relations; public administration; transition economies; Switzerland

Financing of Education: Some Experiences from ten European Countries.

Education is one of the most important services provided by public governments in almost every country worldwide. However, the most important cross-country observations about education ? like the PISA report by the OECD or the TIMSS by the IEA ? focus only on international benchmarks to compare the knowledge capacity of pupils. This paper provides a general overview of the different forms to finance education in the framework of intergovernmental transfers as well as educational providers in ten European countries. We observe the educational system in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and point out the similarities and national distinctions in the respective transfer system regarding education financing or the allocation mechanism for primary and secondary schools as well as universities.Intergovernmental transfers, Educational Finance, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom