Reply to Recommendation 1264 (1995) on the social sciences and the challenge of transition

23 October 1995

Doc. 7419

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Reply to Recommendation 1264 (1995) on the social sciences and the challenge of transition

(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 12 October 1995 at the 545th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

The Committee of Ministers has examined with interest Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1264 (1995) on the social sciences and the challenge of transition. It is aware of the importance of the social sciences in the context of the transition being undergone by the states of central and eastern Europe and shares the Assembly's concern that the possibilities of carrying out the work required to respond to the needs of a democratic society are limited by the present state of research and education in these countries.

The Committee of Ministers has forwarded Recommendation 1264 to the governments of member states. It also wishes to inform the Assembly of the work being carried out in the Council of Europe of relevance to the questions mentioned in paragraph 7 of the Recommendation.

Firstly, the assistance and co-operation programmes being implemented for the benefit of member and non-member states in central and eastern Europe (of which there are currently 17), such as Demosthenes and Demosthenes-bis, Themis and Lode, as well as the programme on legislative reform in higher education, are intended to consolidate the infrastructure of societies in transition in terms of pluralist democracy, protection of human rights and promotion of the rule of law. The Council of Europe's action, where addressed to local democracy, the functioning of judicial institutions and the police or new approaches to imprisonment and where dealing with the reform of university structures, directly encourages the revival of a civil culture which restores to the individual freedom of thought and freedom to criticise to which the Assembly refers.

The Committee of Ministers wishes to draw attention in this connection to the close co-operation that has been established with the Moscow School of Political Studies which sets out to train young Russian leaders for a democratic society. The School's programme focuses on the following major areas: politics, law, economics and media; federalism, regional policy and local authorities.

Secondly, the Council of Europe's action in the field covered by Recommendation 1264 (1995) comes under the Committee for Higher Education and Research (CC-HER), to which the Recommendation has been forwarded for it to take into account in its work programmes. The CC-HER has received the Recommendation with interest and recalled that the Assembly was statutorily associated with its work. It has noted that many countries' research institutions look at topics of political interest, such as tolerance, democratic transition, research structures and management at university level (regarding both strategic options at university level or changes to the system of research funding), human resources (brain drain, training).

In the light of these considerations, the CC-HER has instructed a working party to draw up detailed proposals for its future activities (from 1997), in particular problems of research at university level. The working party, to which the Parliamentary Assembly's Rapporteur on these issues has been associated, will take Recommendation 1264 into account in drawing up these proposals.

In any event, the CC-HER remains committed to the continuation, after 1996, of the legislative reform programme, for which it intends to adopt new guidelines and to seek appropriate sources of funding. The relevant decisions will be taken in the course of 1996.

Lastly, as regards exchanges between member states' specialists in the social sciences, the Committee of Ministers draws the Assembly's attention on Recommendation No. R (95) 8 on university mobility. While pointing out that the Council of Europe has neither the means nor the vocation to set up a large-scale programme of university exchanges which would duplicate the TEMPUS programme, the Committee of Ministers will consider attentively the proposals that the CC-HER could make with a view to concrete support of the renewal in social sciences in new members by bringing in its experience and advice. As far as the brain drain is concerned, the Committee of Ministers deems it premature to draft a convention based on Recommendation No. R (95) 7.