Brussels, 27/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission organised its first "Training Day" with a series of conferences, presentations and workshops to raise awareness of possibilities for training to be offered to its staff. As two days of training per staff member were planned in 2000, the Commission set itself the target of ten days of training by 2005. In 2002, seven days were achieved. The budget for general, linguistic and computer training has risen from 11.7 million EUR in 2000 to 17.5 million in 2003. For 2004, the budget will be 22.5 million.
As part of its internal reform, the Commission has taken he following measures:
needs analysis and identification of appropriate means of training is an obligatory part of staff officials' annual career development report. This means that staff members can agree with their immediate superior on the training they need during the year.
a full training programme has been established for newcomers into the institution; it includes a series of modules (induction, languages, computer skills, ethics and integrity, financial and political management of staff);
with over 100 general training courses, nearly 200 computer courses and linguistic training in 26 languages (Community languages, acceding and candidate country languages plus Arabic, Japanese and Russian), all training needs can be covered throughout officials' careers;
in-depth management training will be required for staff appointed to middle-management positions (head of unit), and those applying for a senior-management posts (director);
a Competency and Conduct Framework has identified six essential competencies (including service culture and getting results) for all Commission staff.