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SLOVENIA |
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SLOVENIA |
IN-SERVICE TRAINING AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT
Post entry, pre-service training for employees of the Slovene public administration is carried out by the School of Public Administration and the Academy of Public Administration. The Academy is part of the Ministry of the Interior and plays an increasingly important role in this kind of training. Introductory courses are available for newly recruited staff. Currently the School runs approximately sixty percent of pre-service training seminars and the Academy about forty percent.
In addition, elected representatives receive training when they gain office, as do their administrative staff (e.g., seminars for new mayors and municipal secretaries on running a budget), and the school has also prepared manuals on a variety of matters related to local government (e.g., chairing a meeting, administrative principles, etc.).
The School of Public Administration is the leading institution in the field of in-service training for civil servants in Slovenia. In 1997, the school organised over forty different seminars, covering twelve subject matter fields with 1,217 participants. The most important of these are seminars to prepare public administration employees for professional examinations.
Collaborating with specialists, the school prepared the first draft programme containing more modern approaches as suggested by the European Council. The school adapted other seminars to conform to general development trends within public administration, the current needs for reform of the Slovene public administration and the market orientation of the Slovene public sector. In designing the new seminars, priority was given to the following themes:
- development of democracy;
- introducing new public management;
- evaluations required for assessing public sector services;
- ion to the European Union and Slovene public administration reform;
- human resource management;
- economics of the public sector and of local communities;
- reengineering administrative processes;
- development of public administration;
- the role of informatics and the media in democratic societies;
- privatisation, licensing and public contracts;
- customer-oriented public service.
Regular seminars are organised in agreement with major clients on subjects adapted to their respective requirements to inform interested parties and to provide continuous education for public administration employees.
In 1996, with the financial assistance of the Austrian government and the Academy of Public Administration in Vienna, the School of Public Administration organised and conducted a series of four one-week seminars and, in 1997, of seven one-week seminars on human resources management for sixteen trainees from the Ministry of the Interior. At the same time, this project complemented the cycle of seminars with specialised studies in human resources management and training new seminar trainers.
Other types of training are provided by the School of Public Administration, although they are not given as much weight as the fundamental areas of public administration. The school runs some seminars on administration for businesses and applies its expertise to particular fields when clients demonstrate interest.
European and comparative topics do not play a large role in the training system yet, despite the fact that there is an increasing European influence. As Slovenia remains a country in transition, there are many areas and particular local circumstances, brought about by both its size and the previous socialist administration, which require urgent attention. These priority training needs are undoubtedly indirectly influenced by Europe, especially as a clearly stated goal of the current public administration reforms in Slovenia is to prepare for accession to the European Union.
Despite the fact that European and comparative topics do not play a large role in terms of the percentage of training seminars, these topics are nevertheless of considerable importance. Given the research carried out by the school, strong links with European academic partners and the widely acknowledged feeling within the Slovene public administration that Europeanisation is the next major goal, there can be no disputing this importance.
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