Vol. 18, No. 31	May 13, 1999

Advisory team assists with Estonian democratization

The Salzburg Seminar, which gathers persons from all over the world to consider issues of worldwide scope, is a leader in encouraging educational reform in Eastern Europe and Russia through its Universities Project.

As countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the newly independent states seek to become more privatized and democratized, the Universities Project brings together leaders of their universities with colleagues from Western Europe and North America to focus on reform in higher education.

This January, Arno Loessner and Jeffrey Raffel, both urban affairs and public policy, were members of an advisory team visiting Estonia, representing Salzburg's Universities Project and funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

"Universities can serve an important role in bringing about societal change," Loessner said. "As part of the democratization process, Estonia is considering fiscal decentralization. Our goal was to explore the potential for a university outreach program in which Estonian universities would help train local government officials in public finance and financial management. Modeled on Western university experience, including the UD's public administration program, the Estonian outreach program could offer courses to government officials and carry out applied research in the areas of public finance, budgeting and financial management," Loessner said.

The team met with the rectors and vice rectors of Tartu University, Tallinn Technical University and Tallinn University of Educational Sciences, as well as local and national government officials. An advisory group was formed, including representatives from Estonian universities, the Union of Estonian Municipalities and the Ministry of Finance to further this effort. Members will visit the United States this spring to help prepare an action plan for outreach programs. A fall meeting in Estonia is planned. Loessner made a report on the team's visit at Salzburg in January.

"Estonia has its problems, but it has a positive growth rate. The country hopes to become a member of the European Union. Democratization of the country and strengthening of universities and local governments can help its progress toward that goal," Loessner said.

Learning about and experiencing university life in the United States and Western Europe can have a multiplier effect, Loessner discovered. He recently met a former Czech Republic exchange fellow, Jiri Zlatuska, who spent three semesters at UD as a visiting faculty member in computer science. "When he returned to Masaryk University, he had many ideas for improving education there and has subsequently been elected rector of the university," Loessner said. "It was gratifying to know that his experiences at Delaware had such a positive effect."

In March, Loessner also accompanied Mark Huddleston, political science and international relations, and Ronald Gardner, former mayor of Newark, to Slovenia to conduct workshops for the mayors and other officials of 30 Slovenia cities and towns.

Loessner and others conducted workshops in the cities of Ljubjana and Maribor on how U.S. cities and states organize service delivery and raise money for municipal services and projects through taxes, fees and bonds.

In September, eight mayors will visit the University to observe how municipal finance works firsthand.

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