Search results for "social progress"
showing 9 items of 9 documents
EUROPEAN CONVERGENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE SOCIAL STRATEGY OF LATVIA
2014
The purpose of this study is to introduce evaluation of convergence policy activities in the European Union and to designate social development trends of Latvia in the context of reaching the goals of strategy “Europe 2020. The aim of the research has set the following tasks: to introduce the main EU social convergence theory investigations as the development challenges for improvement socio-economic well-being of the EU states; to evaluate current social situation and eventual social strategy of Latvia on 2014-2020; to estimate European convergence policy impact on the social development of Latvia. The strategic goals of EU policy are discussed as well as the development challenges for imp…
Social progress around the world: trends and convergence
2022
Abstract This paper assesses social progress in 139 countries over the period 1995–2017 following the framework proposed by the Social Progress Imperative; a notable contribution is a composite index allowing for comparisons across countries and over time. The index considers 45 raw indicators covering three fundamental pillars of social progress: basic human needs, foundations of well-being, and opportunities. The results point to a marked improvement in social progress all over the world from the mid-1990s, although they also depict a highly polarized world. Cross-country convergence patterns are also investigated, revealing a reduction in the differences in social progress, largely drive…
One and two equals three? The third mission of higher education institutions
2015
In modern, knowledge-based societies, universities play an increasingly important role in achieving economic growth and social progress. Their traditional roles and missions are being broadened as to accommodate activities that facilitate engagement with various stakeholder groups. Universities do not want to be regarded as isolated and separated islands from their surrounding communities and have therefore developed internal mechanisms to bridge their activities with the needs and expectations of external actors. In this paper, we take stock of recent scholarly work and ongoing debates surrounding universities’ third mission (TM). Broadly speaking, TM refers to the changing roles and funct…
From World3 to the Social Assessment of Technology: Remarks on Science, Technology, and Society
1993
From a well-known point of view, science is thought to constitute a world of objective entities (World3) different from the objective world of material things (World 1) and the subjective world of minds or mental states (World2). This is an old trichotomy, of which Popper is the leading contemporary proponent.
The Future We Want: a Learning Experience to Promote SDGs in Higher Education from the United Nations and University of Valencia
2021
This article shares the strategy for mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the University of Valencia (UV), which, although limited in its scale, may compel other Higher Education Institutions to think in technological and social progress aligned with the 2030 Agenda. It explicates a process driven by the UV, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UN), and in collaboration with the Service for Geospatial, Information, and Telecommunications Technologies from the UN Support Base in Valencia (Spain) to prepare the online event: “The United Nations We Want”. It was the culmination of a collaborative project between students and faculties from differe…
Is the European Social Progress Index robust? Implications for the design of European Union regional Cohesion Policy
2023
The European Social Progress Index (EU-SPI) is a composite index launched by the European Commission in 2016 to assess social progress. It is constructed using non-economic indicators, and is intended to serve as a tool for European regional policies. This paper shows that the 2020 release of the index is robust to multiple alternative designs, and thus suitable for policymaking. The EU-SPI and gross domestic product per capita (GDPpc) are positively correlated, although they are in no way substitutes. These findings suggest that the EU-SPI could complement the GDPpc as an instrument to determine eligibility and achieve a more citizen-oriented allocation of European Cohesion Policy funds.
Supply and Use of Human Capital in the Spanish Regions
2009
Besides enrichment at personal level entailed by the increase in the cognitive and intellectual levels of the person associated with education, a large number of studies have verified the greater the human capital of a person, the greater is his employability, his participation in the labour market, his functional and geographical mobility and, thereby, his productivity. This results in higher wages and less likelihood of unemployment for individuals with more schooling. From the social point of view, the accumulation of resources associated to higher educational attainment levels permits societies to make sustained progress towards higher levels of welfare. It makes possible to adapt to gl…
Welfare State inSpain. Sustainability criteria
2014
The construction of models of universal coverage in Spain and Europe, that established social rights, has offered a period of prosperity, peace and freedom in the second half of the twentieth century that was based on social justice. These values have benefited all of us. Despite the significant achievements that were made, the economic crisis has raised different voices warning about the impossibility of social protection systems. The difficulties of the time and the resource constraints have encouraged an ideological offensive against the welfare state, predicting its end in a short term. Therefore we have to consider that the present moment leads to the review and "deconstruction" of wha…
Changing Perceptions of Multiculturalism in the British Public Sphere
2017
This paper is devoted to the examination of the evolution of the uses of the term multiculturalism in a corpus of selected speeches by prominent British politicians, officials and diplomats in the United Kingdom within the decade 2001–2011. Britain is considered to be one of Europe’s most multicultural countries and there was a time when its government took pride in its pro-integration policies. That is why within the elite discourses of the Labour governments of the late 1990s, multiculturalism had overwhelmingly positive connotations: it was associated with new opportunities, strength, enrichment, social progress and economic success. However, over the course of the 2000s there was much d…