Learning Organizations and Policy Transfer in the EU: Greece’s State Scholarships Foundation in a Reform-resistant Context

Abstract

In the context of policy change in the EU, lifelong-learning has acquired a growing significance due to its promise to foster both professional development and personal fulfillment and thus contribute to the enhancement of social inclusion, active citizenship, competitiveness, and employability. The need for developing a smart and sustainable economy puts greater emphasis on the efficient management of Human Resources in order to produce quality services and improve governance, especially in public administration. Education and training can play a pivotal role towards this objective, as the development of the public servants' skills and competences through an effective competent-based learning platform will contribute to the enhancement of the organization's operational and administrative capacity. Greece is a member-state in need of intensified policy transfer in general and of further developing learning organizations in particular. Focusing on Greece's State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) as a case study encourages us to explore two distinct but closely related aspects: (a) the role of the Foundation in policy transfer and the transnationalisation of policy and (b) the changes which the Foundation itself is undergoing as a learning organization. The paper suggests that viewing the transformation of public organizations into learning organizations as an instrument for policy reform may be a valuable way forward in the attempt to modernize public administration in Greece's reform-resistant context.