Matthias Gather (ed.) Attila Lüttmerding (ed.) Jörn Berding (ed.) Guillermo Pablos Villarroel (ed.) Zum Einfügen des Bildes auf diese Textbox klicken (Achtung, Textbox wird NICHT aktiv) Einfügen Grafik Grafik in die gewünschten Dimensionen ziehen EURUFU ScientificEURUFU Conference: nd Education, Local Economy and and Economy Local Education, Areas Opportunitiesin Rural Job Proceedings of the 2 the Proceedings of Berichte des Instituts Verkehr und Raum ISSN 1868-8586 Band 16 (2013) Proceedings of the 2nd EURUFU Scientific Conference, 8th of October 2013 Proceedings of the 2nd EURUFU Scientific Conference, 8th of October 2013 Education, Local Economy and Job Opportunities in Rural Areas in the context of demographic change Proceedings of the 2nd EURUFU Scientific Conference (Asti, Italy) The EURUFU project is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE programme co-financed by the ERDF Editors: Matthias Gather Attila Lüttmerding Jörn Berding Guillermo Pablos Villarroel 8th of October 2013 Transport and Spatial Planning Institute (Institut Verkehr und Raum) University of Applied Sciences Erfurt (Fachhochschule Erfurt) Altonaer Straße 25 99085 Erfurt, Germany phone: +49 / 361 / 6700 396 fax: +49 / 361 / 6700 757 email: [email protected], [email protected] internet: www.verkehr-und-raum.de ISSN 1868-8586 Proceedings of the 2nd EURUFU Scientific Conference, 8th of October 2013 Proceedings of the 2nd EURUFU Scientific Conference, 8th of October 2013 Content INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 RURAL SCHOOLS IN SPAIN. PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE: A SOCIOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK (Noelia Morales Romo) ........................................................................................................... 3 THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALIZED RURAL HIGHER EDUCATION INFRASTRUCTURE (HEI) ON THE MIGRATION BEHAVIOUR OF HIGHLY QUALIFIED – EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM AUSTRIA (Verena Peer) ....................................................................................................................... 13 ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AREAS (Franc Vidic) ......................................................................................................................... 25 HOW REALISTIC IS TO ACHIEVE THE “SMART GROWTH” GOAL IN ROMANIAN RURAL AREAS? (Kinga Kerekes).................................................................................................................... 45 EMPLOYMENT AND INCLUSION IN RURAL IRELAND: A FRESH START (Kathy Walsh, Brian Harvey) ................................................................................................ 57 A STRATEGY FOR THE ‘INNER AREAS’ OF ITALY (Sabrina Lucatelli, Carla Carlucci, Maria Alessandra Guerrizzio) .......................................... 69 IMPACTS OF AGEING ON SOCIOECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY IN SPANISH RURAL AREAS (Luis Camarero, Julio A. del Pino) ........................................................................................ 79 LIFE QUALITY AND REMEMBRANCE IN RURAL AREAS IN NORTH-EAST GERMANY (Thomas Elkeles, Jens A. Forkel, Dominik Röding) .............................................................. 91 EDUCATING MATURE CITIZENS OR QUALIFIED EMPLOYEES? FUNDAMENTAL TENSIONS IN THE BOTTOM-UP DEVELOPMENT OF A LOCAL EDUCATION SYSTEM (Anne Margarian) ................................................................................................................. 99 BASIC EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH SERVICES AS A SOURCE OF INCOME AND EMPLOYMENT IN SPANISH RURAL AREAS (Jaime Escribano) .............................................................................................................. 111 Proceedings of the 2nd EURUFU Scientific Conference, 8th of October 2013 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION In May 2011 the EU-funded transnational cooperation project called EURUFU (European Rural Futures) started in different regions of Central Europe. EURUFU analyses the challenges of demographic change for municipalities and towns in rural areas as well as the options for maintaining the level of public services and infrastructure. New strategies for health and social care, education, local economy and job opportunities, and mobility and transport are developed in order to support local and regional competitiveness. Several pilot actions in the mentioned key topics were developed, which are practically implemented and tested and evaluated to assess their effects. The consequences of demographic change require a fundamental review and adjustment of the public services in many places as well as a new definition of standards. It has been identified that demographic change is one of the new global issues that several countries and regions are facing. Regions need a sufficient framework to be able to share experiences and information and to adapt to the relevant changes in order to react on the demographic changes. The overall goal of EURUFU is to promote actions for the provision of innovative solutions to restructure services and infrastructure in shrinking regions and thus support the sustainable development by developing and adapting integrated measures and strategies for regional problems at a transnational level. A range of regional and balanced services, economic and cultural opportunities should be implemented to hold and attract inhabitants, entrepreneurs and investors.1 “The specific objectives of the project are the sensitization of stakeholders by creating transparency on the coming challenges of demographic changes and highlighting possibilities and opportunities for active action, active framing of demographic change in close cooperation between the different partners (administration, politics, business, schools, associations ...) in the regions, mitigation of population decline and a long-term trend reversal, adaptation of infrastructure to the negative consequences of the changing population structure, initiation of pilot projects to frame and adapt to demographic change, transfer of knowledge at European level and initiate a long-term intensive and continuous dialogue between actors of regional development”1. The partnership consists of 11 different entities from 7 European countries (AT, CZ, DE, HU, IT, PL, SI), which fulfil specific functions within the project and represent regional and local authorities, regional development agencies and educational organizations. International cooperation is vital for the achievement of the expected results due to the complexity and transnational dimension of demographic change in Central Europe. One focus is the sensitization of regional stakeholders to the current situation and future of demographic change in their area. By the development of a benchmarking system including relevant possibilities and opportunities for active adaptation a common strategy has been 1 Application Form. European Territorial Cooperation. CENTRAL EUROPE Programme. European Rural Futures (2011) 1 INTRODUCTION elaborated. Related to that common strategy, 10 regional pilot actions have been initiated and implemented to find crosscutting solutions to cater for sustainable public service provision. Subsequently their potential for transferability and exchangeability between the regions will be evaluated and they will become part of a transnational action plan2. Within EURUFU, the Transport and Spatial Planning Institute of the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt is mainly responsible for the part “mobility and transport” with a focus on sustainable concepts. A further task of the Transport and Spatial Planning Institute is the planning and organisation of three EURUFU Scientific Conferences which provide an input from researchers to the project partners and their pilot actions. Furthermore the conferences should improve the cooperation and knowledge exchange between scientists dealing with different topics related to rural areas. The first conference was held on the 14th of May 2013 in Fehérvárcsurgó, Western Hungary and dealt with “Transport and Mobility in Rural Areas in the context of demographic change”. It is documented in the proceedings of the 1st EURUFU Scientific Conference3. The second conference, which forms the basis of these proceedings, was held on the 8th of October 2013 in Asti, Piedmont, Italy and dealt with “Education, Local Economy and Job Opportunities in Rural Areas in the context of demographic change”. The following table gives an overview of all EURUFU Scientific Conferences: No Month Place Topic 1 May 2013 Fehérvárcsurgó, HU Transport and Mobility in Rural Areas Education, Local Economy and Job 2 Oct 2013 Asti, IT Opportunities in Rural Areas 3 Mar 2014 Sondershausen, DE Social Issues and Health Care in Rural Areas These are the proceedings of the 2nd EURUFU Scientific Conference, representing the collection of papers which were presented by the authors in Asti as well as further papers which could not be presented due to time constraints. The papers are dealing with various aspects of education, local economy and job opportunities in rural areas. These encompass on the one hand regional studies concerning the development of schools in rural areas from a sociological perspective as well as the potential impact of higher educational institutions on the migration decisions of skilled young people and regional development. On the other hand results of current research are presented from a rather economic perspective, focussing on entrepreneurship and sustainable development, opportunities