The Ultimate EU Test Book Administrators 2020 is specially designed for candidates preparing for European Personnel Selection office (EPSO) competitions at Administrator (AD) level. It is relevant to all AD-level EPSO open competitions and CAST selections.The 2020 edition is the biggest ever and full of strategies, advice and practice exercises. The focus is on the computer-based multiple choice question tests which prove an obstacle to so many. Included are methodologies, warm-up exercises applying the methodologies step by step, and hundreds of practice questions with answer explanations showing shortcuts and common pitfalls. A brand new feature for 2020 is a specially designed warm-up exercise for tackling abstract reasoning questions, which give many candidates particular difficulties. The book also includes a detailed guide to the whole EPSO process for EPSO Administrator-level open and CAST competitions, explaining how to improve your chances and the common errors to avoid. Note: Candidates for Assistant (AST or AST-SC) exams should use "The Ultimate EU Test Book Assistants 2020" and those who reach the final stage Assessment Centre should use "The Ultimate EU Test Book Assessment Centre 2020"CONTENTS1. What Are Administrators and How Are They Selected?2. Administrator Competitions Step by Step3. Verbal, Numerical and Abstract Reasoning Tests in EPSO Administrator Exams4. Succeeding in Verbal Reasoning Tests - methodology explained5. Verbal Reasoning Test (150 ALL-NEW test questions)6. Succeeding in Numerical Reasoning Tests - methodology explained7. Numerical Reasoning Warm-Up Exercise (45 warm-up questions focused on specific operations)8. Numerical Reasoning Mixed Questions Test (120 questions)9. Succeeding in Abstract Reasoning Tests - methodology explained10. NEW FEATURE! Abstract Reasoning Warm-Up Exercise: how to solve 20 questions, showing every step on the way11. Abstract Reasoning Test (160 Administrator-level questions)12. Succeeding in Situational Judgement Tests13. Situational Judgement Test (30 scenarios with explanation of options)

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781315401867, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. This book brings together academics, members of European institutions, and regional and national level policymakers in order to assess the performance and direction of EU Cohesion policy against the background of the most significant reforms to the policy in a generation. Responding to past criticisms of the effectiveness of the policy, the policy changes introduced in 2013 have aligned European Structural and Investment Funds with the Europe 2020 strategy and introduced measures to improve strategic coherence, performance and integrated development. EU Cohesion Policy: Reassessing performance and direction argues that policy can only be successfully developed and implemented if there is input from both academics and practitioners. The chapters in the book address four important issues: the effectiveness and impact of Cohesion policy at European, national and regional levels; the contribution of Cohesion policy to the Europe 2020 strategy of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth; the importance of quality of government and administrative capacity for the effective management of the Funds; and the inter-relationships between institutions, territory and place-based policies. The volume will be an invaluable resource to students, academics and policymakers across economics, regional studies, European studies and international relations.

The Ultimate EU Test Book - ASSISTANT edition 2013 is designed to help candidates prepare for the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) AST-level selection competitions for jobs in the EU institutions. Fully updated for 2013 and packed with guidance, useful tips and practical exercises.

Facing the Assessment Centre, the final stage in selection competitions for permanent jobs in the EU institutions, can be a daunting challenge. This brand new edition of The Ultimate EU Test Book has been written by specialist trainers in EPSO competitions to give practical help to candidates. It explains what the assessors are really looking for and the important do's and don'ts it is essential to be aware of. Written in a lively hands-on style, this is a must-have resource for anyone preparing for the Assessment Centre.● How the EPSO Assessment Centre works, including a typical day● The EPSO competencies and how they are measured: Analysis and Problem Solving, Communicating, Delivering Quality and Results, Learning and Development, Prioritising and Organising, Resilience, Working with Others, Leadership ● The exercises used to test the competencies, the keys to success and the pitfalls to avoid - the Case Study, the Oral Presentation, the Competency Based and Field Interviews, the Group Exercise, plus the In-tray● Full sample exercises with scoring keys ● Recruitment & the Competency Passport ● Relevant for all Administrator and Assistant competitionsTABLE OF CONTENTSChapters1. The EPSO Assessment Centre2. The EPSO Competency Framework3. The Case Study4. The Competency Based Interview (the Structured Interview)5. The Oral Presentation6. The Interview in the Field7. The In-tray (E-tray) Exercise8. The Group Exercise9. Recruitment10. What if You're Not on the Reserve List?Annexes1. Sample Case Study2. Competency Based Interview Questions3. Sample Oral Presentation4. Sample In-tray (E-tray) Exercise5. Sample Group Exercise6. Sample Competency Passports7. Glossary

This book concerns EU Cohesion Policy and the economic convergence of underdeveloped regions in Italy and Spain from the first programming period to the present: it investigates the political and institutional factors that determine the success or failure of implementing EU Cohesion Policy at national and sub-national level, as well as their impact on economic growth. On the wave of the American tradition of development studies, this book suggests that public policy analysis can be fruitful for understanding economic growth and cohesion, if it were to reconstruct domestic public interventions for development and the institutional characteristics of the subjects responsible for pursuing development goals. To do so, this book derives its theoretical foundations from the traditional debate on the role of state actors in promoting economic development and on the institutional characteristics that the public authorities involved in the process of economic development should display. More precisely, by adopting an Hirschmanian approach to development, it elaborates an original framework to compare different Cohesion Policy implementations and to understand its economic results in different countries, using Italy and Spain as pilot studies.

Named one of Vulture’s Top 10 Best Books of 2020! Leftist firebrand Fredrik deBoer exposes the lie at the heart of our educational system and demands top-to-bottom reform. Everyone agrees that education is the key to creating a more just and equal world, and that our schools are broken and failing. Proposed reforms variously target incompetent teachers, corrupt union practices, or outdated curricula, but no one acknowledges a scientifically-proven fact that we all understand intuitively: Academic potential varies between individuals, and cannot be dramatically improved. In The Cult of Smart, educator and outspoken leftist Fredrik deBoer exposes this omission as the central flaw of our entire society, which has created and perpetuated an unjust class structure based on intellectual ability. Since cognitive talent varies from person to person, our education system can never create equal opportunity for all. Instead, it teaches our children that hierarchy and competition are natural, and that human value should be based on intelligence. These ideas are counter to everything that the left believes, but until they acknowledge the existence of individual cognitive differences, progressives remain complicit in keeping the status quo in place. This passionate, voice-driven manifesto demands that we embrace a new goal for education: equality of outcomes. We must create a world that has a place for everyone, not just the academically talented. But we’ll never achieve this dream until the Cult of Smart is destroyed.

The preeminent doctor and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel is repeatedly asked one question: Which country has the best healthcare? He set off to find an answer. The US spends more than any other nation, nearly $4 trillion, on healthcare. Yet, for all that expense, the US is not ranked #1 -- not even close. In Which Country Has the World's Best Healthcare? Ezekiel Emanuel profiles eleven of the world's healthcare systems in pursuit of the best or at least where excellence can be found. Using a unique comparative structure, the book allows healthcare professionals, patients, and policymakers alike to know which systems perform well, and why, and which face endemic problems. From Taiwan to Germany, Australia to Switzerland, the most inventive healthcare providers tackle a global set of challenges -- in pursuit of the best healthcare in the world.

“One of the most profound and illuminating studies of this century to have been published in recent decades.”—John Gray, New York Times Book Review Hailed as “a magisterial critique of top-down social planning” by the New York Times, this essential work analyzes disasters from Russia to Tanzania to uncover why states so often fail—sometimes catastrophically—in grand efforts to engineer their society or their environment, and uncovers the conditions common to all such planning disasters. “Beautifully written, this book calls into sharp relief the nature of the world we now inhabit.”—New Yorker “A tour de force.”— Charles Tilly, Columbia University

The 2019 Administrators edition of The Ultimate EU Test Book is for candidates preparing for European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) ADMINISTRATOR-level competitions, the entry point for jobs in the EU administration. It introduces a new comprehensive guide to plan for success in the exams and a major overhaul of the numerical reasoning chapters.The Ultimate EU Test Book Administrators 2019 is relevant for all EPSO AD5-AD 9, Linguist, and AD Specialist exams and also CAST competitions. It is packed with strategies, tips, advice and thorough practice exercises. The book opens with 2 chapters explaining the EPSO process, looking at issues such as chances of succeeding in different competitions, typical timelines, scoring, and key mistakes to avoid. There are then chapters on the skills and shortcuts needed in tackling verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning questions, backed up by comprehensive practice exercises designed to simulate AD-level competitions. Multiple choice questions are accompanied by detailed answer explanations to enable you to understand your mistakes and improve your speed and accuracy. Finally situational judgement tests are explained, with practice scenarios. The focus is on the so-called pre-selection tests as this is where the great majority of candidates fail. A separate edition, The Ultimate EU Test Book Assessment Centre 2019, is available for those who make it to the Assessment Centre phase, where the exercises used are very different.Contents1. What Are Administrators and How Are They Selected?2. Administrator Competitions Step by Step3. Verbal, Numerical and Abstract Reasoning Tests in EPSO Administrator Exams4. Succeeding in Verbal Reasoning Tests5. Verbal Reasoning Test (180 Administrator-level questions with full answer explanations)6. Succeeding in Numerical Reasoning Tests7. Targeted Numerical Reasoning Practice (45 "warm-up" questions and explanations)8. Numerical Reasoning Mixed Questions Test (120 Administrator-level questions with full answer explanations)9. Succeeding in Abstract Reasoning Tests10. Abstract Reasoning Test (160 Administrator-level questions with full answer explanations)11. Succeeding in Situational Judgement Tests12. Situational Judgement Test (30 scenarios with explanation of options)

This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.