The Structural Reforms Course in the New Normal

Following two years of virtual delivery due to the pandemic, the 9th edition of the Structural Reforms course took place in face-to-face format again between August 22 and September 2. The course brought together the expertise of JVI staff and of lecturers from JVI partners: the Center for Excellence in Finance, EBRD, EIB, ILO, IMF, OeNB, OECD, the World Bank and WTO. The course was attended by 24 participants from a dozen countries, representing mostly ministries of finance and central banks. Its main goal was to present the rationale for implementing structural reforms, to review selected reform areas and to introduce a framework for identifying reform priorities. 

The course covered a comprehensive range of structural reform areas such as growth and competitiveness, governance, labor markets, external trade, pension systems, infrastructure, climate change and SME finance. It also discussed political economy aspects and the sequencing of reforms. Workshops allowed participant to bridge and apply the knowledge acquired during lectures. Within different groups, participants had to formulate reform agendas and implementation strategies for four selected countries. The course concluded with the peer-to-peer exchange of expertise and the presentation of country case studies.

The participants resoundingly welcomed the return to class-room delivery and noted several memorable moments from the course, from celebrating a birthday to enjoying beer and ice cream in the hot Viennese summer. While all participants and most lecturers were in the classroom, the course also had two lecturers who joined remotely, thus taking advantage of the experience gained in the past two years with virtual teaching. This allowed the JVI to continue experimenting with hybrid training delivery and had the added advantage of reducing carbon emissions. The experience was deemed satisfactory and such hybrid delivery will continue to be used as needed. 

Patrick Imam, Deputy Director, JVI

Tatiana Evdokimova, Economist, JVI