In May 2014 the Legal Service of the Council delivered an opinion on the European Commission's Rule of Law Framework, stating the Commission's new mechanism was unlawful. This article sets out a critical analysis of this opinion, and questions whether the annual rule of law dialogue announced by the Council in December 2014 is a feasible response. Hungary is used as a case study to highlight the total failure of the Council to take any action whatsoever in the face of the grave and systemic abuses of human rights committed by the government of that country since 2010; and Poland where an autocratic regime has been in place since the autumn of 2015 is also mentioned. This is contrasted with the efforts of the majority of the Members of the European Parliament to tackle the acute challenge and with the Commission's action on specific breaches. A co‐ordinated strategy is sorely needed.
abstract:The term immersive education is currently used in two educational areas -language education, which involves students being totally immersed in a language and its culture; and virtual education, where teachers use computers and simulation games to immerse learners in a virtual, computer-generated environment that mimics a real-world environment and allows learners to interact with it. This paper uses examples from university teaching practices in marine studies and coastal zone management to make a case for a third definition for immersive education in tertiary settings -educating water managers by immersing and guiding them through real-world situations that involve understanding and managing water, biodiversity, catchments, and people, and the interactions between them. Immersive education of this third kind, and traditional tertiary education approaches such as lectures and demonstrations, are compared, and the advantages of immersive education are discussed. The examples from practice and discussion presented show immersive education as being experiential and real, process-driven, trans-disciplinary, collaborative, participatory, and active, encouraging critical thinking and a renegotiation of power in relationships between participants. Such immersive education develops passion and persuasive capacity in students, providing personal experiences that are memorable and potentially life-changing. Challenges to immersive education in tertiary education, including lack of finances, teacher burn-out, safety concerns, and inertia to maintain the status quo of traditional education, are highlighted, as are ways to overcome these.
This article explores the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Justice and the US Supreme Court on the fundamental rights of commercial companies. The rights considered include property, the privilege against self-incrimination, freedom of speech, double jeopardy, the right to make political donations, and the freedom of religion. The article highlights the dangers of taking the fundamental rights of companies too far, as has recently occurred in the US; and it advocates a cautious and coordinated approach to this delicate issue, which has become increasingly important on both sides of the Atlantic.
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