Since 2000, the European Documentation Centre has organised 2000 orientation courses on European Documentation: Sources of Information, data banks and Internet Resources. The first edition was held in Milan in June of 2000 in collaboration with the Milan Representative for the European Commission.
They are intended to place the participants in the position to:
- Work independently with regards to research into EU legislation, documents and official publications, as well as utilising the databases and browse the European Union websites
- Provide an overview of the key documents published by EU institutions in the legislative and decision-making framework (source hierarchy) and the different information channels available
- Enable people who would otherwise not be able, to access and understand the law and politics of the European Union.
The programme includes a discussion of the following key topics: introduction to the European Union; introduction to EU documents; documents related to the decision making process at the European level; data banks and official sites of official activities and policies of European Union publications and documentation.
To provide students with the tools and knowledge to independently use official EU databases, the teaching methodology makes use of simulated online research, thanks to the support of information media.
IUSE regularly organises free editions of the course for university and postgraduate students. At the request of businesses and law firms across the country, paid editions of the country can be organised in any professional sphere or territory. Finally, IUSE organises specific editions for the training of public officials.