Foreign Affairs CommitteeWritten evidence from Dr Simon Usherwood, Senior Lecturer, School of Politics, University of Surrey

1. In 1997–9, I took the general concours for both the European Commission and the European Parliament. At the time, I was working at the College of Europe in Bruges as a Teaching Assistant, having done my Masters there in 1996–7. In both cases, I was successful in passing stages up to and including final interviews, but not by enough to make the final lists.

2. My decision to apply was a result of being at Bruges, where many students go on to work in Brussels, and a lack of certainty of my own career path. Certainly, I considered that a permanent position as a fonctionnaire would have many attractions (interesting work and colleagues, high level of job security, personal interest in the EU), but it was never my sole objective, especially as I got to know Brussels better and could see that such a position would be relatively rigid, as compared to work with private bodies or think-tanks.

3. The Commission concours in particular suffered a number of major delays which did little to enthuse me to the organisation. The level of effort that many people seemed to put into preparation for the first round (which was highly selective) was substantial and anyone considering applying would need to be aware of the difficulty of passing that first threshold. I was fortunate that my Masters study (and subsequent work) was highly relevant, so both I and many others from the College were able to progress. This included several UK citizens on the European Fast Stream programme.

4. The length of the concours process was a major factor in my final career choices. By the time I had got to the end, I was actively considering academic options (I ultimately returned to the UK for my PhD) and more time spent in Brussels (as a city) had not really made me feel it was a place I wanted to spend more time in. Thus my failure to make the lists was a disappointment, but one which allowed me to move on.

5. My impression—both from my own cohort and from many others that I know of—has been that the College remains a very valuable means of securing employment in Brussels, both within the Institutions and more generally. The cutting of funding for scholars in recent years therefore strikes me as completely counter-productive to securing positions for UK nationals. The level of engagement that the College has had with the EU was, and remains, invaluable in this regard: several of the people running the concours that I encountered were anciens of the College and it was a door-opener (this is equally true with other organisations too).

8 January 2013