From 3 to 5 November, the participants from the 21 Schools of Political studies of the Council of Europe, including the newly created Turkish and Greek Schools, participated in the World Forum for democracy events. The participants attended the different events of the 2014 Forum, which was a part of the Schools' annual cycle and whose theme was "From participation to influence: can youth revitalise democracy?". Discussions focused inter alia on questions such as "How to increase any democratic participation of youth through the labour market when employment opportunities decrease? ; Is education a real promise for prosperity and security, and is it a good vehicle for inclusion that extremely qualified generations now have less guarantee of access to the labour market, leading some to speak of a "lost generation"?

Schools participants also benefited from a specific programme of additional events specially organised for them from 2 to 6 November. These events included meetings with the judges of the European Court of Human rights, exchanges of views with their peers in thematic and professional group meetings as well as bilateral meetings. The programme also included a solemn and lively diploma ceremony during which the Secretary General handed certificates to School participants to mark the completion of the 2014 Schools cycle.

In the framework of the World Forum, the Autumn meeting of the Schools Directors took place on 2 November. The meeting was mainly devoted to following up the implementation of decisions taken at previous meetings and examining current challenges and new developments in the Network. Consideration was also given to specific past events, notably the First International Alumni Seminar (Strasbourg, 19-20 June 2014) and the Regional workshop on Policy Development and Confidence Building (Budapest, 6-10 October 2014). The Directors also informed participants on forthcoming events for their respective schools. The meeting ended with a briefing about the specific activities for the Schools of Political Studies at the World Forum for Democracy which was starting the day after.

• Programme of special events for the Schools

  Messages of Schools Alumni to the Forum

• Read synopses of thematic and professional group meetings