Training and promotion. Function and organisation

One of the precepts set forth in the Statistical Plan of Catalonia and in the subsequent annual programmes it deploys is the promotion of training in methods and procedures applied to the design, production and dissemination of statistical results. To this end, Idescat is in charge of promoting the training and professional development of statistical staff, actions which are addressed to its own statistical staff and all the staff working within the entire statistical system of Catalonia, as well as to the group of users of official statistical information.

The subjects that are the focus of training and promotion range from statistical procedures (statistical regulations, statistical methods and specialised programming) to instrumental tools supporting these procedures (computational statistics and the application of information and communication technologies), and they attempt to cover everything from the most basic contents to the most advanced aspects within the realm of official statistics.

From an operational standpoint, the annual programmes of activities promoted by Idescat are deployed in many different ways in order to cover the different thematic areas and types of audiences. Thus, the annual scheduled programme includes the organisation of in-house courses and seminars, collaboration with or support for training activities held by other organisations, attendance by specialised personnel from the statistical system of Catalonia at external congresses and courses, educational co-operation with local university education through student internships at Idescat, and arranging group visits at Idescat's headquarters. From among the entire range of training and dissemination activities, the annual programme promoted by Idescat systematically includes all the following activities:

• Systematic support of the activities held by the Research Network on Surveys and Statistical Information and the Research Network on Inference Control, in which Idescat's own research group participates actively.
• Collaboration in the courses held as part of Applied Statistics Week within the programme that the Universitat Pompeu Fabra's Institute of Continuing Education holds each year, loosely targeted at people interested in using statistical methods, through three intensive courses taught by internationally renowned specialists.
• Holding technical sessions at Idescat's headquarters, with relatively restricted participation, aimed at documenting the contents taught in the training activities or at presenting projects/good practices in the realm of official statistics.
• Participating in annual editions of Statistics Day which has been held in Catalonia since 2001, by different Catalan universities and Idescat itself (such as the 2006 Statistics Day).
• Organising in conjunction with the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona successive editions of the Student Applied Statistics Contest, targeted to university students in Catalonia with the aim of galvanising their interest in statistics and related fields.
• Agreements to host university student internships at the Idescat headquarters, in accordance with the framework agreements on educational cooperation currently in force with the Diploma Programme in Statistics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, with the Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, with the Labour Sciences Studies programme at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, with INSEE's École Nationale de l'Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information and with the Faculty of Economics at the Universitat de Barcelona.
• Arranging for visits to Idescat headquarters by groups of university and secondary school students to learn more about its activities, products and services. To request a visit, please contact Idescat following the mechanisms set forth in section 3. Management of training and promotion activities.

Likewise, the annual programme of training activities might include internally-organised courses or seminars or those organised in conjunction with third parties addressed to statistical staff with functions related to statistical methods or users of statistical information. They are usually held at Idescat's headquarters. Secondly, financial aid for organising congresses and specialised forums on official statistics or theoretical statistics to be held in Barcelona are granted, with attendance and possibly registration free-of-chart to staff within the statistical system of Catalonia like the XXII International Workshop on Statistical Modelling.

The calendar of training and dissemination activities in the field of statistics held or promoted by Idescat distinguishes among three areas depending on how the activities are organised. Each of the calendars contains the list of specific activities already held and planned to be held, indicating the title, the audience, the number of places, the dates and the place where they are to be held.

The Area of Technical Statistical Assistance is the unit that manages the training activities on statistical procedures organised or promoted by Idescat while at the same time responding to inquiries and requests related to this subject. The Area systematically deals with the following matters: