Academic co-operation - references
College of Europe - George Washington University
Summer Programme on Politics, Policies and Lobbying of the European Union
The College of Europe established in 2003 a bilateral cooperation with the George Washington University, which materialised in the GWU Summer Program on Politics, Policies, and Lobbying of the European Union. This programme is aimed at providing American students with a deeper understanding of the EU institutional and policy framework, as well as the political and economic actors operating within it. In the course of a two-week seminar on the Bruges campus, students acquire a thorough understanding of the inner working of the Brussels arena.
Programme
The program has been specifically designed in order to provide American students with a solid knowledge basis on the institutional framework of the European Union and highlight some of the most relevant policy areas influencing EU-US relations. Topics include EU governing institutions, systems of representation, and modes of policy-making, with a special reference to the representation of US institutional and business interests to the EU.
The program is carried out with a high level of interaction between the participants and the faculty members, who comprise both academics and Brussels practitioners working for EU institutions, NGOs, consultancies, think-tanks and international organisations. This is achieved through a lecturing style that stimulates questions from the audience, a series of case-studies and an active involvement of participants in simulations of negotiations at the EU level.
Students also benefit from the opportunity to have a positive and constructive exchange of expertise and experience with participants in the annual Intensive Seminar on the EU, taking place in the same period at the College of Europe, and join them in a series of joint conferences on issues high on the European agenda, featuring key-note speeches by high profile guest speakers.
Participants are completely immersed in the multicultural and lively milieu of the College of Europe.
Participants
The program is attended by postgraduate students in Political Management, Business, Public Policy, Public Administration, and International Affairs, enrolled at the George Washington University. The variety of educational and national backgrounds ensures an active and fruitful exchange of experiences and ideas among participants, who include both recent and mid-career graduates.
Facilities
Participants are hosted in one of the residences of the College of Europe in the historical centre of the city of Bruges. All rooms offer 3-star comfort with the possibility to connect laptops or notebooks to the Internet through the College e-network. Residences also have large lounges with TV, common rooms and leisure facilities.
Residence life brings together students from the GWU Summer Program with participants in the Intensive Seminar and other training activities organised by the College of Europe, thus providing an invaluable opportunity to mix with and learn from each other.
Participants in the GWU Summer Program also have access to the European Documentation Centre and Library of the College of Europe, one of the world’s largest information centres on the EU, where they can consult the collections, study, have full use of the computer room, and access to a wide range of electronic information resources and facilities.