Students get in touch with European Practice in Strasbourg and Luxembourg
Experience Europe `up close´: During an excursion of the Jean-Monnet-Professorship of European Integration students of TU Chemnitz got in touch with the work in European institutions
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A souvenir photo in the European Parliament. Photo: Marcus Hornung
From 23-27 March 2014, 30 students in the area of European Studies from Chemnitz under the direction of Prof. Dr. Matthias Niedobitek and Marcus Hornung, took part in an excursion concerning ´EU Institutions in Strasbourg and Luxembourg`. During the annual excursion of the Jean-Monnet-Professorship each participant acts as an ´expert` for a specific program point. Thanks to this transfer of knowledge to fellow students in advance, the participants were enabled to treat the topics discussed on-site in a sophisticated way.
In Strasbourg and Luxembourg, the students were given the opportunity to talk to European practitioners, and thus to enrich their knowledge by valuable practical experience. Thanks to this opportunity one could not only see how those institutions actually work, but also new perspectives for the period after graduation were opened, because the students got to know the many opportunities for careers in these institutions. In this objective former students in the area of European Studies, who are now working in European institutions, have been involved once more in the conception of the excursion.
The Strasbourg excursion program led the students of European Studies among others to the official location of the European Parliament where they had the opportunity to talk to staff members of the EU Ombudsman. Also the Council of Europe is located at Strasbourg where the participants were not only informed about the workload of the European Court of Human Rights, but also had the opportunity to participate in a meeting of a committee. At Luxembourg the students conducted some background interviews at institutions known from the lectures by the Jean-Monnet-Professorship, especially Eurostat and the European Investment Bank. A highlight of the program of the visit to Luxembourg was a stop at the Court of Justice of the European Union, where the participants - after a short introduction - were provided with the opportunity to follow the hearing of the case of `Fenoll´.
Prof. Dr. Matthias Niedobitek states that the excursions representing an integral part of the curriculum of European Studies also contribute significantly to the networking between the students of European Studies: `We are especially delighted of the fact that the visits within our excursion not only provide the students with new ideas concerning scientific works but also opens very concrete perspectives for internships´. This often leads to exciting application areas for graduates of European Studies from Chemnitz, which can be looked up by accessing the category `Unsere Absolventen´ (‘Our Graduates’) within http://www.europastudien.de.
The described field trip was partly financed by funds of the `Jean-Monnet-Professorship´ awarded to Prof. Dr. Niedobitek by the European Commission.
For further information, please contact Marcus Hornung Phone +49 371 531-39253, Email marcus.hornung@phil.tu-chemnitz.de
(Authors: Marcus Hornung, Eilyne Pasche, Translation: Nataliia Boiko)
Katharina Thehos
08.04.2014
