Forthcoming Events:

Europaeum Lecture in Oxford
Professor Keith Krause, Professor of International Relations at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, will be lecturing at Corpus Christi College, Oxford on November 7th on The End of War: Political Violence in the 20th Century, continuing our prestigious lecture series begun 10 years, which has seen luminaries such as Ralf Dahrendorf, Margaret Macmillan, Charles Wiplosz and many others take part. Sir Adam Roberts, now president of British academy, who gave a much discussed Europaeum Lecture in 2003 on International Law and the Use of Military Force: The United Nations, the United States and Iraq, will chair this event. See attached poster for details of the event

Graduate Workshop - Europe and its Leadership
There are still one or two places left for the lively three-day graduate workshop co-sponsored with Leiden University focussing on the role of leaders in European politics - yesterday, today and tomorrow. The line up of speakers include Richard Corbett (Member of Cabinet of Herman Van Rompuy); Alain Servantie (advisor to EC President); Abram de Swaan (University of Amsterdam);  Richard Griffiths (Leiden University); Alexander Rinnooy Kan (Chair of Social-Economic Council of the Netherlands); Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (former Minister of Economic Affairs, Netherlands) and Chris Bickerton (Amsterdam / Oxford Universities). The event takes place in Leiden on November 11 - 13th. It will pose questions about Europe and Leadership: Does Europe still yearn for new ‘Giants’ to lead it through its crisis ? What is the role for President, Commissioners, Council and Parliament ? What leadership role for Europe in the world ? How has leadership failure contributed to current crises ? Why do some prefer Brussels and others their national politics ? We will also explore - as an underlying research question - how Europe can best secure stability and growth based on rational leadership and decision-making strategies. Click here to download the full Programme.

For more information in the lead to this event, please see the website Who Governs Europe? Click here to download the event Poster.

Students protesting government spending cuts at Manchester University.

Conference on Higher Education
The Europaeum is co-supporting an important conference on the current state of Higher Education in the UK. The event on The English Universities Under Attack is at King College, London University, on November 26th, and will include prominent scholars, policy -makers, and educators from Europe and beyond. Themes  include tuition fees, government controls, technology, centralised administration, marketisation. Baroness Helena Kennedy, Sir Keith Thomas, and Dr Paul Flather are taking part from Oxford, alongside speakers from Princeton, NYU, and more.

All are welcome. The conference is being run by The New York Review of Books, and other co-sponsors include the Fritt Ord Foundation of Oslo, and the London Review of Books with support from The Oxford Magazine and The Times Higher Magazine. For more information click here.

Please click here to view the Europaeum Diary of Forthcoming Events

Programmes:

Policy Forum on Higher Education
The Europaeum is planning a follow-up international policy forum to its major investigation into the Future for European Universities 2001-5, examining particularly the future of higher education in the former ECE region. The conference is now set for 2012, with a working title of Higher Education: Progress, and Academic Freedom - Universities in East Central Europe since the Fall of the Wall. We plan to invite leading experts from across the Europaeum network, including the Rectors of the Jagiellonian University and Charles University Prague, education professors, leading figures from the Open Society Institute, the Higher Education Policy Institute, the Institute of Education, London University, and the Times Higher Education Supplement). The idea is to take stock of how much 'progress' has been made among top ECE region universities, what has been helpful, what has not and what happens next. Stay tuned for further details.

MA in European History and Civilization
Applications are now being accepted for the Europaeum’s 2011-2012 MA programme in European History and Civilization with terms spent at Leiden, Paris and Oxford. This programme offers graduate students a special opportunity to deepen their knowledge of European history and institutions, their philosophical and historical backgrounds and underpinnings, and their social and economic contexts, through the lens of three different university worlds. This knowledge plays an increasingly crucial role in practical decision-making and strategic planning, where Europe-wide and global contact and negotiation is required. For further information, see Application details on our website.

Click here to view recent matriculations photos from Oxford. For students view on the course see a summary of results plus a selection of anonymous quotes taken from recent evaluation forms, and student views from an article from the Europaeum Review.

Please support our recruitment efforts and distribute the attached Poster to students and colleagues and on noticeboards. Please also note the special deadlines for submission: April 1st, 2012, with final deadline June 1st, 2012.

Scholarships and Opportunities:

Oxford-Geneva Bursaries 2012-2013
The Europaeum is continuing its study bursaries scheme - one to support an Oxford graduate to pursue a short study programme at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, and one to support a Graduate Institute student to study at Oxford, during the coming academic year.

Appropriate programmes can include periods of specialist library or archive work; supervisions with desired tutors; taught programmes including specialist summer schools, or field work, including work with organisations based in and around Geneva or Oxford. Since bursary holders are expected to be self-directed, and will need to negotiate their own study arrangements. Advice can be obtained by contacting the Europaeum Secretariat in Oxford, or the Office of the Deputy to the Director in Geneva. Each Bursary is worth €500.

The deadline for submission of applications will be December 8th. Students from Geneva who wish to apply should contact Dr Laurent Neury; and those from Oxford should contact the University International Office. Please distribute the Bursary Notice to interested students and colleagues.

Jenkins' Scholarships 2012-13
Applications are invited for up to six Jenkins Scholarships for the 2012-2013 academic year, including four to study at Oxford. The Jenkins Scholarship Scheme honours the lifelong achievements of the former President of the European Commission (1976-1981) and Chancellor of the University of Oxford (1987-2003). The Jenkins Scheme is linked to the Europaeum association of leading European universities.The Roy Jenkins Memorial Fund was set up in 2003-4, to create scholarships to bring students from the countries of the European Union to study at the University of Oxford, and to support Oxford students going onto further study in Europe. 13 Jenkins Scholars have been elected in recent years.

Awards are for now a little over £11,500 per annum, usually for one year. Jenkins Scholars will be eligible to study at Oxford for a Masters degree in the Humanities or Social Sciences, the disciplines closest to Lord Jenkins’ own political and literary interests. Applicants may be submitted from the University partners within the Europaeum. Please note applications for Oxford must be received by 20th January 2012. Full details of the scheme can be found here; for application information click here.

Europaeum Internships
The value of internships for graduate students has recently been endorsed as a key component for students entering the job market, according to University World News. The Europaeum has proudly offered lively internships to graduate students, doctoral candidates and post-doctoral scholars from Europaeum universities for a number of years. We are committed to providing engaging and fruitful work experience - with opportunities to pursue research studies in Oxford libraries, join lectures etc and travel in the UK. In this way, we seek to extend the mission of the Europaeum to build European leadership, foster diversity and provide opportunities to supplement research and background education.

We offer internships for one to three months, and each intern will be asked to support general office work, work on current events and will be given a relevant research project to work on and help develop. We will help in finding housing and cover the costs, as part of a support package also for food and travel.

Interns for 2012 are now being selected. If you know anyone who might be interested, please send a CV and covering letter, including details of two referees (preferably one academic and one professional) to the the Europaeum office.

Publications & Media

Connecting Europe through History
Please read the report of our three-day graduate workshop on Europeanisation in East and Central Europe – how have member states been affected?, at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where students and scholars engaged in a lively discussion. There was also a debate on History teaching in Poland - with concerns that since the fall of Communism, nationalistic tendencies linger on in the curriculum. Click here to read the report of this event. It was all part of our Connecting Europe through History year-long programme on how Migration themes and Migratory Movements impact upon History teaching today, involving Oxford, Bologna, Leiden, Helsinki, Paris, and Krakow, as well as other university centres in Berlin, Vienna, and Nijmegen. It was also set out to 'close the gap' between University Historians and School History Teachers, to create new energy, and also to enhance History in Schools.

Soon after, History education experts including those from The Netherlands, Morocco, Denmark, Germany, and Latviaalso met in Berlin to discuss migration teaching themes and methods. Click here to read more - including key points tabled for future discussion

Report of the Month

Report from the 2011 Summer School
The Europaeum 2011 Conference and Summer School on The Futures of Europe: Which Way Towards 2030 was held in beautiful Santander, north Spain, exploring complexities of relationships between European nations and the European Union and future scenarios, and bringing together distinguished experts, policy-makers, media and politicians, alongside 215 graduates from the Europaeum network. A full report on the event, which started by reviewing the implications of the 2009-10 report of the Reflections Group chaired by Felipe Gonsalez, is now available. Click here to read the final report. Graduate participants also gave a variety of presentations which are being collected. Read here a study on why the Czechs have fallen out of love with the EU by Charles University graduate student Eva Indruchova.

Link-of-the-Month:

The Eurozone Minefield
Whatever else has been happening, headlines these past weeks have focussed on the attempts of EU leaders trying to tame the markets and save the Euro. We highlight a number of interesting posts related to this: George Soros argues in his recent article A routemap through the eurozone minefield in the FT last month, that any new agreement must set the foundation of a true growth strategy, shore up the banking system first before recapitalisation. Despite a week of meetings in Brussels, it seems skeptics and markets are still not satisfied. In response, Soros has outlined a seven point plan to save the eurozone. For more on national responses, read Timothy Garton Ash, who is professor of European Studies at Oxford and has been involved in a number of our international conferences, in his recent article These national Euro-debates are just what we need – if there is still time in The Guardian. To keep updated on the eurozone crisis, see the Financial Times : Eurozone Crisis Live Blog.

Around the Members:

OXFORD: special talk on enlargement at SEESOX
The European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Stefan Füle, was the special guest of the South East European centre at St Antony's College, Oxford University, last month to discuss the recent publication of the Enlargement, Strategy and Progress Report last month. He gave a lively talk, From EU enlargement to neighbourhood policy and answered questions of whether Europe really had a policy, how commercial was the motivation, how security based, and lessons from the apparently unforeseen happenings that comprised the Arab Spring. The full transcript of the talk is available on the SEESOX website. Click here to download the transcript of this special lecture

PRAGUE: Good or Evil Economics ?
Following a successful launch of his book on Economics of Good and Evil in Oxford earlier this year, Tomáš Sedláček, who gave a talk on this theme as a participant in the 2009 summer school on Ethics and European Policy-Making in Paris, has continued to enjoy a high profile. There has been worldwide interest in the English translation - most recently being the subject of a seminar at New York University, hosted by the World Policy Institute and the Institute for Public Knowledge. Click here for more information. Recognising this success, the Europaeum is presenting hard back copies to each Europaeum university library.

HELSINKI: Conference on Higher Education and Research
Helsinki University is hosting a special "Nordic" conference in February 2012 that will bring together scholars of higher education, science and leadership from Finland and Sweden. Supported by the University of Helsinki’s Network for Higher Education and Innovation Research (HEINE), the Consortium of Higher Education Researchers in Finland (CHERIF) and Hanasaari – the Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre, the aim of the conference is to provide a forum for the discussion of research findings relating to new trends in higher education in the Nordic countries. The Conference will seek to address the following questions: Who are the major actors or key players in higher education; and who are those who decide on the resources for higher education and science, now and in the future?

Interested scholars should contact the organisers at info@hanaholmen.fi for details on how to attend. Click here for more information

Footnote-of-the-Month:

Comparing social and economic conditions of HE students
In a recently released report comparing higher education across European countries, the Eurostudent IV Project - carried out from 2008-2001 with the aim to collate comparable data on European higher education - provided a wealth of data on the social and economic conditions of student life from 24 countries throughout Europe. This Synopsis of Indicators offers quantitative data on transition routes into higher education; the characteristics and the social make-up of national student populations; types and modes of study; time budget for studies and employment; levels and sources of financial resources; patterns of living expenses and student spending; types of accommodation; student mobility; and students’ assessment of their studies and future plans. These findings reveal huge variations across the Euro-area and confirm that our own Europaeum graduates have widely varying education experiences - from funding support, accommodation, to studying and employment outcomes. This is useful data for policy-makers, researchers, and students themselves.

Please read our Europaeum summary of the report, and our new comparative charts which focus just on our country patterns. To read the full report, click here.

Contact:
The Europaeum
99 Banbury Road
Oxford, UK
OX2 6JX

If you would rather not receive further notices from the Europaeum please send us an email, and you will be removed from our list immediately.

Endnote:

One the first Jenkins' Scholars returns to Oxford

Sir Anthony Kenny welcomes Michal as the first Jenkins Scholar

Michal Bobek who was our first ever Europaeum Jenkins Scholar back in 2004-5, has just returned to Oxford this term as a new Anglo-German Fellow in the Institute of European and Comparative Law at Oxford. There is a great symmetry in the story, as Michael took part in our international Human Rights Workshop at Oxford last May, and the IECL itself was forged about the initial wave of support and energy for the Europaeum at Oxford during the 1990s, as one of two new specifically European institutes. The director is an active member of our Oxford Europaeum Group. Michael has now studied law and international relations at Charles University, Prague (MA. Law; BA + MA international studies/European studies), Oxford (M. Jur.) and the European University Institute in Florence (M. Res; Ph.D.), with further studies in Brussels (Université libre de Bruxelles) and Brisbane (University of Queensland), and received a Diploma in English and EU Law from Cambridge. He qualified as a judge in the Czech Republic and previously worked as legal secretary to the Chief Justice and also as the head of the Research and Documentation Department at the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic. 

His focus includes EU law, European human rights law, and comparative (public) law as both academic and practitioner in both Slovak and Czech Judicial Academies. He is the author, co-author or editor of nine books and dozens of academic articles and case notes, in Czech, English, French and German - and from 2007-2010 he co-founded and presided over the Czech Society for European and Comparative Law (FIDE national association for the Czech Republic). Read his witty report on his time as a Jenkins Scholar at Oxford !!