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European Studies, MA in European Studies: The ERI adopts a broad and inclusive concept ofEuropean Studies, which goes beyond the traditional study of Brusselsinstitutions. Subsequently, our work is focused on, but not confinedto, the following key areas: • East Meets West - looking at the processes of eastern enlargement. • Organising Europe - examining developments in the European politicaleconomy, EU integration and Euro-Atlantic security governance. • Comparative Governance - cross-national policy learning under the impact of globalisation. • Changing Notions of Citizenship in Europe - examining evolving concepts of membership and participation. Our students are fully integrated into our many activities, including aweekly seminar series and numerous workshops and conferences, which areoften run in association with policy communities. The ERI offers twoMasters programmes in European Studies, an MA and an MA (Research).Both programmes provide students with a unique opportunity tospecialise in the subject. For students with an undergraduate degree inEuropean Studies (or a related field) our MA programmes offer anopportunity to deepen and widen their knowledge, whilst for thosewithout a background in European Studies our programmes can serve as aconversion course. Our MA (Research), with its research training focus,can also act as a stepping-stone to a research degree. All students receive intensive individual supervision for theirdissertation from an expert in the ERI, in addition to being assigned apersonal tutor. Modules are taught via a mixture of lectures, seminarsand tutorials and are assessed through presentations, essays,examinations and an independent piece of research. Students willacquire a range of transferable skills during the course, which willhelp them find employment in a wide range of professions that requiresophisticated analytical and communication skills. The programmefollows a modularised structure to suit specialist and generalistneeds, and includes a range of optional language courses, withinstruction starting at beginners and advanced levels. All studentshave the opportunity to take part in a study visit is to Brussels inthe Spring term. The Postgraduate Certificate in Contemporary European Studies: ThePostgraduate certificate is an intensive programme which combinesrigorous training in EU and European policies and institutions with arange of master classes, specialist seminars, visits and workshops.These will be complemented by a number of training sessions on subjectssuch as presentation skills, report writing and dealing with the media,which have been created specifically for officials working in or withEU institutions. The programme comprises taught Masters level courseson the political, economic, legal and social dimensions of Europeanintegration: a series of workshops, master classes and professionaltraining courses; a week long study visit to key EU institutions;meetings and seminars at Whitehall departments and at the NationalAssembly of Wales in Cardiff; day placements in UK governmentorganizations; and participation in the regular ERI seminar series andresearch activities. MA Russian and East European Studies/MSc Russian and East EuropeanStudies: The programmes provide advanced training through a combinationof one multi-disciplinary core course and a wide range of specialisedoptions in the politics, sociology, economics, and history of Russiaand Eastern Europe. The core course offers an area-study background forall students, while optional courses provide specialist disciplinaryareas of expertise. The MA programme also provides courses in researchmethods in social science or history. Intensive language courses inRussian, Ukrainian or Polish are available to students on the MSc, andcompulsory for students on the MA who do not already have fluentknowledge of an East European language. Our intensive course in Russianlanguage for beginners has been especially designed to enable socialscientists quickly to acquire the necessary vocabulary for theirspecialist fields of interest. Intermediate and advanced-level Russianlanguage training is also available, and courses in Polish andUkrainian have recently been introduced. Russian television is receivedin the Centre and extensive use is made of television and videomaterial in language teaching. Students are encouraged to attend aone-month language course in Russia or Ukraine during the summervacation. By the end of the programme students will be able to: Understandcontemporary developments in Russia and Eastern Europe; provide anoverview of the developments and debates in the field of Russian andEast European Studies; use generic skills (for example, makepresentations, write reports, prepare case studies) of direct relevanceto employment; and carry out an independent research project underspecialist supervision, which involves the formulation of the objectiveof the project, collection and evaluation of data, development of aclear line of argument and presentation in an appropriate format. The dissertation is designed as an independent piece of work underspecialist supervision. Students will be encouraged to prepare theirdissertations in collaboration with institutions, companies andorganisations involved in Russia and Eastern Europe. With Europe high on the political agenda and an increasingly importantissue for both business and the public, the European Research Institutehas been created as the UK's foremost centre of expertise on Europeanmatters. With over fifty academic staff, the ERI provides anunparalleled source of high quality research and teaching as well as aEuropean studies resource for government, business and the widerpopulation. A part of the School of Social Sciences, it brings togethertwo of the country’s leading research centres – the Institute forGerman Studies and the Centre for Russian and East European Studies aswell as being home to one of the UK’s top Political Science andInternational Studies departments. All of the constituent parts of the ERI received 5, 5* or 6* grades inthe last Research Assessment Exercise. Thus, the ERI links experts onkey states such as Germany and Russia with others focused on theinternational institutions and comparative politics and economics, notjust of Western Europe, but also of Europe in the broader sense. The ERI houses the Centre for Studies in Security and Diplomacy and theoffice of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in European Studies, inaddition to an extensive European Resource Centre and a state of theart Conference Facility, with provision for simultaneous translationand video-conferencing. The European Research Institute offers an unparalleled learning andresearch experience. MA students are based in the ERI building withaccess to desk space and computing facilities. In addition they havethe opportunity to work in an environment fully dedicated to EuropeanStudies alongside some 200 other graduate students in the field.Students also have full access to the European Research Centre (ERC),which houses a state of the art collection of social science sources onEuropean Studies. The ERC houses a range of printed, digital andaudiovisual materials with a large proportion of its stock in networkedelectronic formats. The ERC also comprises the Baykov Library (aspecialist collection on Russia and East Central Europe), the EuropeanDocumentation Centre and the German Documentation Centre. About the University of Birmingham
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