Mitrovica Youth Program

MSU 2009: Course overview

The organization of the 4th edition of the Mitrovica Summer University is postponed for the period of Autumn or Winter of 2009.  We want to use this chance to apologize and call on our future students to follow this site for future news. This is what is prepared (6 courses) and will follow during the Mitrovica Summer University 2009:

• Environmental protection
• Economy/Entrepreneurship
• Peace Building/Conflict Studies/Diplomacy
• Comparative study of Balkan Countries and EU Integration
• Cultural Heritage
• Web Design

Each course will be taught by an international professor and a local co-professor. Successful participants will gain an official Certificate of the Mitrovica Summer University which includes between 3 and 4 ECTS credits. All the courses will be taught in English some with simultaneous translation into Serbian.

MITROVICA SUMMER UNIVERSITY 2009
COURSE DESCRIPTION

COURSE NO. 1
Professor: Robin McCord
Course title: Eastern European Environmental Protection Studies (3ES)
Course description:
The goal of this program is to provide participants with the basic knowledge and skills needed to make Environmental Protection Studies (EPS) relevant to culturally diverse audiences. In two weeks the classes will cover issues that address the environmental crises such as science-based policies and programs, adherence to the rule of law, and the need for overwhelming transparency of policy and practices. Participants will leave with strategies that prepare them to lead their community’s environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts to protect human health and the environment. One other critical area to EPS is its role in international business and politics. Many treaties and international business contracts now include specific environmental operating and production limits on pollutants and contaminates. These issues will be seamlessly folded into the core content.

COURSE NO. 2
Professor: TBA
Course title: Entrepreneurship skills and practice
Course description:
This course will outline how to be a good entrepreneur, how to identify opportunities and capitalize on them. Students should be able to develop an outline of a business plan by the end of the course. Full details to be announced.

 

COURSE NO. 3
Professor: Emanuela Del Re Course title: Diplomacy and negotiation. Theory and practice in the framework of conflict studies and international relations.
Course description:
The course will explore diplomacy and negotiation, analyzing them in a wide range of topics, from schools of thought to different ways of conceiving the role of diplomacy and negotiation in times of conflicts and peace. Essential to the comprehension of diplomacy and negotiation is also the understanding of basic principles of international relations, a discipline that is presented from the point of view of approaches, from rationalism, to pluralism, to globalism, and case studies. The course proposes the analysis of different circumstances, such as when diplomacy is used to provoke war, to mobilize public support etc. Practical exercises such as role playing in situations in which the students will practically experience aspects of diplomacy and negotiation, and a final international crisis simulation will also be carried out during the course.

COURSE NO. 4
Professor: TBA
Course title: EU enlargement and comparative study of institutional reforms in Balkan countries
Course description:
EU enlargement and comparative study of institutional reforms in Balkan countries - This curriculum evolves main stages of all CEE countries to European Integration from 90’s which will enable comparative studies with Balkan countries and their specific individual way toward EU. The EU in management of the ethnic conflicts will also be included in the frame of course as well as the regional initiatives. What is the Socio-political situation in founding countries and in those who have been accepted in recent enlargement? Do the supranational organizations have future, with or without further enlargement and what is their global perspective.

COURSE NO. 5
Professor: TBA
Course title: Cultural Heritage at Unease: promoting understanding between cultures through folk characters and stories
Course description:
Course will start with examining theoretical approach in order to design strategies for language and cultural learning. Emphasize will be on practical part due the fact that mentioned strategies can only be understood by putting it in the practice. In addition, to understand different cultures and heritage, and to promote Intercultural Education, Children’s Literature and Folk characters will be presented from  Spanish, German (Grimm Brothers) and Serbian literature. The different texts, poetry, fairy tales, short stories or drama will be important part of this course. Finally, we will make an approach to the Story Making methodology to show students new possibilities in common cultural understanding.

COURSE NO. 6
Professor: TBA
Course title: TBA- IT skills and/or web design
Course description:
Students who enroll in this course will finish with some concrete IT skills. These could cover various elements which would make up components of a European Computer Driving License (ECDL) and will hopefully include a component of web design. Full details to be announced.

MSC 2008: Course overview

Course Nr.1: Relations between EU and Balkans, Professor: Ekaterina Volkova

Course contents:
The process of integration into the European Union of the Western Balkans is called for the end of the process of European integration on the territory of the South Eastern Europe. With this action it would be possible to avoid the most dangerous seat of intensity – on the territory of former Yugoslavia. However, this project is very difficult for realization. Long-lasting period of crisis and collapse of SFRY, complicated with the civil war and ethnic conflicts on the territory of former Yugoslavia during 90th are turned Serbia from the leader of the eurointegration process of the 80th into the outsider.

Course Nr.2: Nation and Nationalism in the Contemporary World: Theory and Cases, Professor: Kenneth Kemp

Course contents:
In an age of globalization, instant messaging, and 24-hour news service, conflict over debates about national identity seems out of place. Yet, a quick survey of the world’s trouble spots, i.e., Iraq, Palestine, Chechnya, as well as many of the states that emerged after the breakup of the U.S.S.R., reveals the continuing importance of nationalism. Indeed, even parts of the world assumed to be immune from civil strife, i.e., Belgium and Canada, are at risk due to strong nationalist pressures that threaten the stability of the existing state. By closely studying the concept of nationalism and the political realities generated by its application, students will come away with a valuable means of understanding much of what is relevant in contemporary international politics.

The goal of this course seminar is to introduce students to the continuing role that nationalism plays in the contemporary world. While some philosophers dismiss nationalism as having no rational basis, resting instead on such primitive notions as tribalism, clan, or other pre-modern identities, others see nationalism much more positively as a partial source of personal identity or as a legitimate if not necessary focus of loyalty. Many political scientists see national identity as central to the functioning and operation of the state. This seminar will explore the role of nationalism as it affects both the formation of the modern state.

Course Nr.3: European institutions, Identity and Cultural Heritage, Professor: Sabine Stadler

Course contents:
The course gives an overview of south-east stability pact, the functioning of the EU Institutions after the contract of Lissabon.
The students learn the research and formation programmes of the EU and the culture programmes,including the technical know-how in the field of cultural heritage. The Balkan is studied in the field of mass-media and agriculture as well as in foreign administration.

Course Nr.4 The Role of Dialogue in Local Peace Building, Professor: Monica Jakobsen

Course contents
The dialogue process inhabits a central place in the field of peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Defined as a method of deep communication and authentic interaction between individuals, or groups of individuals it is designed to change conflictual relationships over time. However, there are limitations to where and when dialogue is appropriate in the cycle on conflict transformation. In this course we will explore the origins and nature of dialogue, look at various practice models and assess their appropriateness in various conflict situations. The teaching methods for this class are interactive in nature and an integral part of the course will be spent engaging in actual dialogue around issues in the Kosovo conflict.

Course 5: Strategic Management, Professor: Eric Dirksen

Objectives
This course on Strategic management teaches the fundamentals of strategic analyses related to the market environment and the most important methods and sources of organisation research. After the course, students will be able to analyse the external environment of an organisation at the level of the product/market mix. Students also will be able to recognize strategic problems in a practical situation (case), to make a simple analysis, and to recognize and analyse structural problems within an organisation.

Contents
The strategic functioning of (mostly commercial) organisations, and the relations between the internal organisation and management are at the centre of this course. SWOT analysis, corporate governance, business-level strategy, corporate-level strategy, directions and methods of strategy development, as well as the structures and the culture of an organisation are the main topics to be discussed.

Course 6: Theory and practice of Negotiation in the general framework of Conflict prevention and resolution, Professor: Emanuela C. Del Re

Course contents
Negotiation is conceived, in its immediate understanding, as a discussion between two or more persons who try to find a solution to a problem.
Negotiation in general takes place because the parts involved wish to create something new that they could not create by themselves. Otherwise, they intend to find a solution to a problem or a dispute between them.The parts are aware of the fact that there is a conflict of interest between them, and think that they can use formulae that could influence the other part to obtain a better agreement, instead of simply thinking to take what the other part would spontaneously give them.
They prefer to reach an agreement instead of openly fighting, give up, or interrupt the contact and therefore the process of negotiation.
The inter-personal or inter-groups is a wide range process that can take place either at personal level or institutional level, international organization level and other. The individuals and the groups that are involved in negotiation can be of the most diverse origin, but the phases, the objectives, the power balances, recur.
The success of a negotiation depends on the strategy, that in its turn depends upon the ability to evaluate what has been obtained versus what has been given, what the parts have been able to create, the long term effects of the agreement.

The course here proposed on “Theory and Practice of Negotiation in the General Framework of Conflict Prevention and Resolution” has the aim of providing all theoretical information and practical experiences necessary to learn - starting from the notion of the basic principles and theories of international relations and conflict studies - the principles of negotiation to be applied in any kind of situation and work environment, with the most diverse objectives.