City Chambers Civic Reception for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Programmes - September 2022
Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) Programmes coordinated by the University of Glasgow received a warm welcome from the City of Glasgow at a Civic Reception held at the grand Glasgow City Chambers, George Square, Glasgow on Tuesday 20 September.
Lord Provost, Jacqueline McLaren opened the ceremony to welcome the students, followed by a speech from Sara Carter, Head of College of Social Sciences.
Afterwards, the EUROSUD students had the opportunity to mingle with other Erasmus students from all eleven EMJMD programmes that are coordinated by the University of Glasgow, over drinks and canapes.
There was a professional photographer to capture some special moments including a photograph of each programme with their fellow students and staff for future memories.
EUROSUD INDUCTION 2022-24 Cohort 4
The EUROSUD International Master in South European Studies Induction took place on week beginning Monday 12 September. A variety of events took place over the week, both online and in-person, including College of Social Sciences Employability Team, Erasmus Mundus Association (EMA), Student Support Officers, Counselling and Psychological Services, Library Session, who provided as an introduction to the services on offer at the University of Glasgow for students and to introduce them to the various teams.
The Thursday session, for students to meet the EUROSUD team took place in the morning. Staff were delighted to meet the students in person for the first time. The afternoon session was via Zoom, and involved the EUROSUD Partners: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Spain, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU), France and LUISS Guido Carli, Rome, Italy. The students met the partners from each Institution for their Semesters 2, 3 and 4 pathways in break-out rooms, which gave them the opportunity to ask questions about their chosen pathways.
Thursday evening was the EUROSUD social event, which took place in the CCA – The Centre for Contemporary Arts: Saramago Café Bar in the City Centre. Professor Tsakatika joked with the students that the food was vegan, although there were plenty of burger places to eat in the city if they needed meat afterwards! However the food went down a treat with everyone saying it was very good, perhaps one or two converted meat eaters! The night was lovely and everyone got to meet, chat, eat and drink in a lovely environment.
The programme is excited to welcome the students to Glasgow for a great first semester!
Mariam Participated in an International Conference on Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, Germany
I participated in the international conference "Cultural Diplomacy to Counter Disinformation," which took place September 3-5, 2022, in Berlin. The program included lectures, workshops, and panel discussions among representatives of the Eastern Partnership/EaP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine).
The conference covered the topics of cultural diplomacy, countering disinformation, and civil society education and echoed the following questions: What is meant by cultural diplomacy? How can diplomacy counter disinformation? How should countries help the voice of the truth to sound louder with the help of cultural heritage and diplomacy? Can culture be the speaking trumpet of dispropaganda? Given that today's societies are more vulnerable to disinformation and propaganda, the conference's combination of theoretical and practical components served as a good toolkit for putting this experience into practice in the settings of both the EaP and Southeast European countries.
The conference was organized and implemented by Berlin-based NGO CRISP with the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office and in a partnership with the Civil Society Cooperation Program.
I am grateful to my program and the Career Development Fund of the University of Glasgow for supporting my participation in the conference.
Mariam Gugulashvili, Georgia, cohort 2021–2023.
Meron (Ghebreigziabiher) Participates in Summer School in Prague
From the 14th to 20th of August I participated on the Summer School on Migration and Development, organized by GEOMIGRACE, a research institute collaborating with the Department of Social Geogra
phy and Regional Development at Charles University of Prague together with the support of IMISCOE (International Migration Research Network). The school invited experience and well-known scholars and experts, from international and non-governmental organizations, who delivered lectures, seminars workshops and panel on migration and development issues on different part of the globe. The topics that have been discussed during the week-school have ranged from Migration Theories and Myths, providing a solid theoretical base in order to understand the different types of migrations as well the correct terminology used in the academic field we assigned, from relevant example of migratory flows currently happening in the world. For instance, the Venezuelan case was discussed as an example of flow where millions of people were forcibly displaced worldwide, without UNHCR recognising them as refugees; on the contrary experts from IOM illustrated us the current case of the Ukraine refugees crisis showing how the UNHCR and EU approach to it was completely different.
Through the participation of various specialist coming from the field, I was able to get a clearer picture on how migratory flows have been managed over the years, how the integration of these populations is still a big challenge for the majority of the world countries, and finally still the existence of double-standards and prejudices when it comes to welcome certain flow of possible asylum seekers.
Finally, since we were 80 participants, including master’s degree students, PHD candidates and experts with several years of experience in the field, the discussions emerging during the lectures have been extremely interesting and motivating for me. I got the chance to understand how refugees and migration “crisis” are handed by relevant IOs and which aspects are prioritised; as my future goal would be to work on refugees matter in the Central Mediterranean route it was a fruitful opportunity for me to take part in this summer school.
By Meron Ghebreigziabiher