Julen Studies French with help of Career Development Fund
One of the most exciting aspects of being a student of an Erasmus mundus programme like EUROSUD, it is the opportunity to spend two years with students from many different countries and cultural backgrounds. This multicultural environment provides EUROSUD cohorts to develop very important working skills in areas like teamwork. The international features of this master motivated me to improve my French skills. That is why I signed up for a B2 course of this language. Now, thanks to the funds provided by the Career Development Fund, I am willing to apply for the DELF B2 exam, in order to improve my linguistic competencies.
EUROSUD is a master where I believe the knowledge of languages is extremely important. Students from EUROSUD have a background in political sciences, international relations and political economy have a very complete international training. Thus, thanks to this master, we will be able to obtain jobs in many international companies or organisations. Therefore, languages are a really remarkable tool to develop the skills we are achieving while studying this master.
Now, part of our cohort are currently studying in Athens, in the National and Kapodistrian University. We are learning about Yugoslavia, its dissolution, and all the ethnic conflicts as a result of it. After years of war and tensions, diplomacy had to prevail in order to put an end to these terrible events that happen in the 90s. Thus, in order to participate in international events and summits whose objective is the settlement of disputes, the knowledge of languages is a significant value. French is one of the most important languages worldwide, so being fluent in it could be very useful in international conferences. As, knowing this South European language enables me to approach more confidently to people from other nationalities and interact with them in their native language. This may allow me to develop closer ties with them rather than limiting myself to one language, like English.
In conclusion, EUROSUD is a master where intercultural communication is learnt very deeply, due to the enriching international atmosphere you are in while studying the master. The opportunity to live and study in three different countries is something I had never thought about. But, thanks to EUROSUD, this is possible. Therefore, I certainly believe that studying French will help me a lot to develop a good future career.
By Julen Ortiz Villar
Amanda Gussão's Internship - EUROSUD Professional Track in Spain
Hello! (:
My name is Amanda and I’m from Brazil. I’m a student of the 21-23 EUROSUD Cohort, with a background in International Relations and Public Relations. As I’m on the professional track, my second semester was in Madrid, my third semester in Aix-en-Provence, and now I’m back in Madrid (by choice) for my traineeship in the Representation of the European Commission in Spain.
I applied for this internship because I wanted to experience working in an European Institution such as the European Commission. Also, my specific position combines both of my previous fields of study, communication and IR, in addition to south European politics.
Finally, I wanted to come back to Madrid (for the third time), because it is a city I see myself living in. I like the people here, I like the weather, I like how safe it is, as well as the professional opportunities I could find here. I am very happy with where EUROSUD is taking me!
Amanda Delgado Gussão
Felix, 2nd Year Research Track Student, learns Greek at NKUA thanks to the EUROSUD Career Development Fund
EUROSUD students may apply for funding for activities linked to the programme and/or their related career development that reflect the ethos and learning objectives of the degree programme. Below, we hear from Felix, one of our second year Research Track students, on how he was able to enrol on a four-month Greek class at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athen’s Modern Greek Language Teaching Centre, thanks to the fund.
With support from the EUROSUD Career Development Fund, I have enrolled in a four month Greek class at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens’s Modern Greek Language Teaching Centre. The centre is located at the NKUA’s main campus in Zografou which I had not visited before and which, with its big faculty buildings, parks, and canteens, provides me with another experience of Greek university life.
As for the course, I find that the B1-level class I am taking connects nicely to my previous knowledge of the language and will hopefully improve my level to conversational which has always been a lifelong goal of mine. Also, speaking Greek fluently at least at some very basic level could greatly expand my professional opportunities to work as a journalist reporting on and from Greece.
I feel privileged to be given this chance in the second and final semester at NKUA, as the evening language classes also provide a welcome change from working on the Master’s dissertation.
Anne, EUROSUD Research Track Student learns Italian in Copenhagen thanks to Career Development Fund
EUROSUD students may apply for funding for activities linked to the programme and/or their related career development that reflect the ethos and learning objectives of the degree programme. Below, we hear from Anne, one of our Research Track students on how she was able to continue learning Italian in Copenhagen thanks to the fund.
Thanks to financial support from the EUROSUD Studies and Career Development Fund, I am able to attend a B2 Italian language course at Studieskolen in Copenhagen. I started learning Italian during my third semester at Aix-Marseille Université, and I am thankful for the chance to continue studying the language this semester as well.
As a student of the research track, I am currently writing my dissertation during the fourth and final semester of the EUROSUD program. Improving my language skills will hopefully prove to be an asset when I soon finish the master program and begin my job search. My hope is to continue working as a journalist but with a specialization on South European issues.
As I have already worked on my language abilities in Spanish and French, both before and during the master’s program, I think Italian could be a good addition to these skills. The language school is known for its good reputation, engaged students and native speaking teachers, so I am already happy about attending the course. I am therefore very grateful to the EUROSUD Career Development Fund for making this a possibility!
Shubhankar Paul - EUROSUD Research Track at the LUISS Guido Carli University
I’m Shubhankar Paul and I’m a student of the EUROSUD Cohort 2021-23 from India, with a background in European Studies and International Relations. I had the chance to attend my second semester of the programme in Athens and I am currently in Rome for my third mobility at LUISS Guido Carli University. For me, EUROSUD and its research track was a natural extension of my studies about Europe, and I was particularly attracted to the components of the coursework on migration: I represent the third generation in a twice-migrated family that migrated from Pakistan to India in the late 1940s, and later internally migrated across the linguistically and culturally diverse states of India, over the next few decades.
While being in the research track and anticipating its academic demands, I always found myself torn between the public policy side of migration and the ethnographic and anthropological side of migration. For my thesis, I have attempted to find a middle ground between my research interests, and I am scheduled to begin work on my master’s thesis on acculturation strategies of South Asian migrants in Italy and Greece this upcoming semester.
I chose Luiss Guido Carli University for my third mobility because I was attracted to the coursework on Migration Politics in the Mediterranean region, and rightly so. Prof. Stefania Panebianco helped us learn hands-on multilateralism and diplomacy with the help of a two-day simulation exercise. I must mention that this interest in migration was instilled in my second semester in Athens while studying the coursework on migration with Prof. Angeliki Dimitriadi. As well as the courses themselves at LUISS that I learned a lot from – Business Environment in the Mediterranean region and History of European Integration to name a few – I greatly benefitted from the learning infrastructure at LUISS. The infrastructure is built to help students function efficiently: well-lit and equipped reading rooms, computer rooms, libraries, a 24-hour canteen and a beautiful campus with intriguing architecture, all serve as icing on the cake.
At LUISS, you also get the opportunity to socialise with the academic elites and professionals from the disciplines of politics, diplomacy, law and journalism – this greatly enhances the socio-cultural capital of the students in my opinion.
I also feel a certain sense of pleasure and responsibility to be studying what I do because migrants and migration will determine the future of not only the affairs of Europe, but also the rest of the world. As a student from the Global South with research interests in migrants’ lives, I would urge more students to pursue this discipline – the academic output on migrants from particularly South Asia in South Europe, is disproportionately understudied, in my opinion, when examined with respect to the migrant population they represent in south European countries. I am grateful to EUROSUD and LUISS faculties for their efforts to contribute to more academic output in this understudied field and at the same time, helping me, as a post-graduate student to accurately identify the intersection of my broader research interests in European studies and my associated identity as a Global South student from South Asia.
Shubhankar Paul
Anne Jensen Sand - EUROSUD Research Track at the Aix-Marseille Université!
Hi everybody!
My name is Anne, and I am a Danish master’s student of EUROSUD with a background in journalism. I have for some time wanted to add an academic specialization to my more practical profile. When I saw that the EUROSUD master existed, this was the perfect option for me, as it allowed me to dig into one of my all-time favourite subjects - Southern Europe - and combine it with in-depth research, particularly when doing the dissertation in the fourth and final semester.
Wanting to improve my French, I therefore chose to spend my third and fourth mobility at Aix-Marseille Université as a student on their research track. As most people choose the professional track, we were the only 2 EUROSUD students on the research track, and the only 6 French students. This made teaching very intense, but it was also a privilege having so few of us in class, as it made it easier for everyone to engage in discussions. We had classes on methodology, nationalism, religion, migration, borders, political transitions, cultural and collective memory in South Europe, with some classes specifically focused on the Balkans. We also had a French language course and one compulsory language class, which in my case was Italian.
As our schedule was almost entirely different from the one that professional track students follow, and the fact that they often had classes at another facility, we unfortunately didn’t see the other EUROSUD students at the university, unless we bumped into each other at the library or at lunch at the university cafeteria. However, this was made up for in the evenings or weekends, since I lived in a university dorm with four other EUROSUD students.
I never doubted that I wanted to choose the research track, and this didn’t change while being in Aix-en-Provence. Furthermore, if you’re really keen on an internship, it’s possible to do that on a part-time basis while also writing the dissertation. However, this requires a great amount of discipline. I have chosen to focus solely on the dissertation and possibly hand it in in June instead of September, and I am actually looking forward to it. After having moved around and gotten used to new universities, subjects and classes on a half-yearly basis, it is going to be interesting to get the time to really dig into one subject, in my case left-wing populism. If you are going to Aix and have any questions, feel free to reach out!
Anne Jensen Sand
Alaa Amro - Future EUROSUD Student Entrepreneur?
On the 24th of November, I had the opportunity to meet and network with a group of 12 Austrians in Bethlehem, Palestine. Proudly, my startup proposal on food waste management in the city of Hebron was selected for the next level.
The U-Solve project focuses on the major challenges that cities in the Euro-Mediterranean region, including Cyprus, Italy, and Greece, as well as Egypt, Palestine, and Jordan. The project supports us in our efforts to make our cities sustainable, livable, and resilient over the long term. As well as assuring potential entrepreneurs, especially young people, that they can turn ideas into actual businesses.
As a EUROSUD student at the Autonomous University of Madrid, a course on public policy making inspired me to apply for this project, and to develop policy proposals that promote entrepreneurship as a tool for sustainable development in urban areas, with direct participation from public institutions throughout the process.
I am grateful for my ongoing journey with EUROSUD, which provides me with an incredible opportunity to learn and grow through the Career Development Fund that supported me to attend the event.
By Alaa Amro
Ayaulym Participates in COY17 in Sharm El Sheikh
Last month, Ayaulym Sarybayeva, a second year EUROSUD student on the Madrid-Marseille track, participated in the 17th UN Climate Change Conference of Youth COY17 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. COY17 is an annual event and was held this year on the sidelines of COP27 from 2-4 November. Thousands of young change-makers from over 140 countries gathered with one main goal; Saving Earth. Ayaulym wrote about her experiences of meeting and working with young people from all over the world to build a better future for everyone below.
I had the honour to represent Kazakhstan at the 17th UN Youth Conference on Climate Change (COY17), held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, where young people from all over the world came together with one goal – to make the planet a better place for all of us.
Young changemakers from 140 countries were brought together to exchange ideas and share experiences on how they are working on this issue in their countries and communities with the aim of Saving the Earth on Nov. 2-4.
I am truly grateful for this experience of meeting the most active young people from all over the world, participating in workshops where you see different points of view and learn from their experience. I am more motivated than ever to work to engage young people in climate change and raise awareness in my region, and build a better future for everyone.
Young people are the future agents of change and the COY17 conference reinforced the capacity building of young people through round tables and workshops, where we not only learned about varied topics ranging from green economy and waste management, water scarcity, global food security, renewable energy, but also learned from representatives of global organizations on how to effectively engage young people in climate action.
In addition, the conference allowed participants to enter a multinational environment through intercultural exchange, thus creating an open space for the expression of ideas and the exchange of culture. We have seen that the world gets smaller and cozier when we peacefully gather and discuss what is really important for young people who demand action, not promises or words.
The biggest impression of the conference was getting to know like-minded people from all over the world and realizing that you are not alone on the way to solving global problems. We exchanged ideas and discussed possible ways to collaborate for a sustainable future. Personally, I found it really aspiring to learn more about different student and youth organizations for climate action in other countries, where some have built an educational platform and others engaged young people through social media.
Most of all, I appreciate the opportunity to learn from their experiences and offer new ideas for my region of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. As a content creator and digital community builder, I will work to raise awareness among young people from Central Asia by introducing them to important topics, public lectures and materials. I am inspired to act, teach others and engage youth in building a better future for each other.
Alone we can bring a difference, but only together can we change the world.
The text of the youth statement can be found by clicking the link.
Mingyue attends Summer School in Belgium
I attended the Summer School for Data and Algorithms in Leuven, Belgium. This Programme was hosted by KU Leuven, Google and other renowned research institutions. Scholars and senior industry scientists were invited to speak about their cutting-edge research at the summer school. Furthermore, the discussions included but were not limited to practical techniques in data science tools such as MySQL, NPL (natural language processing) and its applications in social science, data cleansing and database imputation, and data analysis models ranging from traditional DID to regression discontinuity design. Many papers dealt with big data in social and political science. One study, for example, used machine learning to analyse a wide range of public policy documents concerning patents.
Also, this summer school offered a combination of talking with academic researchers and industry experts. This was appealing to me as a student preparing for a quantitative thesis project and looking for career opportunities as a data analyst in NGOs or public sectors. In addition, I used the Difference-in-Difference model to complete previous research on Spanish local election turnout and the COVID-19 pandemic. So I was able to re-access the data sample and fixed effects with other participants. In all, this intensive data summer school was an intellectually challenging but enriching experience. And I am very grateful that the Career Development Fund helped support my participation.
By Mingyue Feng
EUROSUD supports Irakli's professional development at the OECD Project
I would like to thank EUROSUD Studies and Career Development Fund for supporting me in professional development and joining the Global Relations Secretariat at Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In the Eurasia Division I will be working in the Ukraine team and contributing to the planning of recovery projects for the next 6 months. It is a great responsibility and excitement to be at the forefront of the initiatives which aim at speeding up the reconstruction of Ukraine. Gained research skills and knowledge thanks to the immersive learning experience at the University of Glasgow, NKUA and LUISS have enabled me to contribute to the OECD’s work on Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction. For more than a quarter-century, the OECD has worked closely with the Eurasia region to encourage sustainable and inclusive growth in Eurasia, promoting structural reforms and capacity building, and facilitating policy dialogue. In the midst of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, the OECD is bringing together its latest insights, analysis and data to shed light on the policy challenges ahead.
By Irakli Gabidzashvili