
EUROSUD aims to build on your initial interest in the South European region and its role in the world to deepen and broaden your knowledge of key global trends and issues of which Southern Europe is at the forefront.
It is designed for students with diverse disciplinary backgrounds, particularly in the humanities and social sciences and will develop your understanding of the region through a comparative and international perspective. You will receive multi-disciplinary training in area studies and international affairs as well as intercultural, methodological and practical skills development through multiple mobilities, placements, seminars, online courses and the summer school. The programme provides a platform from which you will participate in critique and discussion of relevant cutting-edge multi-disciplinary research, practice and policy designed to broaden your perspectives with a particular focus on the South European region.
The aims of the programme are to:
- advance and promote the study of the South European region in comparative and international perspective through an integrated and coherent curriculum.
- provide a joint cross-cultural student experience within a European framework to strengthen equality, and increase active citizenship
- foster critical engagement with multiple disciplines and theoretical approaches
- offer innovative and rigorous joint research training online and offline
- promote employability and graduate analytical, practical and transferable skills.
Vukan Jokic
New Zealand
"It may come as a surprise that a student all the way from New Zealand would choose to study South European studies - some of my colleagues here in Glasgow certainly think so - but for me, the EUROSUD programme was the perfect choice. Academically, I chose it because of its multi-disciplinary approach: our courses combine politics, international relations, history, sociology, anthropology and modern languages. Thematically, I chose it because the interest I developed in Southern Europe during my study abroad semester in Italy where I learnt about the migration crisis and the significance of the region as the European Union's south border. I am also looking forward to studying Balkan politics in Athens next semester, particularly because of my Serbian background and I am most excited about the opportunity to spend my final year in sunny, gorgeous Madrid."
Knowledge and Understanding
On completion of the programme, you will be able to:
- Critically evaluate how theoretical and empirical developments across a range of disciplines shape the study of SE examined in comparative and international perspective;
- Apply consistent and integrated approaches to theories, principles, and concepts drawn from relevant contributory disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, particularly political science, international affairs, law, geography, history, economics and cultural studies; and
- Critically evaluate relevant scholarship originating from both within and outside the region.
Skills and Other Attributes
- Critically identify, conceptualise, define, and formulate creative responses to new research problems;
- Synthesise, critically evaluate, and offer professional level insights, interpretations, and solutions to data drawn from a range of primary and secondary sources, including those in their original language; and
- Engage with complex ethical issues in the conduct of independent research involving human subjects and, where relevant, the ability to tackle these in line with UoG guidelines.
Subject-specific/practical skills
- Combine and deploy a critical range of relevant disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to analyse the latest developments in the field;
- Critically evaluate SE within a broader global context whilst retaining an appreciation of the region’s internal diversity in a variety of spheres (cultural, economic, ethnic, political, social);
- Integrate a diverse range of appropriate primary and secondary materials such as statistical data, internet sites, literary and historical texts, interviews, sound recordings, visual screenings;
- Show originality and rigour in the application of a range of quantitative and qualitative research techniques and methodologies appropriate to the research questions addressed;
- Critically interrogate sources in one of the region’s languages.
Transferable Skills
- Exercise autonomous learning capacity, including the ability to review literature, set and solve problems, process research data by reading critically and analytically;
- Present materials coherently and concisely in written form, with clear use of language, professional referencing and use of tables, diagrams and graphics where appropriate
- Successfully time-manage, to meet deadlines and to plan and execute a significant research project using a range of materials and relevant methodological approaches;
- Communicate effectively with audiences at different levels (peer group, academic staff) and present materials orally in a clear manner, using audio-visual aids where appropriate;
- Use a range of IT resources, including word processing, email, database and spreadsheet packages; use and evaluate internet sources perceptively and responsibly.