Summer Programme 2014 26 May - 11 July
Vesalius College Brussels
Summer in Brussels. 2
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Vesalius College Vesalius College offers undergraduate programmes in Business, Communications and International Affairs. As an American-style college with all courses taught in English, the College takes a humanistic approach to intellectual inquiry, encouraging students to not only learn skills and acquire knowledge important for their chosen careers, but also to think critically and develop themselves personally and as citizens of an increasingly multicultural and globalised world. The College’s teaching methods are characterised by small, interactive classes. As a small college with a student body of approximately 300 and a low student-to-professor ratio, the faculty is accessible and able to take a personal interest 4
in the success of students, thus helping them achieve their potential. Situated in Brussels, Vesalius College is home to a thriving international community with over 50 nationalities represented among its student body. Brussels has an important international role: as the Capital of Europe, the city is home to the European institutions, NATO and numerous international organisations and multinational companies. This international environment and location in the Capital of Europe help Vesalius College to give students a truly unique educational experience.
Summer Semester in Brussels The Vesalius College Summer Programme provides courses for college credit, for personal enrichment and to enhance professional development. The summer programme is of six weeks’ duration, from 26 May until 10 July 2014. Students can take up to two courses (worth 6 ECTS/3 US credits each). Classes are scheduled for eight hours a week, usually four hours a day. Transcripts are issued at the end of the summer programme for the home institution of visiting students. Our students benefit from Brussels as the capital of Europe in many ways. Our summer courses have a strong European focus and students also have the opportunity to gain academic credit, work experience and valuable contacts by working with one of several prestigious organisations through our unique internship programme. For admission to the summer programme, a secondary school education and a command of the English language are required. While a student visa is not required, a student must hold a valid passport or identity card.
Brussels and Beyond Brussels is a very vibrant and cosmopolitan city that offers students a great experience for summer study. From its many outdoor cafés, spacious parks, festivals and concerts to its excellent cuisine, museums and active nightlife, there is something for every taste. Vesalius students have many options for easy getaways to explore Europe and its many countries and cultures. Belgium’s inter-city trains provide quick access to the coastal towns of Flanders, medieval Bruges, Antwerp (“The diamond capital of the world”) and the wooded hills of the Ardennes. Looking beyond Belgium, Brussels is the ideal base from which to explore the rest of Europe. Paris is a short 90 minutes by train and London, Cologne and Amsterdam are just over two hours away. Most major European cities are two hours or less by plane, making all of Europe, from Scandinavia to Eastern Europe to the Mediterranean, easily accessible for exploration. 5
Course Offering ART101G, Art in Belgium, Leon Lock Based around three case studies of art in Belgium (or the equivalent cultural area before Belgium’s independence in 1830), the course intends to function as an eye-opener towards art and culture in Belgium from the 15th to the 20th century, by using a number of analytical tools in art appreciation, art historiography, the collecting and display of art, including some business and legal aspects. The course should provide a historical and intellectual framework for the other courses given at Vesalius College and life in Brussels during the Summer Course, so that students can contextualise the rich and diversified aspects of Belgian culture, as well as its quirky ones. ART102G, Introduction to Design, Damien Bihr When functional and technological answers are equally international, when only the price makes the difference in production, design by its cultural approach makes the market decision. Designing a drinkable water bottle is cultural knowledge. The act of drinking, how objects are used is cultural. This design course explores the potential of individual diversity to enhance one’s own capacity to develop a personal cultural power and teach how to communicate by discovering or creating a universal language through objects. 5 weeks and 3 steps to experiment and produce a new design concept that creates a future market without any knowledge in design or production. BUS214G, Management of Art and Culture, Dirk De Corte The pressing need for a high standard knowledge of art management forms the foundations of this course, which captures the essentials of management for culture and arts organisations both in profit and not for profit contexts. Students get acquainted with modern day strategic management issues posed to arts organisations and learn to view such issues both from a general as well as an operational perspective. Strategic HR, Financial and Marketing management provide for an in-depth approach, whereby a strong theoretical framework offers firm links to present day practices and cases. BUS261G, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainable Development, Karen Frazer This course will examine some of the theoretical and practical issues surrounding corporate responsibility (CR) and sustainable development. Topics to be covered include trends in corporate responsibility, the political economy of sustainable development and the growing significance of communications, especially corporate reporting, to the field. Students will also learn best practice in CR programmes and strategic communications for CR.
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BUS325G, International Finance, Oksana Golubtsova This course encompasses the monetary and macroeconomic relations between countries. The course aims to provide comprehensive coverage of the theory and practice of the balance of payments, exchange rate determination and the evolution of the international monetary system, including the recent economic and financial turmoil and crisis management instruments. Selective aspects of the international financial environment of the multinational firm are presented, covering portfolio investment, foreign direct investment, cross-border acquisitions, and trade financing. Prerequisites: ECN 101E, BUS 101E CMM252G, Lobbying in the EU, Steffi Weil Lobbying is an integral part of the European decision-making process. Lobbyists are in the position to actively influence the policy-making process of the European Union. Officials of the European Commission debate EU policies as often with interest groups and lobbyists as with members of the European Council or the European Parliament. As a result, the EU faces the challenge to manage and regulate the rising numbers of interests. However, lobbyists not only hold powerful positions but are also perceived as a source of information to facilitate policy and provide expertise. This course will provide insights on lobbying in the European Union with reference to other systems of lobbying such as the United States or China. We will critically discuss the advantages and disadvantages of lobbying and pose questions to European lobbyists and other practitioners in the field. CMM262G, Topics in European Film History, Wouter Hessels & Ernest Mathijs This course offers an illustrated survey of the most important currents, schools, films and filmmakers within European film history (early cinema in Europe, European avant-garde cinema during twenties, propaganda and poetic realism, beginning of sound film, Italian neorealism, French New Wave, British New Cinema, modernist and contemporary author’s cinema). The main emphasis will be placed on seeing and understanding films as texts (with story and style) operating in their different contexts (social, cultural, economic, political, technological, etc.). Each class will concentrate on a specific current and will be followed by a screening at Cinematek/ Filmmuseum Brussels (www.cinematek.be).
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HIS281G, The Great War in Belgium and Beyond, Michael Palo This summer course aims to introduce students to the reasons why a world war broke out in the summer of 1914, why it lasted over four years, and why it ended the way it did. In addition to the military and diplomatic history of the war, the course looks at the economic, social, ideological, and cultural impact of what was the first total industrial war. The expectation is that students will come away from this course with not only a better understanding of what the First World War was all about, but also an appreciation of the long-term legacies of the war that broke out one hundred years ago this summer. Needless to say, Belgium’s experience will be highlighted. INT381E, Internship, Claude Bernard, Michel Huysseune & Andreas Rambow Working in a sponsoring firm or organisation, students undertake a 150hour project on a theme or topic related to their major. The internships offered in summer 2014 will be available on 21 March 2014. Internship application deadline: 7 April 2014. POL234G, Economics and Politics of the European Union, Mark Corner In the alphabet soup of regional groupings, the European Union is unique because it has a system of sovereignty-sharing between nation-states. The course will examine precisely what that means and how it expresses itself in terms of institutional arrangements. The EU is also unique in having built up a single market in which business activity in another member state is intended to be (and in some cases has become) as straightforward as activity in another region of the same state. The course will examine both of these aspects.
Each course will be worth 6 ECTS (or 3 US credits); this also applies to the internship.
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POL332G, European and Global Governance of Migration, Svitlana Kobzar This course provides an overview of the EU policy-making structures as they apply to migration policy as well as broader themes of EU justice and home affairs. It includes an analysis of the changes of EU governance in the area of justice and home affairs: its origins and evolution as well as the current debates, including security and human rights aspects. In addition to the strong EU focus, the course also maps out the development of the global governance of migration. It explores the role of different stakeholders who are active in migration debates, including different states, international non-governmental organisations, and lobby groups (many of which are active in Brussels). Overall, the course draws on different debates on migration and relates them to broader developments in global politics, including the economic crisis, issues of national identity, immigrant settlement and integration. POL334G, The European Union in the World, Amie Kreppel This course explores the changing role of the European Union (EU) on the global stage. This course will examine the evolution of the EU’s global influence through an analysis of several key areas of influence, including enlargement, trade and economic policy and the development of defence policy. Pre-requisite: at least one course in political science POL235G/352E*, Islam and Citizenship in Europe, Soleiman Kiasatpour This course examines the social and political interactions between European states and their Muslim minority populations. Topics such as identity politics, political participation, role of the media and the effects of immigration on social cohesion and conflict are analysed using a case study and comparative approach. State and societal responses to assimilation, integration and accommodation, are compared. Events such as 9/11, 7/7, the Madrid train bombings, the Danish Cartoons controversy, EU and NATO military operations in Muslim lands, and the “headscarf debate” highlight the importance of understanding Islam and citizenship in Europe. * Course code POL352E for students from Western Kentucky University, course code POL235G for other students. PSY301G, Psychology of Group Dynamics, John Taverniers Groups matter and they are the keys to the understanding of human behaviour. People spend their entire life being in groups, getting out of groups, and leading groups. When studying human behaviour, the strange thing about group behaviour is that people not only react according their own drives, characteristics, and emotions, but that they are also strongly influenced by their interactions with other individuals, groups, and organizations. Accordingly, each person’s behaviour influences, and is in turn affected by, everyone else’s actions.
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Summer Programme Calendar Monday
26 May
First day of classes
Monday - Friday
26 May - 30 May
Registration
Friday
30 May
Last day to add a course
Friday
20 June
Last day to drop a course
Friday
4 July
Final day of classes
Monday - Friday
7 - 11 July
Final exams
Friday
11 July
Public holiday
Vesalius College Students
New Students
Application Fee
0 Euro
50 Euro
Late Registration Fee
65 Euro *
65 Euro *
Tuition per Course
1120 Euro
1120 Euro
Service Fee
75 Euro
93 Euro
Fees
* From noon, Wednesday 28 May - Friday 30 May
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www.vesalius.edu
Contact: For further information about the programme, contact: Vesalius College vzw / asbl Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels [E] vesalius@vub.ac.be [T] +32 (0)2 614 81 70 http://www.vesalius.edu/academics/summer-programme/
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