European Politics and Society

The European Politics and Society (EPS) Václav Havel Programme is a multidisciplinary two-year Joint Master Degree programme linking the fields of European politics, European contemporary history and culture, international relations and policy making. The first year of the programme provides students with a solid foundation in knowledge, theory and methodology through a balanced selection of core courses, and a first opportunity to develop their own interests. In the second year the programme offers four different study tracks reflecting the diverse expertise of the consortium members. Each track combines various elective courses, research methods training, an internship and language tuition with an advanced research dissertation supervised by key staff from each Partner University. Under the academic supervision of prof Lenka Rovná, Jean Monnet Chair ad Personam in European Studies, the EPS Programme gives its students the possibility to acquire high-profile multidisciplinary knowledge and skills. Its main objective is to prepare a new generation of managers, policymakers and research leaders. All the EPS Universities, i.e. – Charles University in Prague, Leiden University, Jagiellonian University in Krakow and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona represent the top level of the European higher education space and a cross section of European academic traditions and approaches. Their long-term partnership within the Europaeum (an association of 10 leading European university institutions) forms the basis for mutual confidence and guarantees successful future cooperation. The added value of the JMD lies primarily in the variety of choices it offers its students to build a specific study curriculum aimed at obtaining a thorough understanding of the challenges Europe is facing today. Students may choose between two different study strands: research oriented and professional. According to their academic interests, they may (for the second, third and fourth semesters) select one of the Partner Universities. These possibilities constitute the appeal and diversity of EPS but without losing the coherence of the programme. The EPS Programme is unique thanks to its focus on the broader understanding of Europe and on identifying, analysing and understanding the current challenges Europe is facing. EPS offers MA courses covering the societal, cultural and historical tradition of Europe and courses dealing with the main issues Europe needs to tackle (security, migration, populism, (des-)integration and relations with neighbouring countries). Europe will be presented not only within its EU borders, but also in the context of strategic partnership areas in Caucasus and Latin America. Compared to other existing JMDs in the EU, the EPS programme offers a first-class opportunity to study pressing European issues in a challenging, open and discourse-orientated setting based on an integrated cohort based approach from a worldwide multicultural perspective.