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New international MA wins European Commission funding

13 November 2006

A consortium of European universities led by the UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies has won funding for a new international masters in Economy, State and Society from the European Commission's Erasmus Mundus programme.

Dr Robin Aizlewood

UCL has teamed up with Charles University (Prague), Corvinus University of Budapest, the University of Helsinki, Jagiellonian University (Krakow) and Tartu University (Estonia) to offer the two-year MA, starting in 2007-8. The Erasmus Mundus funding will enable the consortium to offer a large number of full two-year scholarships to students from non-EU countries as well as three-month research fellowships for visiting scholars.

The IMESS programme offers pathways in Economics & Business, Politics & Security, Nation & Society, and History & Culture. Each option incorporates advanced research methods training, language tuition in one of Czech, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian or Polish, specialist electives and a research dissertation. Successful students will receive a double degree: from UCL and the partner institution where they spend their second year. They will also receive a consortium diploma supplement.

The European Commission has recognised the excellence and innovation of the IMESS by awarding it Erasmus Mundus status, a programme designed to strengthen European cooperation and international links in higher education. The programme does this by supporting high-quality European masters courses; enabling students and visiting scholars from around the world to engage in postgraduate study at European universities; and by encouraging mobility of European students and scholars towards the rest of the world.

Dr Christopher Gerry, Director of the new MA programme and Lecturer in European Economy at UCL said: "This is an exciting and challenging programme, combining the unparalleled strengths of UCL with the best and most prestigious universities from Central and Eastern Europe. Graduates of the programme will be in a very strong position on the job market as well as being equipped with the skills for a research-related career."

Dr Robin Aizlewood, Director of the UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies, said: "The aim of the Erasmus Mundus programme is to promote excellence in EU higher education worldwide and UCL's success with its partners in this venture is a mark of UCL's global standing."

To find out more about the MA and Erasmus Mundus, follow the links at the bottom of this article.

Image: Dr Robin Aizlewood [right] with Aleksandra Podhorodecka, President of the Polish Educational Society