Central & East European, Russian & Eurasian Studies (Erasmus Mundus International Master)

This is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree double degree programme. Students will emerge with two degrees:

• International Masters (IntM) in Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies: University of Glasgow, UK/University of Tartu, Estonia

And one of the following degrees (depending on where the student spends their third mobility period): 

• Master of Arts (MA) in Political Science (Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies): Corvinus University Budapest, Hungary
• Master of Caucasus Studies (MCS) in Political Science (Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies): Ilia State University, Georgia
• Magister (mgr) of European Studies (Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies): Jagiellonian University, Poland
  
• Master (M) of International Relations (Central and East European Studies): KIMEP University, Kazakhstan
• Master of Arts (MA) in International Relations and Diplomacy (Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies): University of Sarajevo: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year 1, Semester 1 - University of Tartu - you will take the core courses listed below:

• Introduction to Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
• Language - Polish, Hungarian, Estonian* OR Russian
• Social Sciences Methodology

*Estonian can be studied at Tartu as an optional module in year 1, semester 1, but must be taken alongside one of the core language options that can be continued at Glasgow.

Option courses may include

• Foreign Policy Analysis
• Cross-border e-governance
• Public Governance
• The EU in International Politics
• Political Theory and Ethics
• International Relations
• E-Democracy and E-Government
• Extreme Right-Wing Movements and Populism
• Soviet and Post-soviet Russian Culture
• Reciprocal Images: Russia and Europe
• Russian Economy
• The Essentials of Biopolitics
• The Politics of Self-Determination, Secession, and State Creation
• Comparative EthnoPolitics
• Political Culture
• History of the Baltic Sea Region

Year 1, Semester 2 - University of Glasgow - you will select a specialist pathway

Central and East European Studies Pathway

• Geopolitics of Central and Eastern Europe OR Statehood and Nationality in Central and Eastern Europe
• Language: Hungarian OR Polish

Russian Studies Pathway

• Russian Foreign Policy OR Post-Soviet Russia: Renegotiating Global and Local Identities OR Russia, China and International Politics of Eurasia
• Language: Russian

Eurasian Studies Pathway

• Contested States: The Caucasus after 1991 OR Rethinking Central Asian Security
• Language: Russian

Western Balkans Pathway

• Yugoslavia and After: Themes and Controversies
• Language: Russian

Optional courses may include:

• De-facto States in the Post-Soviet Space
• Rethinking Central Asian Security
• Contested States: The Caucasus since 1991
• Geopolitics of Central Europe
• Russian Foreign Policy
• Post-Soviet Russia: Renegotiating Global and Local Identities
• Statehood and Nationality in Central and Eastern Europe
• Yugoslavia and After:Themes and Controversies
• Media and Democratisation in CEE and the Former Soviet Union
• Russia, China and the International Politics of Eurasia
• Cultural History of Communism

Year 2

You will spend the second year of study at your allocated degree partner university where you will follow a study track in your specialised geo-political areas in semester 1, followed by your dissertation

Year 2, Semester 1 - Partner University

You study abroad at one on the degree awarding partner universities 

Year 2, Semester 2 - Partner University

• Dissertation
• 3rd mobility*

* During all 3rd mobility periods, students will have a chance to complete a placement.  This placement will form part of your academic programme at the partner university and will be credit bearing.

Placements will be with a variety of non-governmental, think-tank and charitable organisations and will enable students to develop important professional skills within their region of specialisation.  

Aims

The IMCEERES double degree programme aims to provide students with thorough knowledge and understanding of historical and contemporary developments in the society, politics, economics and culture of Russia and the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

To this end, the programme is structured to offer a wide variety of options for advanced study of the region's shared Communist past and the ways in which this has shaped - and continues to shape - the dynamics of post-Communist and post-Cold War transformation.  The geographical area to be treated by this programme spans therefore across the wider post-Communist world, in a region that encompasses Central & Eastern Europe, Russia, and the newly independent states of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The programme's specific components and its mobility patterns will facilitate participation in the achievement of its core aim by:

• Presenting fresh and innovative approaches to the study of the East European and Eurasian region, based on the specialised knowledge of departmental staff;
• Increasing the students' familiarity with a range of relevant disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches derived from the Social Sciences and Humanities;
• Providing a knowledge of a regional language sufficient to conduct research using written sources in that language;
• Supervising the students' independent specialised research in a topic of their choice, which will be selected within the overall parameters of the programme's partner institutions; and
• Utilising mobility experiences to develop, appreciate the importance of, and articulate intercultural awareness

Intended Learning Outcomes and Skills

The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, skills, qualities and other attributes designed to prepare them for future academic and/or professional careers. 

Knowledge and Understanding

By the end of the programme, students should be able to:

• Critically evaluate how developments across a range of disciplines have shaped - and continued to shape - the distinctive character of Russian, Central & East European, and Eurasian Studies;
• Apply consistent and integrated approaches to theories, principles, and concepts drawn from relevant contributory disciplines and inter-disciplinary formations within an Area Studies framework; and
• Critically evaluate relevant scholarship originating from both within and outside the region.

Skills and other attributes 

By the end of the programme, students should be able to:

• 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 University of Glasgow guidelines

Subject Specific Skills

By the end of the programme, students should be able to:

• Combine a critical range of relevant disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, drawing on an awareness of the latest developments in the field;
• Critically evaluate Russia, Central & Eastern Europe, and Eurasia within a broader global context whilst retaining an appreciation of the regions internal diversity in a variety of spheres (cultural, economic, ethnic, political, social);
• Integrate a diverse range of appropriate primary and secondary materials such as literary and historical texts, oral interviews, sound recordings, visual screenings and Internet sites;
• Show originality and creativity in the application of a range of research techniques and methodologies appropriate to the cultural context of the region and its peoples;
• Critically interrogate sources in one of the region's languages.

Transferable/key skills

By the end of the programme, students should be able to:

• 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 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.

Year 1, Semester 1 - University of Tartu - 30 ECTS (60 UofG Credits)

Compulsory core courses

• Introduction to Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
• Social Sciences Methodology
• Language - Polish, Hungarian, Estonian* OR Russian

Optional courses 

• History of Russia and Europe since 1848
• The EU in International Politics
• Globalization
• E-Democracy and E-Government
• Civil Society
• Russian Economy
• Contemporary Economic and Social History
• Political Culture
• History of the Baltic Sea Region
• EU Enlargement, Transition & Neighbourhood Policy
• Comparaitve Ethno-Politics
• Conflict Management and Resolution
• Foreign Policy Analysis
• International Relations

This course list is indicative only.  Some courses might not be available every year and new courses may be added.

Year 1, Semester 2 - University of Glasgow - 30 CTS (60 UofG Credits)

Students select a specialist pathway

Central and East European Studies Pathway

• Geopolitics of Central and Eastern Europe OR Statehood and Nationality in Central and Eastern Europe
• Language: Hungarian OR Polish
• 1 Optional course

Russian Studies Pathway

• Russian Foreign Policy OR Post-Soviet Russia: Renegotiating Global and Local Identities
• Language: Russian
• 1 Optional course

Eurasian Studies Pathway

• Contested States: The Caucasus after 1991 OR Rethinking Central Asian Security
• Language: Russian
• 1 Optional course

Western Balkans Pathway

• Yugoslavia and After: Themes and Controversies  
• Language: Russian
• 1 Optional course

Optional courses may include

• Contested States: The Caucasus after 1991
• De-facto States in the Post-Soviet Space
• Media and Democratisation in CEE and the Former Soviet Union
• Rethinking Central Asian Security
• Statehood and Nationality in Central and Eastern Europe
• The Geopolitics of Central and Eastern Europe
• Cultural History of Communism
• Yugoslavia and After: Themes and Controversies  
• Russia, China and the International Politics of Eurasia

You will also have the opportunity to meet representatives of the consortium to discuss your research interests. By the end of Year 1 you will have formulated your basic dissertation proposal and been allocated supervisors at Glasgow/Tartu and your allocated degree partner.

The second year of study will be spent at the allocated degree partner university.  Students will follow a study track in a specialised geo-political area in semester 1.  Followed by the dissertation.

Year 2, Semester 1 - Partner University - 30 ECTS (60 UofG Credits)

Information on courses available at partner universities listed below

Year 2, Semester 2

• Dissertation/Thesis
• 4th Mobility (if applicable)

Students will be jointly supervised in the writing of the dissertation by academic staff at the partner univeristy and the University of Glasgow.

Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

Examples of courses available:

• Contemporary Hungarian Politics - core course
• Politics of Transition in East Central Europe - core course
• Nations, Minorities and Minority Policies in East Central Europe
• Parliaments in East-Central Europe
• Radical Parties in Europe
• Political Discourse Analysis
• Language options

Jagiellonian University, Poland

Examples of courses available:

• European Civilisation - core course
• EU Institutions and Decision-Making Process
• EU Foreign & Security Policy: Europe, NATO and Transatlantic Security
• Citizenship, Migration and Multiculturalism in Europe
• Political and Social History of CEE in the 20th Century
• Totalitarian Systems: Ideology and Terror
• Contemporary Crises and Conflicts,
• Polish Language and Culture
• Religion, Diversity and Toleration in Central and Eastern Europe
• Security and Democracy in Europe after 1989
• Europe as a Normative Power: A Central European Perspective
• Anti-Semitism after Auschwitz in Comparative Perspective
• Language options

KIMEP University, Kazakhstan

Examples of courses available:

• Central Asia in Global Politics 
• Russian Foreign Policy
• Asian Security: Theory and Practice
• Central Asia - Russia Relations
• Central Asia - United States Relations
• Domestic Politics and Foreign Policy in the Post-Communist World
• European Union: Politics and Foreign Policy
• Historical Genesis of the Modern Concepts of International Relations
• Emerging Powers and Markets
• Political Geography: Geopolitics, Globalization and Governance
• Government and Politics in Central Asia
• Language options

Ilia State University, Georgia

Examples of courses available:

• Russian Language - core course
• Attitudes to 'Others' in Georgia
• Foreign Policies of the States of the South Caucasus: Comparative Perspective
• Democratization and Political Development in the South Caucasus
• Energy and Economics of Transition in the South Caucasus
• Ethnic Conflicts in Comparative Perspective: The Caucasus and Central Asia
• Forms and Consequences of Europeanisation in the Caucasus: Introduction to the Concept and its Application
• Political History of the Caucasus
• Remembering the Soviet Past in Georgia: Between Memory and History: An Introduction into Interdisciplinary Memory Studies
• An Introduction into Interdisciplinary Memory Studies
• Research Seminar on Stalin and Stalinism
• Security and Geopolitics of the Caucasus
• Citizenship from Below in Post-Soviet Societies
• Introduction to Mountain Cultures of the Caucasus

University of Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

Examples of courses available:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina in International Relations
• Diplomacy in 21^st Century
• Theories of International Relations
• Development Studies
• International Judicial Institutions
• Contemporary Debates in International Relations
• Economic Diplomacy
• Comparative Democratization and Authoritarianism
• Language Options (Bosnian and Russian)

Language training is available to all students in Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Russian.  In year 1, all students must study one of these core languages.  Teaching is available for beginners in all languages, intermediate in Polish and intermediate and advanced in Russian.  The International Master language courses aim to provide students with linguistic competence in the relevant language.  The courses are taught to enable students to acquire sufficient linguistic knowledge and translation skills to be able to read texts in the given language and to use these texts in their studies; and to be understood in basic everyday communicative situations.  The only linguistic precondition for entry to the International Master programme is that students must provide evidence of proficiency in English in cases where English is not the student's native language.

Students will start their language training in Tartu in semester 1 before continuing with their chosen language in semester 2 in Glasgow.

Students with advanced knowledge of a particular language from the region will be required to learn another Central and East European language.

Students can opt to take optional language training in the local languages of their third mobility university.  For Hungarian (Corvinus) and Polish (Jagiellonian), students can continue their language training from year 1.  For  Georgian (Ilia State), Bosnian (Sarajevo) and Kazakh (KIMEP), students can take these languages in addition to the languages studied in year 1. 

Estonian can also be studied at Tartu as an optional module in year 1 semester 1, but must be taken alongside one of the four core language options that can also be continued at Glasgow (Hungarian, Polish and Russian). Students who return to Tartu for their final semester can also enrol for extra training in Estonian, but this will not be credit-bearing and will not be included on the final degree transcript.

Mobility refers to periods of study or research undertaken during the two years of the programme and can be broken down as follows:

1st Mobility 

Year 1, Semester 1 - University of Tartu

2nd Mobility
Year 1, Semester 2 - University of Glasgow

3rd Mobility
Year 2 - At the allocated degree partner university.  In semester 1 students undertake taught courses, in semester 2 students work on their dissertation
During all third mobility periods, students will complete a placement.  This placement will form part of the academic programme at the degree awarding partner university and will be credit bearing.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

• EMJMD scholarship holders must spend at least two complete mobility periods in at least two of the consortium's full degree awarding partners which are located in different Programme Countries (i.e. 2 complete mobility periods in Programme Countries different from country of residence*). Each of these mandatory mobility periods must include a volume of study/research or equivalent corresponding to at least 30 ECTS.   For the IMCEERES course this means Tartu (30 ECTS) and Glasgow (30 ECTS).  IMCEERES students also undertake 3rd mobility period in one of the degree partner universities.  * i.e. Students resident in the UK are required to attend Jagiellonian University in Poland OR Corvinus University of Budapest in Hungary for 1 semester in year 2 in order to comply with mobility requirements.

Additional
Students may choose to attend summer schools or find internship opportunities in the summer periods between Year 1 and Year 2.   This will not count as official degree mobility but may be recorded on students' transcripts as an activity undertaken during the programme.

The Consortium Management Board will have overall responsibility for safeguarding the common standards and mechanisms for the examination of students (European and Third Country).

Each of the course components of the International Masters programme has its own form of assessment. These are outlined in the individual course handbooks. In order to calculate the final mark achieved the marks for each component are weighted according to their credit rating.

In Year 1 a candidate will be permitted to progress to Dissertation only if s/he has obtained an average aggregation score of 12 (equivalent to Grade C3) or above in the taught courses described above, with at least 75% of the credits at a score of 9 or better (Grade D3 or better) and all credits at a score of 3 or above (Grade F or above).  Moreover, a Grade D or better in the Language component must also be obtained.

Each degree awarding partner university will take responsibility for marking according to its own criteria and IMCEERES students will be assessed in the same manner as local students.  Each degree partner university will provide assessment marks as they stand to the Consortium’s Board of Examiners, along with detailed additional descriptors, for the Board of Examiners to translate to University of Glasgow, the given partner university and the ECTS grading systems to facilitate the production of the degree transcripts and Diploma Supplement issued by the Consortium.

All examination results will be discussed and finalised by the Board of Examiners and formally approved by the Consortium Management Board. The marking systems for each partner university and how these relate the University of Glasgow and ECTS systems will be made clear to students in advance.

Grade Conversion Table 

An example of the IMCEERES student calendar.  Dates are provisional but provide a guideline of keys dates over the 2 year programme

Year 1, semester 1 at the University of Tartu