Eurocampus – Celebrating Diversity in Tartu
Krista Vogelberg – Professor of English, Eurocampus Tartu coordinator
Daria Bahtina – Eurocampus Tartu tutor
Looking through the glass door of one of the most beautiful rooms in the Babel – the building of the Institute of the Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Languages and Literatures – you will see a small group of students listening attentively to the professor – or, at times, questioning his/her arguments – analysing reading materials, speaking about their own experiences in the light of the new knowledge. They come from different backgrounds and share their perspectives during the lively seminar discussions. They are here to study Intercultural Communication within the framework of Eurocampus 2008.
The Eurocampus of EMICC – European Master in Intercultural Communication, organized by partner universities from nine European countries, is in many ways a unique phenomenon: every year, students from the nine universities spend an entire semester on the campus of one of these universities while professors from the same nine universities fly in, each for a week or two to teach their area of expertise.
The carefully structured interdisciplinary programme includes communication, intercultural management, training, lingua franca, identity, anthropology and other topics. The students get a special certificate showing their prospective employers that they have enhanced their professional competence needed in careers with significant intercultural contact (which nowadays include most careers!) Also, the credits (ECTSs) acquired during the Eurocampus semester are incorporated in the students’ home universities’ Master programmes.
Tartu offers intercultural environment
This year – befittingly, the one declared the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue by the European Parliament and the Council – the University of Tartu has the honour of being the host. How has the considerable collective effort to live up to the high organisational standards of Eurocampus paid off so far?
This year’s students eagerly share their first month’s experiences and impressions. They start with the factors that brought them together. Marion (the Netherlands) explains her motivation for participation in this programme with the advantage of studying intercultural disciplines in the context of an intercultural environment.
Serena (Italy) notes that her aim was to gain new experiences, whereas Ioana from Romania (a Master’s student in Jyväskylä) underlines the benefits of a small group’s interaction: "We are small enough to function as a tight community where everyone is accepted they way they are". The group nods and they finish each other’s ideas as if in order to prove they have already reached the level of mutual understanding. "We practice here the perfect combination of theory, what else was it, experience?" they finish each other’s sentences "Yes, experience and reflection upon it".
"How do you say it, terviseks?"
The group also talks about the professional advantage of Eurocampus over other exchange programmes. Michel (Czech Republic, Belgium) favours the high standards: "It is sometimes the case that universities offer only a limited amount of courses in English, but here we are taught 15 subjects that vary in topics, but are perfectly applicable in our field". In addition to these 15 courses some students also took the challenge of studying the Estonian or Russian language in one semester. "How do you say it, terviseks?" – they practice a newly learned word.
A city of good thoughts
Their local tutor, Daria, an EMICC graduate herself, reflects on informal learning as an important complement to the process. "Tartu is intertwined with student culture and traditions, our participants already agree that this is a city of good thoughts!"
One can agree with the latter statement just by looking at the room where the seminars take place: originally a cafeteria, now a well-equipped class with a round table inviting communication, a sunlit terrace behind the glass wall, a homely atmosphere created by the "tea and coffee corner". During longer breaks the students decide which café to go to for their lunch because the choice is really good: the University cafeteria, places offering international cuisine, cosy bars with a view on the statue of "Kissing Students".
There is still a lot for them to explore, also outside Estonia, but the important thing is that their intercultural dialogue has already begun and very successfully.
Eurocampus before and after 2008
The first Eurocampus was held in Jyväskylä in the autumn of 2002. Locations such as Cambridge, Lisbon, Lugano followed. The next year Eurocampus will be back in Lugano again, and other partner universities in Paris, Utrecht, Bayreuth, Jaume – will be receiving UT students as the vitality of the undertaking keeps growing: several partner universities are cooperating in various other ways, including joint research projects and working towards developing Joint Master Programmes.
Aims of the Eurocampus
• to acquire intercultural communicative competence and be able to apply intercultural communication skills in professional and social settings;
• to develop the ability to communicate face to face and in technologically mediated mode both locally and globally;
• to increase cultural self- and other-awareness and give the participants tools to reflect upon and analyse intercultural interactions;
• to be aware of cultural diversity and to engage in intercultural dialogue.
Eurocampus universities
Anglia Ruskin University (UK), Institut National des Languages et Civilizations Orientales (France), Universidade Aberta (Portugal), University of Bayreuth (Germany), University Jaume I (Spain), University of Jyväskylä (Finland), University of Lugano (Switzerland), University of Tartu (Estonia), University of Utrecht (The Netherlands).
Daria Bahtina – Eurocampus Tartu tutor
Looking through the glass door of one of the most beautiful rooms in the Babel – the building of the Institute of the Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Languages and Literatures – you will see a small group of students listening attentively to the professor – or, at times, questioning his/her arguments – analysing reading materials, speaking about their own experiences in the light of the new knowledge. They come from different backgrounds and share their perspectives during the lively seminar discussions. They are here to study Intercultural Communication within the framework of Eurocampus 2008.
The Eurocampus of EMICC – European Master in Intercultural Communication, organized by partner universities from nine European countries, is in many ways a unique phenomenon: every year, students from the nine universities spend an entire semester on the campus of one of these universities while professors from the same nine universities fly in, each for a week or two to teach their area of expertise.
The carefully structured interdisciplinary programme includes communication, intercultural management, training, lingua franca, identity, anthropology and other topics. The students get a special certificate showing their prospective employers that they have enhanced their professional competence needed in careers with significant intercultural contact (which nowadays include most careers!) Also, the credits (ECTSs) acquired during the Eurocampus semester are incorporated in the students’ home universities’ Master programmes.
Tartu offers intercultural environment
This year – befittingly, the one declared the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue by the European Parliament and the Council – the University of Tartu has the honour of being the host. How has the considerable collective effort to live up to the high organisational standards of Eurocampus paid off so far?
This year’s students eagerly share their first month’s experiences and impressions. They start with the factors that brought them together. Marion (the Netherlands) explains her motivation for participation in this programme with the advantage of studying intercultural disciplines in the context of an intercultural environment.
Serena (Italy) notes that her aim was to gain new experiences, whereas Ioana from Romania (a Master’s student in Jyväskylä) underlines the benefits of a small group’s interaction: "We are small enough to function as a tight community where everyone is accepted they way they are". The group nods and they finish each other’s ideas as if in order to prove they have already reached the level of mutual understanding. "We practice here the perfect combination of theory, what else was it, experience?" they finish each other’s sentences "Yes, experience and reflection upon it".
"How do you say it, terviseks?"The group also talks about the professional advantage of Eurocampus over other exchange programmes. Michel (Czech Republic, Belgium) favours the high standards: "It is sometimes the case that universities offer only a limited amount of courses in English, but here we are taught 15 subjects that vary in topics, but are perfectly applicable in our field". In addition to these 15 courses some students also took the challenge of studying the Estonian or Russian language in one semester. "How do you say it, terviseks?" – they practice a newly learned word.
A city of good thoughts
Their local tutor, Daria, an EMICC graduate herself, reflects on informal learning as an important complement to the process. "Tartu is intertwined with student culture and traditions, our participants already agree that this is a city of good thoughts!"
One can agree with the latter statement just by looking at the room where the seminars take place: originally a cafeteria, now a well-equipped class with a round table inviting communication, a sunlit terrace behind the glass wall, a homely atmosphere created by the "tea and coffee corner". During longer breaks the students decide which café to go to for their lunch because the choice is really good: the University cafeteria, places offering international cuisine, cosy bars with a view on the statue of "Kissing Students".
There is still a lot for them to explore, also outside Estonia, but the important thing is that their intercultural dialogue has already begun and very successfully.
Eurocampus before and after 2008
The first Eurocampus was held in Jyväskylä in the autumn of 2002. Locations such as Cambridge, Lisbon, Lugano followed. The next year Eurocampus will be back in Lugano again, and other partner universities in Paris, Utrecht, Bayreuth, Jaume – will be receiving UT students as the vitality of the undertaking keeps growing: several partner universities are cooperating in various other ways, including joint research projects and working towards developing Joint Master Programmes.
Aims of the Eurocampus
• to acquire intercultural communicative competence and be able to apply intercultural communication skills in professional and social settings;
• to develop the ability to communicate face to face and in technologically mediated mode both locally and globally;
• to increase cultural self- and other-awareness and give the participants tools to reflect upon and analyse intercultural interactions;
• to be aware of cultural diversity and to engage in intercultural dialogue.
Eurocampus universities
Anglia Ruskin University (UK), Institut National des Languages et Civilizations Orientales (France), Universidade Aberta (Portugal), University of Bayreuth (Germany), University Jaume I (Spain), University of Jyväskylä (Finland), University of Lugano (Switzerland), University of Tartu (Estonia), University of Utrecht (The Netherlands).