Course Development Competition

ORGANISED BY THE CURRICULUM RESOURCE CENTER (CRC), CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Curriculum Resource Center (CRC) of Central European University, sponsored by the Higher Education Support Program of Open Society Institute, announces a call for proposals to develop new, innovative and relevant university courses.

Program description

Applicants are invited to develop and teach a one or two semester long course in the discipline areas listed below. The course should be clearly directed towards one of the following levels: introductory, intermediate, advanced, post-graduate.

The competition is open to individuals and groups for 10 month grants. During this period, successful applicants should first prepare and then teach their proposed course.

Aims of the Program

- to encourage the introduction of new courses, which are innovative in content, methodology and teaching approach;

- to have a measurable impact on the host department's curricula and its mode of delivery. In this way, the program seeks to further the development and dissemination of new curricula across the target regions;

- to provide incentives and means for interdisciplinary and international co-operation amongst academics;

- to promote innovative, collaborative projects with priority given to groups of academics from at least two different countries or cities of the region who aim to design a course from an international perspective;

- to fund courses that are at least partially based on applicants' original research in their field.

Eligibility

Application is restricted to resident citizens of the non EU member states in Eastern- and Southeastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union and Mongolia who are teaching at a university in any country of this region. Citizens of new EU member states are eligible only if

they propose courses on Roma related issues.
they participate in group projects with colleagues from non-EU countries (in fact such collaborative proposals are strongly encouraged). In such group projects the group leader must come from the non-EU country.
Previous CRC participants may apply for a CDC grant, Academic Fellowship Program fellows may only receive a CDC grant one academic year after finishing their AFP fellowship. Those who benefit presently from another alternative Soros grant should contact the CRC office to discuss their eligibility.

Requirements for applicants

All applicants should show how they intend to apply new teaching methodology to delivering the course.

Project proposals should demonstrate the following:

• potential to contribute to curriculum reform at host departments
• innovative character and approach
• potential of being incorporated into the university curriculum for longer term
• relevance to regional or global issues
• scientific quality in the selected field
• feasibility

Requirements for grantees

At the end of their grant period, all grantees (groups) are expected to submit a final syllabus for the new course they have developed and taught, together with a final activity and financial report. In addition, at the end of the course development period, interim reports will be required on the progress of the grant.
All accepted applicants are required to attend two modular workshops: one workshop at the beginning of their grant period, (focusing on issues regarding course design and curriculum development), and another before their teaching period covering matters regarding course implementation and evaluation). The exact dates will be confirmed and announced later for selected applicants.
Production of Course Portfolio (see details in the program description)

Course Development Competition Grants

Each CDC grantee will receive a monthly stipend for a period of ten months. The amount of the stipend is not negotiable. Group stipends for the teaching period will be calculated from the amount of a full stipend in proportion to the degree of involvement of each participant (involvement should be expressed clearly as a percentage in the course plan). Group leaders will, in addition, receive a small group leader's fee for their extra responsibilities.
An allowance for legitimate course development expenses (book purchases, reader production, teaching materials, photocopying, slides, etc.). Grantees are strongly encouraged to produce readers for their courses (collection of articles, papers, chapters, documents, etc. that represent readings and other materials for the course). The grant will not fund the production of printed textbooks or publications. Please note that the CDC grant cannot fund the purchase of any equipment (computers, scanners, printers, etc.)
An allowance for additional, justified travel costs and administrative expenses in the case of group grants.
By negotiation, an allowance for justified travel to a library outside the home city, within the region, for the development of course materials etc. Costs of study or conference participation cannot be covered.
Consultation time with CEU professors with knowledge in the relevant topic areas will be offered.

Selection and Evaluation of Grants

Applications will be evaluated and judged by CEU academics with sufficient knowledge of the higher educational needs of the region.

Following the selection acceptance becomes valid after an agreement on terms and conditions is signed by the future grantee.

Finished course syllabi will be evaluated by CEU professors, and those meeting the standards of the CRC office will be placed on the CDC website.

CDC office will also conduct course/project evaluation trips, visiting a selected number of grantees during the course implementation period.

How to Apply

Applications must be presented in English on CRC Course Development Competition forms (photocopied forms are acceptable).
For individual proposals, the application form must be accompanied by a description of the proposed course (in the form of a draft syllabus), preliminary bibliography of materials to be used in preparation and teaching, a curriculum vitae (also highlighting research activity), a signed statement that the course will be introduced by them and they are going to teach it, a letter of recommendation and a letter of endorsement from the host university. The letter of endorsement should include the host university's commitment to allow the proposed course to be taught, and should clearly indicate the period when the course will be taught.
For group proposals, the application should be submitted by the project leader. In addition to the above it should contain a list of the individuals involved in the project, their CVs, institutional affiliations, contact information and a letter from each individual stating their willingness to be involved in the project. For group projects letters of endorsement must be submitted from all the institutions that will host the course (Please feel free to duplicate the letter of endorsement form if necessary).
Application forms can be downloaded by clicking here.
Applications must arrive by 25 November 2007 (address: CRC - Central European University, 1051 Budapest, Nador u. 9, Hungary) - please note that letters of endorsement and recommendation will be accepted by regular mail, fax or directly from the e-mail address of the writer of the letter). In case of group projects all materials should preferably be sent in one pack/e-mail. In order to avoid materials sent separately getting lost, the name of the group leader should clearly appear on them. Applicants will be informed about the results in mid-December. Courses should be taught during the first and/or second semester of the 2008/2009 academic year.  

Discipline Areas for the Course Development Competition:

Central Asian Studies

With the Shanghai Cooperation Organization seemingly gaining momentum in Central Eurasia, the question of regionalism (what drives it and what hinders it) appears particularly relevant when examining the cooperative and competitive tendencies shaping the post-Soviet space as well as its interaction with neighboring and more geographically remote countries (China, Iran, India, Pakistan, United States, EU).

We invite proposals to develop courses which aim to discuss the following issues, which could be developed individually (with one course touching on one/two themes only) or as part of the same course:

• Theories of regionalism;
• Endogenous or exogenous origins of regionalism in Central Asia;
• Rationale and prospects of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization;
• Cooperative and competitive trends in the former Soviet Union;
• Comparative perspectives (regional integration in other regions, e.g. Europe, East Asia).

Participants are welcome to suggest, should they prefer to do so, possible issue areas in which the question of regionalism could be discussed (security, political, economic, cultural, environmental).

Comparative Constitutional Law

In the field of comparative constitutional law proposals for courses are expected to address issues concerning civil and political rights (human rights) in established and emerging democracies; enforcement of socio-economic rights, freedom of religion and free speech in a global world; protection of bodily privacy; governance in transition to democracy; comparative constitutional adjudication; constitutional transplants and European Union law with emphasis on constitutional law.

Economics

Labor Economics

Theory, Empirics, and Applications in Transition Economies

The field of Labor Economics applies microeconomic analysis to important social issues and public policies involving employment, wages, working conditions, and unemployment. A partial list of issues and policies would include poverty, welfare policy, minimum wages, overtime rules, layoff restrictions, education, job safety, entrepreneurship, wage subsidies gender and racial discrimination, immigration and internal migration, labor relations, unions and other institutions, division of labor within families, unemployment insurance, and income inequality. Proposals for BA and MA level are both welcome.

Environmental Sciences

Sustainable Human Development

We are inviting courses that address the integration of environment and sustainable development with human development, especially in reference to the Millennium Project and the Millennium Development Goals. Courses should include an examination and comparison of the literatures on sustainable development and human development, and deal with the relationships between poverty, social exclusion, and environmental quality. Courses that analyze prospects for human development in the context of changing global environmental conditions (e.g. climate change), with reference to the issues of equity and justice, are especially encouraged .

EU Enlargement

Synergic Effects of the European Integration Perspective on Eastern and South-East European Countries’ Transition Process

We invite proposals to develop courses which investigate the synergic effects of the European integration perspective on the transition process of Eastern and South-Eastern European countries, and aim to discuss all or most of the following issues as part of the same course:

• Historical overview of EU's policy of conditionality
• Overview of the effects of accession on Central and Eastern European countries
• Assessment of the state-of-play with regard to the process of future European accession
• Assistence provided by the EU for the convergence of the region
• Effects of membership perspective on the political (e.g. democratic criteria) and economic transformation (e.g. market economy, role of foreign capital) of the country
• Interconnection of conditionality and incentives provided by EU in the context of its enlargement

Courses for BA, MA and PhD level are all welcome.

Nationalism

Contemporary Debates in Nationalism

We are inviting courses that address the study of nationalism from a multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing on the theoretical and empirical literature in history, political science, sociology, philosophy and other relevant fields.

Philosophy

Historical Awareness in Teaching Contemporary Philosophy

Philosophy can look back on a long and respectable tradition, yet some contemporary philosophical approaches are occasionally charged with apparently placing their discussions outside an historical context. This is especially true of some trends in analytic philosophy and the (overlapping) movements that aim to bring philosophy closer to the natural sciences. We invite proposals to develop courses which aim to raise historical awareness in teaching contemporary philosophy. An example may be an epistemology course, which integrates some discussion of ancient and/or modern skepticism and theory of knowledge into a systematic treatment of epistemological problems. Proposals for courses at BA, MA and PhD level are all welcome.

Sociology

Sociological Theory: Methodological and Social Relevance

“Sociological/Social Theory” has emerged as a new autonomous subfield of sociology. Like the sociology of culture in the 1990s and like historical sociology a decade and earlier, sociological theory runs the risk of becoming a mere area of specialization. Critical theorists of the Frankfurt school or C. Wright Mills observed the phenomenon half a century ago: professionals, concerned with their own autonomy, become bureaucrats of their art and loose sight of its practical relevance for a critically minded research involved in the production of social change.

We invite proposals to develop courses in Social/Sociological Theory that are research-oriented and that explicitly problematize the relationship between theory and practice: the practice of doing research, on the one hand, and political or social practice on the other. Exploration of new ways of establishing the relationship between grand theory and critical research schemes in the teaching of social theory is particularly welcome. Exploration of the critical potential of theories traditionally critiqued for their conservative approach (structure-functionalism and some other systems theory, Actor-Network theory) is possible. Interdisciplinary proposals including anthropological and other social science literature are more than welcome. Proposals for courses at BA, MA and PhD level are all welcome.