European Union Policies

The decision for me as a marketing student to do the minor European Union Policies was a good decision. It is something different and renewing after three years of only writing marketingplans and doing market research. It brings more variation to my education and it woke up my interest for the European Union.
The minor deals with the history en development of the European Union, from back in the 50’s till now. The institutional, political, economic and legal aspects of the European integration are paid attention to in this minor. So, just like in the European union, the minor exist out of a three pillar structure: European law, European economics and European institutions. All the aspects from the minor are also subjects of the tasks we have to do every week and in the five projects we had to make.

The teaching system used in this minor is the same I had in my first year of CE, namely problem based learning. Every week we got a task that we had to read at home individually and then discussed in class, with a chairman and an assistant. Discussing the task is done by the seven step model: clarify terms, define the problem, brainstorm, analysis and discussion, formulate learning goals, self-study and reporting/evaluation. The answers to the learning goals are to be found in the books but we also get lectures about law, economics and finance. Than the next week we meet again in class and do step 7, before we start with the new task. After discussing the answers to the learning goals, we always get an evaluation lecture where everything is explained once again about the subject the task was about. This is so we don’t miss anything for our exams. I really like this teaching system because it forces me to make the tasks. These tasks do also appear in the exams, so if you made every task you don’t have to study that much anymore.

Next to these tasks we also have to do several projects towards the different aspects of European integration. We had to make 5 projects, with different groups. I like this, because you can work with different people. Some of the projects weren’t very clear, so it took some time before we figured out what exactly to do. We also had to write a individual paper. We got a list of topics were we had to choose one of. I chose the topic equal treatment between men and women.

We also had to improve on our negotiating, debating and ethic skills. We did three weeks of negotiating, were we first learned how to do it. After that some of us, including me, could show their skills in front of class. In ethic lessons we learned about ethics in business in the different countries in the European Union and in debating we were able to show our debating skills.

After the first part of the minor we went on a study trip to Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxemburg to visit some of the European institutions. We went to the commission, the parliament, court of human rights, the committee of regions, house of provinces and some other institutions. It was a very useful trip where I have learned a lot, but also had much fun.

I didn’t regret my choice of doing the minor European Union Policies and I would really recommend it to other students who have to chose a minor. Of course not everything was that clear all the time, but what I have learned was very usefull and I am really considering of working in Brussels when I am done with my study.