The European Union, the United Nations and Global Governance

General Course Information

The Summer School on the European Union and the United Nations in Global Governance offers a series of lectures and seminars familiarizing students with the inner workings of these two institutions and interactions between them. It allows for an interactive format with lecturers and includes several visits to institutions relevant to the Summer School’s overarching theme, in The Hague and Brussels. The Summer School focuses on Master-level and PhD students, to allow for advanced exchanges and engaged interaction between students and teachers. In exceptional cases, it accepts Bachelor-level students, based on excellent academic track records. The Summer School offers lectures by a range of academic experts in the field from Leiden University and other well-known universities and institutions, a simulation game on the migrant crisis and a three-day visit to EU institutions in Brussels.

Learning Goals and Experiences

The Summer School is supported by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme and allows for various extra activities within the two-week time span. It starts with engaging lectures on salient topics related to European Integration and the work of the United Nations, including international economic cooperation and stability, the role of the G20 in global affairs, global security governance, migration, relations between the EU and the United States, European fiscal and monetary policies, climate protection and energy. Students visit core institutions in The Hague, such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). The last three days of the Summer School are held in Brussels, where students visit institutions such as the European Parliament, the European Council and the European External Action Service (EEAS) and receive lectures by practitioners and experts on salient topics related to the EU and its interactions with the UN. As this is an advanced Summer School targeted at graduate-level students, there will be active exchanges between participants and lecturers as well as among the participants themselves. Upon successful completion of the Summer School, you receive a certificate acknowledging your participation.