Course descriptions Summer 2023
The maximum course load is 2 courses.
BUS102G The Belgian Brewery Industry in a Global Context: Business, Economics,
Culture and Innovation
Belgium is not only home to the world’s biggest brewer, but in recent years has seen a rise of innovative micro-breweries and diversification of the beer market with potentially far-reaching implications for the business and economics of the brewery industry inside and outside the country. In November 2016, UNESCO even added ‘Belgian Beer Culture’ to the World Heritage List, highlighting the cultural importance and impact of the Belgian beer industry beyond pure business and economics. This course focuses on key principles and changes in the economics, marketing, production and innovation of the Belgian Brewery Industry in a Global Context. Taking the Belgian beer industry as a multi-faceted case study for studying core Business processes and developments in the field of the national and international beer market (including production, strategy, marketing and product innovation), this course also explores the impact of geography, culture and globalisation on Belgian beer businesses and their business strategies. The course includes company visits, guest lecture series and experiential learning and provides unique insights into the major shifts and changes of major the economics and business processes related to the brewery industry. In cooperation with key experts, this summer course will also include the possibility of learning the nuts and bolts of the beer brewing process itself.
BUS315G Women and Leadership: A Global Context
This course examines key leadership concepts, in general, and women in particular. The course is not set up to teach you how to be a leader, but it will operate with the assumption that if you know how successful women and men have navigated power and authority, applied core competencies, and have secured a work-life balance, you will be better able to frame your own academic endeavours and professional development. The course will explore leadership theory in a global context by examining leadership for a global audience and understanding leadership approaches addressing diverse populations. There is still much work to be done to rectify the gender imbalance and these are exciting times to make a difference in this regard. In fact, strong leadership in our global environment is one of the most valued skills you can have. This is one of the goals of the course—to make you aware of the value of strong leadership in knowledge-based societies. This course should be of interest to students in business, communication, international relations, international law, and other fields of studies.
CMM 232G Video Production: Theory and Practice
The course aims to give students an understanding of video filming and editing from a theoretical and practical perspective. They will start by analysing the elements of a good video before moving on to practical exercises. The learning outcomes of these exercises are designed to be useful for their professional careers. The ability to deal with video and audio material is becoming increasingly important in many areas of the workplace. The aim is to give students insights into how to plan their video/audio products effectively and how to execute these plans so that they meet client expectations. In the future, students may have to write scripts for / produce videos, do interviews, be interviewed and present to camera. These are all useful skills that are also transferable to other areas of working life. The course covers interviewing skills (from the research phase to the execution of the interview and the selection of what material is used) for the production of a short video, camera presentation skills, script writing skills, writing video concepts based on client expectations and filming and producing two videos.
INT381G Internship
Working in a sponsoring firm or organisation, students undertake a 150-hour, semester-long project on a theme or topic related to their major. It requires students to work on-site at least 10/12 hours per week, keep a daily activity log and write a project report.
Prerequisites: HUM101G, Students in their second semester of second year or first semester of third year, good academic standing and approval by the Internship Committee.
LAW2015G Fundamentals of the Energy Transition (new course)
Attaining the clean energy transition has become a global policy objective. The major crises we have been experiencing in the last few years, from the climate emergency crisis, to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy (price) crisis, have exacerbated the challenges. Thus, the attainment of the energy transition is of an increasing importance, as it is key for addressing a plethora of different crucial issues, including climate change, growth, energy security, and energy democracy.
This course aims to highlight the complexity and multifaceted character of these challenges, and make the students conversant with the fundamentals of the energy transition. With a focus on the international and European level, it adopts a multi-disciplinary approach that will delve into law, policymaking, governance, as well as political and geopolitical interests and balances. In this regard, the course scrutinises the content of fundamental concepts, such as energy transition, energy democracy or energy solidarity. It examines how energy markets work, it analyses the core aspects of the relevant legal and regulatory framework, and it discusses the application of fundamental rights in the field of energy. In addition, it elucidates different conflicts between policy objectives and regulatory targets, as well as the different interests of different actors. Major questions that will be discussed include:
• What does the term energy transition refer to?
• How do energy markets work?
• What are the policy objectives and the governance and regulatory instruments that serve the energy transition?
• What is the role of the fundamental rights in the field of energy?
• What is energy democracy, and what is the role of self-consumers and energy communities?
• What is energy solidarity and energy security, and what is their legal expression?
• What is the relation between the attainment of the energy transition and the protection of the environment?
The course adopts a dialectical and inclusive teaching method, that combines ex cathedra lectures and tutorial-style problem-based learning. Real cases and open-ended questions will be used to trigger students’ curiosity and interest, and to boost active participation in the course. With the aim to encourage students to undertake independent research and strengthen both their writing and presentation skills, there will be two assignments: a) writing a brief (4-5 pages) essay and presenting it in the class. A discussant-model can be followed, with each student providing feedback to the essay and presentation of a fellow student. In this manner, the critical thinking of students will be sharpened and the students will get familiar with academic peer-reviewing; b) an oral assignment consisting in debating in small teams on open-ended questions. The course structure also includes a guest lecture or a visit to an EU institution in Brussels. Such an educational activity will be a special spice to the course structure that very much pertains the nature of a summer school.
Prerequisite: LAW101G or instructor’s approval
POL229G EU security governance and international security challenges (new course)
This course provides an overview of current scholarly debates relating to the interdisciplinary study of EU’s security governance in the context of globalization and changes in the strategic security environment. It examines competing perspectives on the EU’s security governance and explores trends of the new security environment as well as international security challenges. The course will introduce therefore to the students the Governance Concept (case study on the EU), various international security challenges, and EU agendas developed for this purpose.
Prerequisites: HIS101G or POL101G
POL334G The European Union in the World
This course explores the changing role of the European Union (EU) on the global stage. It examines the evolution of the EU’s global influence through an analysis of several key areas of influence, including enlargement, trade and economic policy and the development of defence policy.
Prerequisites: HUM101G and POL101G
All our courses are taught in English.
