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The Mayor of Aachen meets the group in the ancient town
hall on March 13. Included in the photo with the students and professors
Dinan and Wallace of the School of Public Policy are the mayor and local
organizers of the Aachen visit.
Students from the International Commerce and Policy program took part in an intensive study visit over spring break in March to Brussels, Belgium; Maastricht, Netherlands; and Aachen and Frankfurt, Germany.
The course on the political economy of the new Europe, comprised of the one week intensive program preceded by four lectures before, focused on such issues as the launch of the euro, the impact of European Union enlargement and strategies for economic growth. The intensive study visit included presentations by EU and national government officials, representatives of interest groups and nongovernmental organizations and academics. The course directors planned the trip hoping to get local perspectives on the European Union and integration in the Belgian, German and Dutch border regions the group visited.
"When I teach about integration, I teach about the top down, focusing on political and business leaders how they are trying to bring about European integration," said Professor Desmond Dinan, Jean Monnet Chair of Public Policy and one of the course directors. "But we wanted to go to the bottom, so we visited two small towns that are on the border to see what difference integration had made in their lives."
"It is an interesting region," said Professor Dinan. "Three different languages are spoken there. There is no evidence of the borders anymore, but there are still mental maps."
The University of Aachen put on a one day seminar on the local impact of European integration for the group. Aachen, Germany and Arlington, Virginia are sister cities, and in the past have coordinated educational and cultural exchange programs for school children and youth orchestra. This program was part of the exchange, and one of the first for university-level students.
"No reading or classroom lecture does justice to actually being in the environment and observing the challenges that policymakers face and how they are approaching issues," said Charlie Meisch, a student in the course. "But beyond hearing accounts firsthand, there was value in being immersed in three distinct cultures within a particular region. It illustrates the biggest challenge to integration-overcoming national and cultural barriers."
Preslav Panev, a participant in the course, was surprised by some of what he learned on the trip. "As a citizen of Bulgaria , a candidate member country, I was interested in the EU's position on issues like enlargement and the benefits not only for the candidate countries but also for the current members," he said. "I was surprised to hear from several EU officials that the EU has not done anything for its citizens to inform them of the potential benefits of future enlargement of the Union."
"I learned more in one
week during the trip on the EU than a semester sitting in a class,"
said Joe Klinger, another student. "EU officials emphasized their
concerns about EU enlargement for central and eastern European nations.
This issue was an underlying theme in every presentation given to our
group. The trip provided our group an outstanding overview and in-depth
information on the European Central Bank and the European Monetary Union."
Hear Professor Dinan
describe the region the group visited. (Requires
Real
Audio)