EUROPEAN REGIONAL MASTER’S DEGREE IN DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH EAST EUROPE (ERMA)

The Programme

General description of the programme

The European Regional Master’s Degree in Democracy and Human Rights in South East Europe (ERMA), is a unique regional interdisciplinary one – year full time MA programme. It is established in 2000, through the joint efforts of eleven participating universities and research centers, coordinated by the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies of the University of Sarajevo in cooperation with the University of Bologna through its Istituto per l’Europa Centro – Orientale e Balcanica.

The ERMA Master’s Programme participating universities are:

• University of Bologna and its Istituto per l’Europa Centro – Orientale e Balcanica
• University of Sarajevo and its Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies
• University of Belgrade
• University of Graz
• London School of Economics and Political Science and its Centre for the Study of Global Governance
• New Bulgarian University
• University of Peloponnese
• University of Podgorica
• University of Prishtina
• University of the Ruhr
• University Ss. Cyril and Methodius
• University of Zagreb.

The programme is co-financed by the European Commission and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ERMA is an educational activity intended for students that would combine practical experience in human rights issues with further academic study. After recognizing that human rights go across the disciplines of study, as political science, law, sociology, philosophy and social sciences in general, the Programme has adopted an interdisciplinary approach.
The MA Programme promotes development and realisation of young generation of officials for state management, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, for universities and think tanks in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo as well as in the countries belonging to the EU, the rest of Europe, and worldwide. The structure of the lectures, the access to internships and the Faculty are defined in order to emphasise among the participants a shared consciousness that the democratic development and human rights promotion, protection and implementation in the region depend on plurality of factors. Most of the relevant issues in the SEE stability, democracy, and development are mutually correlated and influence each other. Thus, a common regional effort in achieving them will have more chance for success in a context of inclusive policies and in the framework of a rapid European Union integration process.

For the full course of study, the programme awards a total of 120 ECTS and it can be taken only as a full time study.

In the first term, from November to June, students are taught together in Sarajevo by lecturers and tutors from the participating universities members of the "International Network Europe and the Balkans" and experts from IGOs and NGOs. The language of instruction is English and attendance is compulsory. The academic programme is structured in five clusters and two short seminars. In addition there is a mid-term exam, which takes place in the last week of the first term. It is not by chance that the programme has been established in Sarajevo. The city offers to the students a unique multi-cultural environment. Bosnia and Herzegovina itself provides a glaring example of many of the problems faced by the different countries in the region and the region of South East Europe itself.

In the second term, during summertime, students take up seven-week assessed internships at selected IGOs, NGOs, think tanks and research institutes across South East Europe. The students cannot serve the Internships in their country of origin.

During the third term of the programme, in autumn, students write up their Master Thesis in Italy accommodated at premises offered by the University of Bologna. The class stays together in order to emphasise the community building element of the programme. There is a short seminar course aimed at addressing particular issues of interest.

The final examination, which is an oral defence of the thesis, takes place in Sarajevo, B&H at the end of October followed by the diploma awarding ceremony. The successful students receive the European Regional Master’s Degree Diploma in Democracy and Human Rights in South East Europe, issued jointly by the University of Bologna and the University of Sarajevo.