MOOC developed by University of Tartu students re-opens

On February 27, the e-classes offered by the online course “EU-Russia Relations: Between the Vilnius and Riga Eastern Partnership Summits” have officially started. More than 500 students from all around the world have registered to attend the six-week course, along with a number of learners from University of Tartu.

The MOOC (Massive open online course) has been developed by Anna Beitane (from Latvia) and Givi Gigitashvili (from Georgia) – alumni of the MA programme “EU-Russia Studies” (EURUS) – within the framework of the development seminar. The seminar represents a unique feature of the EURUS programme that enhances students’ personal development through an individual focus on each learner and the realization of collaborative student-led projects.

The main aim of the course is to provide an interdisciplinary overview of EU-Russia relations. The lectures cover such key events as the Eastern Partnership Summits in Vilnius and Riga; the Sochi Olympics; the annexation of Crimea; as well as the imposition of EU’s sanctions on Russia.

Under the direction of Anna and Givi, the course’s videos involve a number of scholars in the fields of European and EU-Russia studies from the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies. With the objective of combining academic quality with "real world" decision-making, two Estonian Members of the European Parliament have also been involved in the e-classes. According to Anna “We are thrilled that this second opening has managed to attract even more students than the previous year. Such a wide interest proves that there is a global demand for better and informed understanding of EU-Russia relations.”

The University of Tartu’s MOOC on “EU-Russia Relations” represents the first experience in our University of an online course fully developed and managed by students, constituting therefore the quality result of an outcome-oriented active learning process.

According to Dr Stefano Braghiroli – EURUS programme manager – “the even wider participation of this year and the excellence of our former students’ work make us all extremely proud. We believe that this course well summarizes the best teaching tradition of our institute and incentivize our prospective students to be active builders of tomorrow’s world”.

Application deadline to MA programme “EU-Russia Studies” (EURUS) March 15, 2017

Read more about the admission http://skytte.ut.ee/en/admissions/graduate-studies-ma

Additional information: Dr Stefano Braghiroli; [email protected], +372 737 6581

Forwarded by

Silver Bohl
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies
Marketing Specialist
[email protected]
+372 737 6379