COVID-19 / Bruges campus updates

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the College of Europe in Bruges has successfully switched to an adapted way of working and living, on and off campus.  Altogether, academic staff, college administration, catering and housekeeping staff and, last but not least, the students have made a huge effort to face a new, challenging reality. 

Over the past three very demanding months, the true College spirit of standing together and taking care of each other was shown in the most heart-warming ways and we are proud to see the flexibility, perseverance and motivation of everyone involved.  By leaning on our basic values, we were able to continue our activities successfully and to prepare the upcoming academic year 2020/2021. We have compiled here a comprehensive overview of the situation on our Bruges campus. 

Needless to say, we will carry on taking all the necessary precautions to reduce all potential risks to the health, safety and well-being of the College community. 

 

Message from Rector Jörg MONAR

"While putting into place all necessary health and safety measures to protect staff and students, we have secured a transition—unprecedented in the history of our institution—to online interactive teaching and the remote organisation of the upcoming exams, assured the continuing operation of our residence and catering services, and kept the selection of our incoming students for the academic year 2020/21 and the continuation of our executive training on track."

Read the full message from the Rector of the College of Europe.


Important update for prospective students 2020/2021: Selection process

In the light of the current challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the College of Europe is taking all necessary steps to ensure the smooth continuation of the recruitment process of new students for all of its academic programmes on both the Bruges and Natolin campuses for the academic year 2020/2021.

Due to the increasing restrictions on travel worldwide, we are progressively transforming planned in-person selection interviews — originally due to take place in several countries’ capitals — to online selection interviews.


Tailor-made and executive training courses delivered both online and face-to-face as of September

We remain entirely committed to offering our services while ensuring at the same time the health, safety, and well-being of our community. For these reasons, we are now offering both face-to-face and online tailor-made and executive courses based on the specific needs of our clients and partners. The following autumn executive training courses will be delivered online: Managing Migration in Europe, EU Economic Governance, Trade Policy, and EU Project Management. The following autumn executive training courses will be offered in a face-to-face format: EU Diplomacy & Diplomatic Skills, and Negotiations in Practice. The course EU Fact Checking & EU Fact Finding will be offered both in online and face-to-face formats.

Read the whole announcement of the Development Office HERE.


Student Life Digital Student National Weeks

Difficult and challenging times ask for creativity and flexibility. Over the past few weeks, our students had to cope with the huge impact of the COVID-19 crisis on their busy and animated academic and student life. More specifically, our different student teams and societies had to drastically change their scheduled events and activities in light of the wonderful Student National Weeks. Our resilient students decided to carry on bravely and they came up with the lovely idea of digital versions of their national weeks. 

Discover the first digital Student National Weeks here and here.


Academic assistants share their experiences of switching to remote teaching

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the academic life of our students, but luckily they could count on the committed help of our Bruges campus teaching staff, consisting of directors of studies, (visiting) professors and, last but not least, the academic assistants. How did they experience the drastic but necessary switch to digital work and remote teaching? 

Read the testimonials of six of our Academic Assistants here.


Grateful students thank their residence warden

In difficult times of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, our students have to spend a lot of time in their student residences in the centre of Bruges and that means they depend on the precious support and care of the dedicated residence warden. To show and share their gratitude, the students of the Gouden Hand residence realized a small, but heartwarming video for their residence warden Claudine WOUTERS, answering in one word the question "What is Claudine to you?".  Needless to say that this wonderful testimonial video shows the importance of the residence wardens in these exceptionally challenging times.


Article on the College of Europe published in German magazine

In the month of February, German journalist Johannes BÖHME and photographer Julia SELLMANN visited the College of Europe Bruges campus. Mr BÖHME, who works for the German railway company magazine DB Mobil — one of the most widely read magazines in Germany — spent three days in Bruges to interview Rector Jörg MONAR and several students and academic assistants. 

His comprehensive article has now been published in the May-June edition of the DB Mobil magazine, which is entirely dedicated to Europa and the European Union. We are proud to share the article, highlighting the important role of the College of Europe and the famous spirit of our unique postgraduate institute.


Host families deliver special meals for students

The College administration and academic departments did everything they could to guide and support the students in the best possible way during the lockdown period in Belgium, but the nicest and most heartwarming gesture certainly came from our wonderful host families.

The College of Europe is very grateful to all those amazing host families for taking care of our students and for showing them around the gorgeous city of Bruges and province of West-Flanders with all its hidden treasures. Both the host families and the students share their cultural heritages and they all learn from one another.

Read the full story starring our thoughtful host families here.


Final event of the MATA Spring 2020 Mini-Lecture Series

On 28 April 2020, the students of the Master of Arts in Transatlantic Affairs programme participated in the third and final lecture on major topics in transatlantic affairs. Two distinguished speakers, Jason KHILE, the Deputy Public Affairs Officer/Spokesperson at the United States Mission to the European Union, and Tara MAHER, Political Officer at the U.S. Mission to the European Union, discussed with the students the threat of disinformation, what governments and their partners are doing to counter it and what has been the U.S.-EU cooperation on this issue. 

For the full story of all three "Major Topics in Transatlantic Affairs" lectures, click here


Empty Streets of BrugesPhoto series: Empty streets of Bruges

Our College of Europe Bruges campus photographer Mrs Stéphanie PARMENTIER captured the unusually empty streets of Bruges during the lockdown period in Belgium.

#EUsolidarity   


​​​​​Online jury meeting of the “European Centre for Government Transformation”

On Wednesday 1 April, the European Political and Governance Studies Department of the College of Europe, together with The Lisbon Council and Accenture, hosted the jury meeting of the European Centre for Government Transformation (ECGT) project online. This project is one of the many challenging and professionalising extracurricular activities organised by the Political Department giving students first-hand experience working in different policy areas as young professionals.  

Read the full news item here.


List of news items and stories showing the continuity of our different College services: 

College of Europe Policy Brief Series: