This autumn, the College of Europe Development Office welcomed almost 100 participants in Bruges for four successful Executive Education courses. Two of the courses – “EU Diplomacy & Diplomatic Skills” and “Trade Policy” – took place in October, whereas the other two – “Negotiations in Practice” and “EU Project Management” – took place in November. In addition, on 10 October 2014 eight participants attended the half-day training in Brussels “EU Fact-Finding” – a hands-on workshop on how to navigate the EU websites and portals.
The first course that rolled out in Bruges this autumn was "EU Diplomacy & Diplomatic Skills", taking place from 13 to 15 October 2014 and giving participants an insight into the external dimensions of the European Union as well as allowing them to develop and practise essential skills such as reporting and communicating effectively across cultures.
The tree-day training "Trade Policy" took place two weeks later and covered EU trade law and the WTO. In addition to theory, participants were given practical exercises to apply what they had just learnt.
The Development Office, aware of the importance of networking, often schedules Executive Education courses in parallel, as this allows for participants of the programmes to meet and connect. Therefore, the "Negotiations in Practice" seminar took place during the same week as "EU Project Management", from 17 to 21 November 2014, and participants were given the opportunity to interact during a joint evening welcome reception and during coffee breaks.
This year, due to the high interest in the "Negotiations in Practice" seminar, the 35 participants were divided into two groups, following sessions in parallel and having a joint European Council simulation game on the last day. Throughout the seminar, the participants learned more about international and European negotiations and practised relevant negotiation skills.
Last but not least, the "EU Project Management" seminar also gave participants an opportunity to learn by doing. The training course focused on how to manage EU projects, with sessions and exercises on project cycle management, logframes, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
Overall, it has been a busy couple of months at the Development Office, but it has been a pleasure welcoming and meeting the many participants who took part in one (or more) of our Executive Education courses!