Yesterday, on March 22, the Department of International Relations and European Studies at International Burch Univeristy and the European School for Political and Social Sciences at the Catholic University of Lille established a joint doctoral degree and pledged to expand cooperation to other cycles of study in the upcoming years.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mersid Poturak, the rector of Interantional Burch University, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alexis Massart, the director of the European School of Political and Social Sciences, signed the agreement, with Assist. Prof. Dr. Alija Kožljak as the head of the Department of International Relations and European Studies and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Andrew Glencross as the deputy director for international affairs present.
The joint doctoral program, called cotutelle in France, is a joint endeavor of two universities that provide joint courses to train students in research methods and provide joint supervision in thesis development over a period of three years in study of full time or longer, up to six years, in part-time study. Students are awarded with a joint diploma from both universities.
The doctoral program is designed with a significant emphasis on the analysis of policies and strategic planning in a comparative perspective, taking into account the unique advantags of the two participating institutions. It will be open to both graduating students of International Burch University, as well as new students, in addition to French students.
The development of the joint degree was the result of multiyear cooperation in student and staff exchange, as a part of which dozens of students and professors were exchanged in various study programmes but also, specifically, the Department of International Relations and European Studies and the European School of Political and Social Sciences.