25th Anniversary Master of European Studies (1988 - 2013) LEUVEN. In the academic year 2013-2014 the Master of European Studies: Transnational and Global Perspectives (MAES) celebrated its 25th anniversary since the programme was established in 1988.

Several events throughout the jubilee underlined MAES’ position as a thriving interdisciplinary programme in Europe. In November 2013 MAES invited renowned international scholars to the interdis-ciplinary workshop ‘The Future of European Studies’ (newsletter 8), and MAES received Herman Van Rompuy, President of the Europe-an Council, for an exclusive public interview in March 2014. Last but not least, the celebrations closed with the reception of MAES alum-ni of the last 25 years for a dinner at the Irish College in Leuven.

President of the European Council congratulates MAES Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Master of European Studies received the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, for an interview at KU Leuven on 11 March 2014. The

Alumni dinner at the Irish College

The interview with Herman Van Rompuy was followed by an alumni dinner at the Irish College in Leuven. Being an excellent opportunity for alumni and professors to reunite at the university, the dinner was attended by over 100 alumni and professors of the last 25 years from all over the world. We are especially proud that half of the inaugural class of 1988-89 attended the dinner (see the pictures below) and that several alumni joined the event by flying to Belgium from several European countries, the United States and Asia. After the welcoming words of Patrick Pasture (Director MAES), Gerard de Graaf (MAES 1989), Mana Livardjani (MAES 2006) and Daniel Keck (MAES 2013) spoke on behalf of the alumni during the dinner and congratulated MAES for its input on their respective student years and subsequent careers. They all under-lined the importance of the MAES alumni network. On behalf of the University, Vice-Rector Katlijn Malfliet, herself teaching in the programme, wished MAES all the best for the upcoming years in its efforts to further internationalise.

interview attracted 450 students, alumni, pro-fessors and practition-ers. Welcomed by the Rector of KU Leuven, Rik Torfs, and inter-viewed by MAES Chairman Bart Kerre-mans, the interview entitled “Global and domestic challenges for Europe” concen-trated on the role of the President of the European Council, un-employment in Europe, the financial crisis, and the challenge of emerging powers in the neighborhood. Herman Van Rompuy shared first- hand

Emiel Lamberts, founding father and first director of MAES from 1988 onwards, underlined why inter-disciplinarity was an important corner-stone of MAES activi-ties from its very beginning. Growing database of the MAES alumni. During the event, Patrick Pasture an-nounced that the MAES alumni data-base amounts to over 600 contacts of for-mer students all over the world. This data-base will be used for the promotion of MA

information on the crisis MAES events and in Ukraine and the role of the European Council in the aftermath of the European Parliament elections in May 2014. An alumnus and honorary doctor of KU Leuven himself, Herman Van Rompuy en-couraged students and alumni to develop a common European vision on the future, especially in times of domestic and global chal-lenges.

development of the interactions among the programme, alumni and the current MAES students. If you would like to join our data-base and email list, register at ghum.kuleuven.be/ces/Documents_new/form-database-alumni-european-studies.pdf (click here). The idea of establishing an in-formal Brussels-based alumni network will be implemented short-ly. As of now, alumni are informed by MAES on its regular activi-ties throughout the academic year.

Find European Studies @www.ghum.kuleuven.be/ces

Herman Van Rompuy with MAES students, 12 March 2014, KU Leuven

THE EUROPEAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER

NUMBER 9/JUNE 2014

The jubilee events in 2013-2014: 25 years of the Master of European Studies 1. Audience at the interview with the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy; 2. Right to left: Herman Van Rompuy, Professor Dr. Rik Torfs, Professor Dr. Bart Kerremans, Dr. Peter Van Kemseke, Deputy Head of Cabinet of Herman Van Rompuy, before the interview; 3. Vice-Rector of the KU Leuven Prof. Dr. Danny Pieters giving an opening speech at the international workshop "The Future of European Studies – European and Global Perspectives”; 4. Group photo of the audience with Herman Van Rompuy; 5. MAES class of 2011-2012 at the alumni dinner; 6. Prof. Dr. Katlijn Malfliet giving a speech at the alumni dinner; 7. MAES Alumna Mana Livardjani (2006) giving a speech on behalf of the MAES alumni; 8. MAES student Burak Recep Dogan taking a ‘selfie’ with Herman Van Rompuy; 9. Alumni Dinner and MAES anniversary cake; 10. Professor Dr. Toshiro Tanaka (Keio University) answering questions from the audience at the international workshop "The Future of European Studies – European and Global Perspectives“; 11. MAES Alumnus of the first year, Gerard de Graaf, giving a speech at the alumni dinner; 12. Panel “Towards a new teaching and research-related agenda of European Studies in 2030?” Right to left: Professor Dr. Michael Smith (Loughborough University), Professor Dr. Wolfram Kaiser (Portsmouth University), Dr. Kolja Raube (MAES), Professor Dr. Thomas Christiansen (Maastricht University), Professor Dr. Jean-Christophe Defraigne (Université Saint-Louis); 13-14. MAES alumni at the alumni dinner.

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25th Anniversary Master of

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The jubilee events in 2013-2014 (continued) 15. MAES Director Professor Dr. Patrick Pasture giving a speech a the alumni dinner; 16. Class of 2010-2011; 17. MAES alumnus Daniel Keck speaks about his experiences at the MAES programme; 18. MAES alumna 19. Interview with Herman Van Rompuy; 20. Herman Van Rompuy meeting MAES students; 21. MAES alumnus Zachary Stoltzfus (2010) and Professor Dr. Louis Vos 22. Prof. Dr. Emiel Lamberts giving a speech at the alumni dinner 23. The MAES Anniversary cake 24. First year class 1998-1999 alumni; 25. Audience at the interview with Herman Van Rompuy; 26. MAES student Farhood Fazeli at the international workshop "The Future of European Studies – European and Global Perspectives“; 27. Professor Dr. Stephan Keukeleire, MAES Co-director introducing MAES students Simon Robinson and Thomas Marquart to Herman Van Rompuy.

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Interdisciplinary Lecture Series “Challenges for Europe – European and Global Perspectives” In spring 2014 the Master of European Studies organised an inter-disciplinary lecture series “Challenges for Europe – European and Global Perspectives” in the framework of the ‘Transnational and Global Perspectives on Europe’ class. During the lecture series Pro-fessor Dr. Koen Lenaerts (Vice-President, European Court of Justice), Professor Dr. Hans Bruyninckx (Executive Director, European Envi-ronmental Agency), Professor Dr. Pieter Lagrou (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Professor Dr. Martin Holland (National Centre for

Research on Europe, University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Pro-fessor Dr. Frank Vandenbroucke (KU Leuven and University of Ant-werp), Professor Dr. Martin Kohlrausch (KU Leuven), Professor Dr. Johan Schot (SPRU, University of Sussex), Professor Dr. Ruth Olden-ziel (University of Eindhoven), Professor Dr. Patrick Pasture (Direc-tor MAES, KU Leuven) discussed topics such as the democratic defi-cit in the EU, the challenge of global environmental governance, historical legacies and the crisis of Europe, a model for the European Social Union and external perceptions of Europe. In addition to the current students in the programme, several alumni also attended some lectures. Student visits to NATO HQ and the Council of the European Union in Brussels There is a German saying “theory is grey”. To make studies more colorful, the MAES organises visits to the official institutions. After having visited the European Parliament and the European Commis-sion in Brussels in December 2013, the European Parliament and

the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the European Court of Jus-tice in Luxembourg in March 2014, in the second semester we also organised field trips to the NATO headquarters and the Council of the EU. Students discussed the current security challenges for NATO, e.g. Crimea, with Mr Carsten Thiele (Political Section, German Dele-gation to NATO). A lively debate was held under the heading “The

Challenges for Europe: the role of the Council of the European Un-ion” with Mr Petr Blizkovsky (Director at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union) on current issues developed in the European Council, ranging from geopolitics to bureaucratic management. Fifth annual student conference in European Studies On 9 May 2014 MAES held the Fifth European Studies student con-ference to allow students to present their ongoing master research. This year, 60 students of the MAES, MEPP and VIP programmes participated in 7 panels (global energy flows, international relations of the EU, European Diversity and integration, Comparative regional and global integration, Global identities etc). Every year, students acknowledge the importance of the feedback provided by the pro-fessors, researchers and fellow students for finalising their master theses.

Job information session Following the tradition established several years ago, in the second semester MAES, in cooperation with MEPP programme, organised a Job information session for the students. As always, some alumni of the MAES and MEPP (Stefaan Hermans (Head of Unit, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission), Mana Livardjani (Director European Federalists, Café Babel), Martin Watson (Head of Prospex EU office, Brussels), Thomas Jansen (Policy Officer Foreign Affairs at Provincial Government of Flemish Brabant)) shared their experienc-es of going through the job hunting process. The speakers also pre-sented their perspectives from the position of employers and pro-vided the students with a lot of tips. Book launch “The Foreign Policy of the EU” (2nd edition, Palgrave) On May 20, MAES co-organised the book launch event for the book “The Foreign Policy of the EU”, written by Stephan Keukeleire (Pro-fessor and Co-director of MAES) and Tom Delreux (UCL).

published in the renowned “European Union Series” of Palgrave Macmillan and is complemented by the Online Resource Guide “Exploring EU Foreign Policy” (www.eufp.eu). KU LEUVEN |Centre for European Studies Blijde-Inkomststraat 5 |3000 Leuven esinfo@ghum.kuleuven.be |www.ghum.kuleuven.be/ces

MAES students in NATO HQ in Brussels, 25 March 2014

European Studies Student Conference, 9 May 2014

European Studies Interdisciplinary lecture series, Spring 2014

Karel De Gucht giving an opening speech at the book launch

The book was presented in Brussels in the framework of a panel debate with Karel De Gucht (Commissioner for Trade) and Richard Youngs (Carnegie Founda-tion). A second book presentation took place on June 11 at the English Bookshop Waterstones in cooperation with MAES-Alumni. This authoritative and widely used textbook is