Monash University Handbook 2010 Postgraduate - Unit

Synopsis

Taught at the Monash Prato Centre, the unit will allow students to benefit from European teaching and research experience in EU studies. Under the guidance of Monash staff from the Faculties of Arts, Law or Business and Economics, they will pursue autonomous research on specialized policy, economic, legal, political or cultural aspects of the EU. Students will also attend lectures and seminars in economics, law, social and political science or contemporary history. They will be given by highly qualified postdoctoral fellows and established specialists from the European University Institute in Florence and from other European universities with which Monash has international agreements.

Objectives

Students will gain:

1. in-depth appreciation of the EU's functions and powers and of some of its key-institutions (such as the European Council, the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Court of Justice, the European Central Bank, the Committee of the Regions, the European Environment Agency).
2. in-depth knowledge of some key areas of EU policy in their field of specialization (Competition Policy, Common Commercial Policy, Common Agricultural Policy, Economic and Monetary Union, Environmental Policy, Social Policy, Common Foreign and Security Policy/European Security;
3. awareness of the key debates and internal as well as external challenges facing the EU;
4. strong skills in the critical reading of a variety of texts and the academic scholarship based upon those texts;
5. strong skills in oral and written assessment of the academic scholarship, including methods, assumptions and uses of evidence, and in organising and defending a verbal and written argument based upon those assessments;
6. a capacity to devise, plan and successfully complete a research essay;
7. a capacity to reflect upon and make critical use of a range of resources including, where relevant, on-line materials, especially those produced by the European Union itself.

Assessment

Written work (inc.Seminar presentation): 80%
Take home exam: 20%

Contact hours

3 weeks

Off-campus attendance requirements

Two hours of preparatory lecture at Caulfield campus, 32 hours of lectures and seminars in Prato over two and a half weeks, plus 24 hours private study. Also, one hour of individual consultation with the unit coordinator upon return to Australia.

Prerequisites

Core units of master

Prohibitions

EUM4960