CIVICA: focus on Joint Courses

On 29 April 2022, students from the joint course “Welfare States in Transition” taught by Bruno Palier of Sciences Po and Anke Hassel of the Hertie School were finally able to meet one another in person at Sciences Po. A debrief on this novel pedagogical experience with Frank Stadelmaier (CIVICA Senior Manager) and Carly Hafner (CIVICA Project Manager, Department of Studies and Partnerships).

What do the Joint Courses consist of? How are they organised?

Joint Courses are co-designed by two instructors from CIVICA universities and co-taught to a mixed group of students from the respective institutions. This format allows instructors to explore a topic from complementary perspectives, and students benefit from this exchange between professors and students from different backgrounds. At Sciences Po, we have organized CIVICA Joint Courses by finding instructors who have pre-existing working relationships with instructors at other CIVICA universities. The instructors then work together, alongside the academic teams at each university, to design the syllabus and deliver the course.

How long have they existed? What are their ambitions/objectives?

Our first CIVICA Joint Course, “Democracy in Crises” was launched in Fall 2020 between the Hertie School and the Sciences Po School of Public Affairs (taught by Florence Faucher, Sciences Po and Christian Freudlsperger, Hertie). Since then, the School of Public Affairs has developed two additional CIVICA Joint Courses: a second course with Hertie that has been held twice (“Welfare States in Transition” taught by Bruno Palier, Sciences Po and Anke Hassel, Hertie), and a new course this semester on “Diving in the Digital Public Space” with Central European University (taught by Jean-Philippe Cointet, Sciences Po and Marton Karsai, CEU). The overall feedback on these courses has been very positive, and with each new edition of a course, we are able to make adjustments to enrich the learning experience for students.

This is the second edition of the course “Welfare States in Transition” taught by Bruno Palier of Sciences Po and Anke Hassel from Hertie, and the first time that we have been able to physically welcome students from our partner on campus. We are hopeful that the combination of online and in-person learning will strengthen the links between the students and make the experience even more engaging.

The objective of CIVICA Joint Courses is to create an immersive and collaborative learning environment between instructors and students, and to allow students to benefit from a diversity of perspectives. When embarking on a Joint Course, we are looking for ideas that are complementary to our courses, offer a different perspective on a course, or provide geographic diversity. This Joint Course taught by Bruno Palier of Sciences Po and Anke Hassel from Hertie was built on a joint research initiative, which has been particularly enriching for the students.

What has been learned from the Covid experience?

Joint Courses have been one of the success stories of the CIVICA teaching offer during COVID. They have taken place almost entirely online, which offers an opportunity for students in different countries to attend the same course. Students can engage with different cultures and perspectives in the CIVICA Joint Courses without having to leave campus. In addition, our instructors have been able to experiment with different pedagogical tools which have resulted in positive results for students taking the course. For example, having courses entirely online means that instructors can more easily promote small group exchange between the students through breakout rooms containing students from both universities.

We are excited to continue exploring and multiplying Joint Courses with our CIVICA partners in the years to come.

Find out more : 

• About CIVICA (EN)

The Sciences Po Editorial Team