First joint CIVICA bachelor course on EU migration governance
Professor Laurence Romani of SSE and Dr. Marta Pachocka of SGH got to know each other in a CIVICA-funded research project and realized that they had synergies in their approaches on migration, and that together, they cover major disciplines studying the topic.
As CIVICA is keen on offering multi-campus courses so that students gain an experience of working with others across Europe, the duo saw an interesting opportunity to collaborate.
“We were encouraged to put a course together, as our schools are already collaborating in another CIVICA course at the Masters’ level,” says Laurence.
“Laurence and I have had the pleasure of working together over the past few years through the CIVICA network. Our collaboration began with joint research and publication activities, later expanded into teaching, and has now also taken on a project-based dimension within the newly established focused on migration and integration in Europe,” says Marta.
“The topic of migration is highly politicized”
The course focused on international migration in a European context, bringing together students from two universities to explore how migration is governed across Europe. While Sweden and Poland were used as illustrative cases, the students were free to apply the learning to other contexts in their final project. The students were very engaged in the topic, investigating, for example, the economic impact of undocumented migrants in the US labor market, or how political discourses are disconnected from the actual facts on migration.
“The topic of migration is highly politicized and a lot of the narratives on migrations that we hear in politics or in society today are sometimes so remote from facts that it’s puzzling. Many students told us they were very surprised when they learned about the actual figures on migration. We want students to be able to think critically about migration, to be able to know where to find reliable facts, so that they can make up their mind as well-informed citizens,” says Laurence.
“The course we offer to our students is grounded in a genuinely multidisciplinary perspective, reflecting the nature of migration studies itself – a field that requires the analysis of migration processes alongside the governance frameworks, policies, and approaches that shape them. This way of teaching, including its interactive format, builds on years of experimenting with innovative methods of migration education within the Jean Monnet Module EUMIGRO at SGH between 2016 and 2019,” says Marta.
This digital course was a combination of interactive workshops and guest speakers coming from various organizations involved in the governance of migration.
Challenges and benefits
“Migration is a complex topic that touches many stakeholders, in particular private organizations, and we want the students to realize how they will be a part of the governance of migration in their future jobs,” says Laurence.
Throughout the course, students worked with key migration and integration theories, analyzed contemporary migration trends in Europe, and discussed both challenges and opportunities linked to migration in societies and workplaces.
Developing a joint course across two universities came with practical challenges, including aligning academic calendars and grading systems.
“But we managed to find solutions,” says Laurence. “Most importantly, we could provide a wide range of perspectives to the students, inviting speakers and experts from several countries and parts of society. This was truly rewarding.”
With the successful completion of this first digital , the initiative marks an important step in expanding cross-European education and collaboration within the alliance at the bachelor’s level.
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