1. Building Brussels Programs
A brief primer on taking students and teachers to the EU capital
Phillip Shekleton
EU Center of Excellence of Seattle
World EU Centres Meeting, 2010

2. Background
Building programs collaboratively to share logistical burdens.
Offering program annually to amortize start up costs and maximize recruitment.
Importance of routinization and maintaining institutional memory to ensure program learning and improvement.

3. Types of Brussels Programs
Shorter-Term: 1-3 weeks in length. Participants stay in hotels or other short- term housing. Emphasis on site visits over classroom study. EU Visit program started in
Longer-Term: 4 or more weeks in length. Students stay in dorms or home stays/apartments. Site visits combined with coursework. EU Studies program started in

4. EU Studies Summer Program

5. EU Studies 2009 Program Outline
Week 1: Program introduction and institution site visits (e.g. Commission, NATO, Council).
Week 2: Luxembourg and Strasbourg visits.
Week 3: Practicioner's course and speakers.
Week 4: Practicioner's course and speakers.
Week 5: Academic course and EU simulation.
Week 6: Academic course and program wrap- up.

6. Lesson Learned: Dos & Don'ts
Do work with local academic partners.
Do create a rotation of faculty and staff who can run program in alternating years.
Do visit EU and non-EU institutions.
Do include opportunities for students to meet EU officials informally.
Do include cultural and orientation activities

7. Lesson Learned: Don'ts Don't try to do everything. Less can be more.
Don't try to do everything yourself – bring staff and hire local assistants.
Don't spend excessively on logistics and travel.
Don't forget to get (and use) detailed feedback.

8. Shorter-Term Programs
Advantages:
Easier to find faculty and staff to lead
Easier to arrange logistics
Easier to recruit students
Disadvantages
Less time to get in depth on specific EU topics
Difficult to combine with study for credit

9. EU Visit Program as Model
Five days in length with participants staying in hotels.
Duration sufficient to achieve greatest value- added in terms of site visits and meetings.
Combined recruitment efforts to attain viable group size. Ideal size approximately
Multiple center/staff participation makes execution easier and enhances routinization
Institutional memory is shared across centers

10. Thank You