European Comenius Course

The European Comenius Course is an executive programme which focuses on leadership development. Social, economic and technological developments will be dealt with in academic lectures which will put existing models of reality in a different perspective. Thus, a many-coloured picture of the changing reality will emerge during the Course. This will stimulate expansion of the conceptual framework and challenge you to amend your paradigms.

The ambiance of the classic cities and the themes chosen in relation to these cities will be important elements of the programme. Participants will visit seven prominent European knowledge centres: the universities of Louvain, Bologna, Heidelberg, Prague, Cambridge, Istanbul and Groningen. The European Course expressly zooms in on the contrast of culturally related aspects versus fundamental insights.

Insights after the Course

The European Comenius Course will stimulate the capacity to recognise and address fundamental changes. In challenging lectures, professors from various scientific disciplines will shed their lights on unexpected aspects of their individual disciplines. The group will spend a year travelling together and will make in-depth acquaintance with prominent scientists and their views, each and everyone belonging to the vanguard of their discipline. And because the participants are not only travelling in their minds, but are actually also travelling physically along the universities of Europe, this module will, more than anything else, result in a deep paradigmatic shift.

Practical information

Duration
7 x 3 consecutive days, spread out across a period of one year

Start
2 x per year
The autumn edition will start on 23 November 2011

Locations
Louvain, Bologna, Heidelberg, Prague, Cambridge, Istanbul and Groningen

Admission
Based on a mutual exploratory conversation.

Group
A maximum of 16 participants

Participant’s profile

The participants, who are able to work and think at academic level, are aged from forty upwards, and are working in the public sector or business:

• Enterprising managers (director of own company, top consultant);
• Business unit managers;
• General Managers, members of boards of directors, directors of public services, directors of political, ideological and social organisations and other managers;
• Specific professional groups, e.g. artists, journalists and doctors.

Lecturers

The lecturers collaborating on this course include:

• Prof.Dr. Johan Verstraeten (Louvain);
• Mr. Gherardo Colombo (Bologna);
• Prof.Dr. Konrad Beyreuther (Heidelberg);
• Prof.Dr. Simon Conway Morris (Cambridge);
• Prof. Milan Knizak (Prague);
• Prof.Dr. Soli Özel (Istanbul);
• Prof.Dr. Martin van Hees (University of Groningen);
• Prof.Dr. Harry Garretsen (University of Groningen). 

Programme & procedure

 The course consists of seven modules of three consecutive days (Wednesday to Saturday morning). The participants will get to know field-transcending, fundamental views from seven renowned European knowledge centres. Each city will focus on a specific field, whereas each city is also linked to a specific theme which, jointly, make up the leitmotiv of the programme. For instance:Philosophy and Religion in Louvain. Louvain is all about ‘tradition and innovation’;

• Social Sciences in Istanbul. Istanbul is about ‘revolution and evolution’ ;
• Medical Sciences in Heidelberg. Heidelberg is about ‘life and death’;
• Literature, Art and Culture in Prague. Prague is about ‘creature or creator’;
• Natural Sciences in Cambridge. Cambridge is about ‘innovative power’;
• Economic Sciences in Groningen. Groningen is about the ‘power of simplicity’.

Each module is concluded with a cultural programme that fits the theme of the course.