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Promoting European Integration through our International and Interdisciplinary Study Programmes
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Word from the President
For more than 60 years the Centre international de formation européenne has been promoting the values of Europe, European integration and governance, multilingualism and student mobility through its European and international higher education programmes. As President of CIFE, I am pleased to be able to contribute to the next stage in the development of this academic institution.
Herman Van Rompuy
President Emeritus of the European Council
Former Prime Minister of Belgium
President of CIFE (since January 2018)
Proud to be European since 1954
CIFE is a private institution of higher education and research founded in 1954. The breadth of its geographic engagement and the variety of its academic programmes testify to CIFE’s major commitments: a confident, future-oriented vision of Europe, an innovative concept of teaching and an awareness of the challenges of a changing world. CIFE has a strong international orientation, with its main office in Nice and offices in Berlin, Brussels and Istanbul. Under the presidence of Herman Van Rompuy, CIFE is one of the seven institutions of excellence to receive an operating grant from the EU under the ‘Jean Monnet Activities’ of the Erasmus+ programme.
Strengthening European Identity
CIFE offers intrinsically European education which goes beyond the teaching framework of national higher education. Its students form a small, itinerant international community during an intensive academic year, being accompanied by an international faculty, thus experiencing the challenges of diversity and unity. Through higher education, CIFE is enhancing “Europeanness” among young citizens. By educating students from all EU member states and beyond, CIFE is training multipliers, who will convey in their future professional and personal context an accurate and fair image of European integration. Our programmes connect EU policy makers with students, fostering dialogue between young citizens and European decision-makers. International seminars addressed to participants from non-EU countries (China, US) are creating awareness, knowledge and support of the EU among multipliers from key audiences.
At the Cutting Edge of European Policies
The question of the best possible European, national and regional governance is at the core of our academic tradition. Since 2005, CIFE has been fostering EU-Turkey relations with its office in Istanbul and terms at its partner Bilgi University. CIFE's Master in Mediterranean studies makes students aware of the unprecedented challenges of the region. The Master in Global Energy Transition and Governance, the Joint Master in Global Economic Governance and Public Affairs and the Joint Master in EU Trade and Climate Diplomacy deal with pivotal issues of future EU policy making. CIFE's programmes foster networks between academics, policy-makers and young people from different member states as well as neighbourhood countries (Caucasus, Central Asia, Turkey, Maghreb), creating European added value.
Committed to Lifelong Learning
Offering a lifelong European education has always been one of CIFE’s major concerns. Its Executive Master in EU Studies for professionals, who continue their studies while pursuing their career, attests to this commitment.
On the Move: Learning and Living Europe
CIFE strongly supports the mobility of its students: The participants in six of its Master programmes rotate each term, moving their place of study from France (Nice) to Germany (Berlin), Italy (Rome), United Kingdom (Canterbury), Turkey (Istanbul) or Tunisia (Tunis). Study trips to Brussels, Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and Leipzig offer additional insights into specific regional intricacies and challenges.
Innovative Teaching Methods
CIFE has been at the vanguard in developing digital higher education programmes since its creation in 2003 of one of the first qualifying online study programmes in European integration. The teaching methods are regularly updated to include ever more interactive formats. Practical workshops provide the students with the skills and competences needed on the job market: negotiation, intercultural awareness, project cycle management, and public speaking. Together with practitioners, students follow EU policy making in real time and thus experience how decisions are made among member states.
Policy Officer in European and International Organisations
CIFE’s alumni succeed in the professional world. The French state has recognised CIFE’s graduate programmes as a qualification at Master level (level 7 EQF). Thanks to this recognition, CIFE’s graduates receive the qualification as “Policy officer in European and international organisations”. This recognition demonstrates not only that CIFE's graduates are employable, but also that they are in employment. The accrediting body (CNCP) verifies that at least three quarters of CIFE’s graduates work in the professional field covered by this qualification: as senior officials in European institutions, policy officers within the UN framework, administrators, diplomats, consultants, researchers for think tanks, lobbyists, and academic experts.
High-Level Academic Teaching and Practical Know-How
CIFE provides excellent academic teaching, offering students problem-focused learning at the crossroads of theory and practice. This is guaranteed by its own international faculty as well as guest lecturers coming from renowned academic institutions and research centres such as Sciences Po (Paris), the London School of Economics, the University of Cologne, and Humboldt University (Berlin).
Some of our programmes are carried out in partnership with universities worldwide such as the University of Kent, Istanbul Bilgi University, LUISS Guido Carli (Rome), Texas A&M, and the Université centrale (Tunis). Next to its academic network, practitioners from international organisations, most prominently from the European Union, contribute to CIFE’s programmes.
Research Projects
CIFE focuses on research projects in accordance with its intellectual heritage and academic competence: European integration, federalism, the role of Franco-German relations, EU-Western Balkan relations, energy transition, sustainable development. It has recently participated in two Horizon 2020 consortia.
Learning and Living Europe – CIFE’s Mission
European integration should be a lived experience for our students: Living together in an international community makes them aware of the futility of their national prejudices. Seeing EU institutions at work makes them realise that European integration is far more than a bureaucratic venture, but among the most ambitious and inspiring political projects of our times.
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