Spring – Summer 2020

Activism

Track coordination and design: Mussa Idris Mussa & Noémi Katona.
Taught by Betty Sebály, Olsi, Zóra Molnár, Attila Szabó, Kristóf Környei and Zoltán Somogyvári

The activist track offers students the possibility to learn how to be active citizens and advocate for their rights, including through civil society organizations, informal affinity groups, workplace organizing, community associations. Students learn how to represent, manage and organize. Ideally, students will have the opportunity to start an internship, a job shadowing or volunteering program at a local organization. 

Communication Skills

Taught by Tom Popper  and Ana da Silva

English language conversation practice and development of communication skills needed for further study. 

History

Taught by Rasa Navickaite

This course provides an introduction to the academic discipline of history, as well as a basic introduction to some of the main topics in modern European history. It is aimed at preparing high school graduates for university education (at a Bachelor level) in disciplines related to history and humanities/social sciences at large. It is also aimed at broadening the intellectual horizons of students and introducing them to thinking about historical and contemporary topics in a fact-based, critical, scholarly way.

European Politics

Taught by Zalan Klauda

The course aims to give insight into the European politics and societies. It will provide distinct focus on European policies and policy-making, and on Europe’s role in the international system. Through the in-depth study of case studies, students analyse how history has shaped the political and economic relationship of European countries. They also get familiar with the basic international relations concepts and theories that are useful for making sense of contemporary debates and challenges in international politics. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with the main institutions of the European Union and the fundamentals of the European and especially Hungarian politics.

Introduction to Business and Management

Taught by Anass Karzazi

This course aims at offering an introduction to business and management for students expected to continue their studies in business or management related programs in the near future, mainly at Bachelor level. The main focus of the course is the general aspects of modern business and management and provides a foundation to explore issues expanded on in future business courses. It provides students with the opportunity to develop a business vocabulary and advance critical and analytical thinking in solving business issues. The course also helps participants to acquire practical knowledge and skills that might be useful on the labor market or to start a new business.

Digital Literacy

Taught by Edward Branagan and Jafari Mahdi

This course is aimed at building students’ digital literacy skills and equipping them with the basic IT knowledge and capacities to function, participate, and contribute to the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Students will learn how to use a desktop computer and Microsoft Office applications including
Word, Powerpoint, and Excel along with other dominantly used applications. In the final sessions, students will learn how to build a basic website. Lastly, this course will expose students to important digital terminology and teach students about communication etiquette and best practices such as on email
writing.

Open Seminars

Speakers: Marius Taba, Dean Starkman, David Weberman, Tamara Steger, Andras Lederer, Viola Zentai, Paul Stubbs, Veszna Wessenauer, Claudio Sopranzetti, Prem Kumar Rajaram

OLIve Weekend Programme runs the Open Seminar Series every Saturday online. The seminar is for all of the CEU and international OLIve community. Guests are welcome if respectful of the learning environment.

More information about individual seminars can be found on our Open Seminars page.

Critical Creativity: Art/Literature in Society

Taught by Masha Semashyna and Natalya Antonova

This course offers a brief introduction into the complex relationships between artistic production, literary texts, and societal processes. Students will explore a number of introductory readings on some of the key nodal points which inform these relationships: for example, art/literature and the nation, art/literature and gender/sexuality, art/literature and race, art/literature and class, art/literature and the economy.

Visual Story Telling

Taught by Matthew Daintrey-Hall

The course will provide students with the knowledge and skills of how to compose and arrange visual images to tell cohesive and engaging stories. Students will demonstrate the ability to communicate narratives of varying complexity purely through images, without written or spoken language. This could be in the form of photo-story, storyboard, animation or film/video.

Academic Skills

Taught by Edward Branagan

This course is designed to introduce students to the academic skills required to perform basic research and writing. Students will learn how to: use the CEU library and access other online resources to conduct research; formulate, structure, and support arguments citing scholarly sources; and CV writing that will prepare students to submit university applications. Students will practice their academic writing and hone their critical thinking skills. Mandatory reading and homework will be assigned (about 2 hours per week) and the expectation is that students complete all required readings and homework prior to each class session.

Using Digital Tools for my Project?

Taught by Anass Karzazi

This course is designed to introduce students to the academic skills required to perform basic research and writing. Students will learn how to: use the CEU library and access other online resources to conduct research; formulate, structure, and support arguments citing scholarly sources; and CV writing that will prepare students to submit university applications. Students will practice their academic writing and hone their critical thinking skills. Mandatory reading and homework will be assigned (about 2 hours per week) and the expectation is that students complete all required readings and homework prior to each class session.

Gender, Sexuality and Diversity

Taught by Rasa Navickaite

This course provides an introduction to the political, legal and, cultural issues related to gender and sexual diversity in societies worldwide. It explains the history of the struggles for the improvement of the status of women, as well as the fights for the social inclusion of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans) people. It introduces the main documents on the subject, and outlines the political and legal situation worldwide, with a particular focus on Hungary and the EU. It analyses various cases of discrimination, exclusion, and violence, as well as it outlines examples of progress and positive change, engaging also with the pre-existing knowledge and experiences of OLIve students. The course prompts students to think about the reasons behind some of the discriminatory and violent practices in Europe as well as their countries of origin, and it encourages them to reflect on their role in integrating/mainstreaming a gender perspective in their activism for building more inclusive and egalitarian movements and societies.

Media Literacy

Taught by Nora Balkanyi

Understanding media is an essential skill these days. It especially helps those targeted by propaganda and those who try to settle in a very different environment from their own. The more one knows how the media works, the more critical, protected and aware one gets. The course utilises insider knowledge about the media with a lot practical, real-life cases and examples. Course structure: Media Massage – What Does “Media” Mean? // Video Killed the Radio Star – Media History // War is Peace: The Nature of Propaganda // Reality: Disappeared – The Crisis of the Press // Journalism, Q&A

Introduction to Web Development

Taught by Miklós Molnár and Mahdi Jafari

This course will introduce students to the basic concept of web development. In the end of the 5 weeks students will know what HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript are and how to use them. They will put their knowledge into practice to (re)create a website. This course will give a foundation for future learnings in the topic. Course structure: Web Hosting // HTML5 basics // Introduction to CSS3 // Introduction to JavaScript // Advanced Web Development possibilities

Introduction to Contemporary Dance

Taught by Liz Sweales

Students will choreograph and perform a dance piece that expresses an idea, story or feeling, learn to express ideas and feelings through movement and creativity, develop confidence through performance and feel the power of dance to enrich the body and mind. The objective of the course is to develop choreographic, performance and appreciation skills in dance. Students will acquire knowledge and techniques enabling them to create and perform movement based upon a range of stimuli. Course Structure: The rudiments of movement // Learning and developing repertoire // Responding to stimuli and appreciation // Motif development and choreographic devices // Performance skills.

Energy and Sustainability in Times of Crisis

Taught by Sergi Moles & Ana Stojilovska

This course intends to be a forum for engaging scholar, activist and everyday interests and experiences of the participants-learners in the contemporary challenges posed by climate change, transition policies, consumerism, the post-Covid, as well as the ongoing mobilization of scholars, activists, and citizens in the matter. Instructors will guide the unpacking of problematic concepts like ‘sustainability’, ‘energy efficiency’ and ‘transition governance’ as the basis for an exploration and critique of a fundamental topic in contemporary politics, i.e. that is increasingly becoming problematic in our everyday lives. We intend to focus on energy due to its relevance in climate change and to the universally shared roles in the production of practice and knowledge, e.g. through consumption practices

Introduction to Finance for Excel Users

Taught by Edward Branagan

This course covers basic financial concepts such as the time value of money and risk and return and aims to improve students’ skills in Excel. In addition to learning financial concepts, students will learn how to apply their knowledge to create a budget, analyze an expense report, and value projects using discounted cash flows. Students will also practice working in teams. In five sessions, students will be introduced to the following topics: Revenue and expense budgeting – how to analyze and create budget using a template // Expense analysis and reporting – manipulate pivot tables and create visuals of data // Risk and return; and time value of money // Project valuation – discounted cash flow (DCF) method and net present value // Role play simulation – impact of financial decisions on employees.

Get closer to yourself through Movement-Meditation

Taught by Sára Szilágyi

This workshop is based on yoga, meditation, conscious movement and art methods. This process supports the participants in strengthening their self-confidence, expressing themselves, coping with stress and anxiety, and cooperating with each other in a supporting community. It will help them to relax their mind, listen to their body, connect to themselves and others in a safe environment. As movement is a universal language, it is accessible to everyone. However through reflecting on the experiences, they will improve their communication skills as well. Activities include: guided yoga, postures and breathing exercises // walking around in the space with different instructions // cooperating in pairs and groups: mirroring the other’s movement in different ways, leading-following exercises, expressing emotions through body posture, common dance creation // freestyle movement