TEACHING MODULES

 

MODULE 1: SEPTEMBER 2015

The course provides students with a sophisticated overview of migration and immigration issues relevant to the Visegrad region and wider Central European space. Students gains knowledge and understanding of the various types and definitions of migration and learnt how to classify different categories and waves of migrants. The challenges of immigration for individuals and their new host country and society are addressed and students encouraged to think about issues to do with tension, assimilation and integration, in terms of both opportunity and challenges.

Questions of ethnicity and diasporas provided further focal points, with such issues considered through prisms of the Roma issue and that of citizenship and belonging. The case of EU enlargement is taken up as a means to get students thinking about questions to do with labour mobility and economic migration from Central Europe into Western Europe.

The module is an attractive course for an array of students keen to learn about the Central European Region, Visegrad states and the overall topic of migration and immigration. The module draw together lecturers from different V4 states who speak about national perspectives on immigration and migration as well as wider challenges from the Eastern neighbourhood and further afield.

By following the module students gain the following skills and attributes:

  • Deep and comprehensive of the Visegrad concept and history
  • Capacity to recognize the similarities and differences in V4 perspectves towards migration and immigration issues
  • Capacities to analyse the V4 integration and cooperation modal in a comparative perspective and to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses
  • Analytical capacities and skills to examine migration and immigration issues in Central Europe
MODULE 2: June 2018

The course is all about migration and immigration in the context of the states and societies that make up the Visegrad area (V4). The module draws attention to the specificities of the region and the particular challenges, trends and opportunities linked with migration / immigration. The module also prompts students to think about ’regional’ approaches to migration / immigration, the added value of the ’Visegrad Four’ in this domain, as well as EU policies and initatives. Students can gain knowledge and understanding of the various types and definitions of migration and learn how to classify different categories and waves of migrants. The challenges of immigration for individuals and their new host country and socjety is addressed and students encouraged to think about issues to do with tension, assimilation and integration, in terms of both opportunity and challenges. Questions of ethnicity and diasporas provide a further focal point, with such issues considered through prisms of the Roma issue and that of citizenship and belonging. The case of EU enlargement is taken up as a mean to get students thinking about questions to do with labour mobility and economic migration from Central Europe into Western Europe. The module also considers issues to do with visas and borders in the context of the EU’s relations with its Eastern neighbours, such as Ukraine and Moldova – particularly from a V4 perspective.

The module is divided into the following main elements:

APPROACHING MIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION

  • Migration theories and current trends at a global, European and V4 level, xenophobia and discrimination.
  • The social situation of the Roma in Eastern Europe and in the V4 countries: concepts and current trends in the social integration and social life of the Roma, based on current statistics and studies. Topics covered are: basic socio-demography, education, employment, housing, health condition, migration, discrimination, antigypsysm.
  • Implications for migration / immigration issues in the V4 and Political situation in Hungary: ‘illiberal democracy’, populism.

ECONOMIC EFFECTS AND FISCAL BALANCE OF MIGRATION

  • Aging related fiscal burdens in developed countries, main factors influencing the fiscal balance, differences between developed countries in the fiscal outcomes of immigration.
  • Post-enlargement migration flows from New Member States: Slovakia in a comparative perspective – the characteristics of the migration flows from CEE countries to Western Europe. Main factors influencing the intensity, patterns and trends of migration. V4 countries – from emigration to immigration states?
  • The refugee crisis and its aftermath. The refugee/migration crisis of 2014-2016 as part of the multiple, overlapping and mutually reinforcing crises of the European Union. The failure of EU and national asylum/immigration systems during the crisis. The political and fiscal consequences. Reactions and political consequences in V4 countries.

THE WIDER EUROPE – MOBILITY, VISAS AND BORDERS – V4 PERSPECTIVES

  • The EU’s relations with the eastern neighbours via immigration and migration as focal points.