The GLODEP (Global Development Policy) study programme offers students the opportunity to study at three European universities that implement programmes in the field of development studies and development economics. In addition to Palacký University, they are the University of Clermont Auvergne in France and the University of Pavia in Italy. The programme’s aim is to prepare students for development policies. For the last five years this study programme had been led by Miroslav Syrovátka from the Department of Development and Environmental Studies.
How do you evaluate the project overall, and what has been the biggest challenge for you?
Overall, I would rate the project as successful, although its launch was not easy. Four universities participated in the project and it was coordinated by our Olomouc team. In mid-July 2016, I received an email saying that the European Union is approving our project for funding. A few hours later that day, a coup broke out in Turkey, as a result of which one of the participating universities (Fatih University in Turkey) was cancelled a week later. Thus we had to restructure the study programme so that it was provided by only three universities. We also started to implement the programme at a time when our university did not coordinate any similar programme; it was only the second Erasmus Mundus programme in the Czech Republic where the coordinating workplace was the Czech university. This, of course, required setting up the processes at our university that were necessary for the implementation of the project, but with which the university had not yet had experience. GLODEP is not an exchange programme – where one university sends students to another university – but a joint programme, where all students are from the three cooperating universities, all the way through.
How was the interest from foreign students?
Interest was huge: I reckon that the ratio of applicants to students was the highest in the entire university. In the first three cycles of students, we received 3,000 applications, but we could only accept much fewer. The European Union provides a relatively high financial contribution to scholarship holders of these programmes, and many of them apply for more programmes, with the scholarship sometimes being more motivating than the programme itself. This means that you can have 1000 applicants per year, but many of them do not have the necessary prerequisites to study. Obviously, there are a lot of very good candidates among the thousand applicants, but you won’t find that out except by evaluating all properly submitted applications, which was very time consuming. In the new project, we have already introduced a fee for the admission procedure, which discouraged some weaker applicants and made the admission procedure more manageable. By the way, if I remember correctly, out of the three thousand applications, only one applicant was from the Czech Republic.
What did the students have to do during their Master’s studies?
The programme, which was completed by a total of 68 students from 37 countries, was based on three teaching semesters and a research or practical internship connected to the thesis. The whole group of students always started in Olomouc, the second semester was completed at the French University in Clermont-Ferrand and the third semester in Pavia, Italy. The individual semesters differed to some extent in specialisation. For example, in Olomouc, students acquired a multidisciplinary foundation in development studies, while in France the focus was more economically oriented.
Do you have any information about the students’ subsequent employment?
We are in contact with most of our former students and follow their careers informally. The majority work in the field, as the programme intended; a smaller portion remained in the academic sphere. Their job positions are very diverse, usually in public administration at national and international levels and in non-governmental organisations. To name a few, I would like to mention the gender adviser at the National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic and a programme worker at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Some work in positions that are less relevant for development studies, but this is quite common in today’s world.
Did the Covid-19 pandemic affect teaching?
The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on our programme. It broke out in the spring of 2020, when one class-year of students had just moved to France to complete their second semester, while another class-year of students was already in the fourth semester on internships in various parts of the world. And even though this happened at a time when the students were not in the Czech Republic, the coordination of the procedure was, naturally, up to us. These included border crossing solutions and the validity of insurance for students travelling to another country than planned. In 2020, we held state exams online, and students took them in various places around the world. I was a little worried about the organisation but I was pleasantly surprised that everything worked out, both in terms of logistics and the quality of the connection. A year later, we managed to organise the first hybrid graduation, which was broadcast online world-wide.
What has this joint Master’s degree programme brought to our university, to the Faculty of Science, to your department?
This programme has mainly strengthened internationalisation for the university as a whole, as it is a programme fully taught in English for international students, which is not usual. It also brought the experience that the university has now had with this programme, which will make it easier for other departments to implement joint programmes. To our department it brought much stronger contact with foreign universities and especially with students. Regular teaching, supervision of Master’s theses, state final exams, all in English, have also increased the professional capacity of the academic staff. One more aspect is worth mentioning. Although exposure to the international environment is beneficial to any programme, it is absolutely essential for international development studies. Discussions with students, most of whom come from developing countries, are stimulating, and thus keep the department’s contact up to date with the reality of the developing world, which the programme focuses on most.
Will the programme continue?
The programme is already continuing. All three universities wanted to continue with the programme, so as a consortium we asked the European Union for a follow-up grant, which we have received. I left the consortium in terms of project organisation, which was taken over by my colleagues. I wish them good luck in continuing the programme, and I would like to thank them as well as everyone at the university who indirectly participated in the project.