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[Program mission, History] [Program description] [How to apply] [Checklist] [Procedure] [Attachments] [download MS Word version]

SUN courses cater for the various needs of academic and professional development in the social sciences and humanities across a wide spectrum of disciplines. These include anthropology, art history, environmental sciences, comparative religion, political science, public policy, international relations, legal studies, etc. The program encourages topics in newly emerging fields. Courses often tend to address currently relevant issues, such as ethnic relations, migration, nationalism and transnationalism, globalisation, human rights, urban development, poverty reduction, religion and identity, and gender. These issues are discussed in a general theoretical framework as well as embedded in the context of the actual countries/regions the participants come from.

A list of previously held courses is available on our web-site at http://www.ceu.hu/sun. You may wish to review the courses prior to your own submission.

There are two major tracks in the program, which are advertised separately to prospective participants. Track I contains the high-level, research oriented courses for academics, while courses in Track II mostly address the professional development needs of practitioners, policy-makers, etc. These courses tend to provide training and/or deal with policy issues at a practical, applied level. To be accepted, Track II courses are expected to be funded or almost fully funded externally.

Please indicate your preferred choice of Track in the relevant section of Datasheet I.

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Courses typically last two weeks, but one-week workshops can also be offered. Based on the CEU credit hour system, each course has a teaching load of 24 hours per week (one teaching hour is 50 minutes long).

Courses can be designed in various formats depending on what the organisers would like to focus on:

1) Developing participants' research agendas during the course

Applicants submit a statement of purpose, a research proposal and a sample of their work in progress as part of their application. During the course while resource persons present their topics through lectures, seminars, panel and group discussions, etc., they should also facilitate work on the development of participants' research agendas through individual tutorials, office hours, and allot time for participants to do library research during their stay in Budapest. As an outcome of the course, participants are expected to give an individual or group presentation. With some follow-up help and additional research after the course, they should be encouraged to submit an article for publication.

2) Developing research into policy proposals

Policy oriented courses may want to decide to focus on some theoretical issues which could be turned into policy proposals. The course can guide participants from identifying key questions, through the discussion of the research aspects of the selected issues to some conclusions which could lead to formulating policy recommendations. In addition to providing relevant literature on the subject, such courses are advised to rely on faculty and participants' contribution with case studies, country reports, etc.

In combination with one of the above, you may also wish to consider these sub-formats (more than one sub-format can be applied in a course):

1) Curriculum development

Courses interested in promoting newly emerging, often interdisciplinary subject areas may decide to work on how the research issues, the literature, etc. discussed during the SUN course could be turned into the syllabus of a course to be offered at the home institution of participants in the future. Along with the syllabus, the most appropriate teaching methodology for the proposed course could also be demonstrated and discussed.

2) Distance Learning

Course proposals offering to prepare a distance learning package are strongly encouraged. As the SUN program cannot fund the DL component, external funding should be secured and indicated, if available, in the course proposal. These courses, if approved, may be designed in various formats. For example, they can be divided into 3 phases: (1) pre-course Distance Learning, (2) one-week face-to-face, and (3) post-course Distance Learning.

Since connectivity in many countries of our target regions may not be advanced enough, the DL phases should primarily rely on mailing out printed materials in advance and keeping contact with participants via e-mail. Some, but not an extensive use of web sites can also be included in the proposal. For more details about DL experiences in the program, please consult the SUN Office.

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In addition to the academic quality of the course, one of the major contributors to its success is the variety of teaching modes it employs. Authors of proposals are encouraged to include a broad range of teaching methods, such as lectures, intensive reading seminars, discussions, individual and group projects, presentations, field trips, etc., thus avoiding lectures being the dominant medium for teaching. SUN courses aim to provide a model in terms of course design and methodology as well by exposing participants to a diversity of teaching methods they could adopt and experiment with in their own teaching.

SUN courses are primarily designed for the most promising junior faculty, researchers, postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. students and professionals. The minimum enrollment for a course to be launched is 15 participants, however, we prefer an enrollment of 20-25 participants. Participants are selected based upon their application materials including information on their education background, publications list (if any), a research proposal, a sample of their work in progress, a statement of purpose describing how they would benefit from the course, and a letter of recommendation.

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The participation costs for a two-week course at a subsidized CEU rate, excluding travel, are the following:

The following packages are offered under our funding scheme:

1) Full SUN Scholarship

Includes tuition fee, accommodation, insurance and a full or partial travel grant. The recipients of the scholarship have to cover their own living expenses.

2) Partial SUN Scholarship

Offers four different packages:

a) tuition fee, accommodation and insurance provided (Recipients have to cover their own travel and living expenses.)

b) tuition fee, travel and insurance provided (Recipients have to cover their own accommodation and living expenses.)

c) accommodation and travel provided (Recipients have to cover their own tuition fee, insurance and living expenses.)

d) only tuition fee provided (Recipients have to cover their own insurance, travel, accommodation and living expenses.)

While it is the prime responsibility of the SUN Office to conduct an effective advertising campaign for the program with the help of the CEU coordinators at the Soros foundations, through the Internet, etc., course directors and resource persons are also expected to be active in recruiting participants, especially fee-paying students from western countries (e.g. Ph.D. students who may be able to receive grants from their home departments, etc.).

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Funding for courses

SUN provides a core budget for a limited number of courses, and would like to encourage course proposals to supplement this core and/or find extra funding to provide further scholarships for outstanding students.

	Contribution to course costs (honoraria and/or travel and/or accommodation of faculty)
	Scholarships for participants
	Contribution to course material development

Possible funding sources can be:

Applicants' home institutions (e.g. travel grants for Ph.D. students and faculty from departments)

Establishment of institutional partnership between CEU and another university, research institute, international organisations (e.g. our current and previous partners include the World Bank, USAID, UN, Council of Europe, etc.)

European Union (e.g. SUN could be part of a consortium for performing the task of dissemination of research results of an EU research team)

European or American foundations supporting research, and /or summer schools.

The SUN office is ready to provide assistance with the preparation of joint applications where needed.

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Course directors and faculty (resource persons)

Each course is led by a course director who is responsible for the academic content and the organisation of the course. As each course is allotted its own budget, s/he is the budget administrator as well. (Detailed financial guidelines will be available once the course has been approved by the SUN Board.) The course director recruits an international team of co-teachers, preferably an even mixture of outstanding eastern and western scholars, who design the course content, the syllabus, the reading lists, etc. in close co-operation.

Course directors can hire a coordinator to help with administrative tasks. The SUN Office is responsible for the overall organisation of the courses in terms of recruitment, processing applications, taking care of travel and housing arrangements, etc.

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