Visiting Lecturer at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw
Dr. Manuela Scheuermann: Visiting lecturer at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw
In October 2013 Dr. Manuela Scheuermann taught at the Collegium Civitas in Warsaw as part of the Erasmus short-term visiting lectureship. The Collegium is a young non-state University for Political and Social Sciences with a focus on International Relations.
The University is not only attractive because of its location in the Palace of Culture and Science, a prime example for socialist architecture, but also because of its large number of international visiting lecturers from diplomatic, academic, and political circles. The student body itself is comprised of students from 27 different countries.
The two-week block-seminar offered by Dr. Scheuermann was taken by students of numerous nationalities which made the seminar particularly animated. 28 students principally from the former Soviet Republic such as Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus as well as Canada, Israel, Brazil, Nigeria, and Rwanda had lively discussions on “The UN in an era of global governance”. Together a system-compatible composition of the UN Security Council was discussed and a reform conference by the highest committee was simulated.
It was an exciting experience for the lecturer to build bridges over intercultural divides during the seminar, answer questions based on a foreign picture of Germany, and to offer a more modern worldview in contrast to the Realpolitik dominated perspective of world politics. Especially due to the motivated, confident, and inquisitive students, the opportunity to have a visiting lecturer at Collegium Civitas was a valued addition.
