English

This course introduces students to the history of German cinema, with a special focus on the crucial role of Berlin as both production site and film set. Students engage with important milestones in the history of German cinema, many of which are set in Berlin, and learn about their historical, political and aesthetic contexts. Special emphasis is placed on the so-called “Berlin School” of filmmaking, a New Wave emerging in the late 1990s, and continuing to be highly relevant today. CIEE offers the course in German and English, and this version of the course is taught in English.

This course examines how literary and cultural works address the state of perpetual war of the historical present. Focusing on Third World decolonization contexts, it considers how writers and artists interrogate the gender, racial, and national ideologies that fuel violence, and how literary cultural analysis contributes towards understanding the global unevenly distributed effects of war.

This course offers a study of international human rights. The first part of the course focuses on the major features of international human rights law as part and parcel of general international law. Topics in the first part of the course include the philosophical and political bases for the international human rights movement; the ongoing debate over universality, culture, and human rights; relevant sources; different categories of rights; and the nature and scope of the application of rights. The second part of the course explores the content of various substantive human rights, such as civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. The third part of the course considers judicial, quasi-judicial, and non-judicial mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights at the international and regional levels. In this part of the course, students discuss the United Nations system, and the regional human rights systems of Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The final part of the course examines several relevant developments and challenges regarding international human rights law, such as terrorism and counterterrorism, poverty, and environmental degradation. Students read weekly readings, participate in class discussions, complete a paper and an exam, and participate in a mock court. The course requires that students have completed the UCU course on International Law or an equivalent as a prerequisite.

This course introduces the definition of chronic diseases and major diseases and covers the frequency and distribution of chronic diseases and major risk factors. It also analyzes major issues and research cases related to the prevention and management of chronic diseases and discusses projects and policies for health promotion.  

Students will be able to describe the pathogenic sequence of events associated with development of major chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and arthritis); understand risk factors for major chronic diseases; and identify factors that are associated with increased risk of major chronic diseases. 

This course covers the fundamentals of mechanical design for devices and systems, including an examination of economic and manufacturing viability. 

Students will learn various design approaches for real engineering problems and, through team and individual projects, will participate in an entire design process from a sketch to a performance test. At the end of the course a contest will be held as a performance test for designed products.   

Topics include fostering creative mechanical design skills, fostering creative implementation skills of product design, collaboration and teamwork skills, concept design, 2D and 3D design, machining and manufacturing skills, and how to create an effective presentation. 

This course focuses on the ways in which Africa has been imagined and represented across the ages. Drawing on key texts from the creative and performing arts, the course explores specific depictions of Africa and Africans in each era and opens up questions about the relationship between arts and society. The course examines African self-representations alongside representations that focus on Africa as a site of difference or ‘othering’. Topics include: What is representation?; Images of Slavery; Travel writing and tourism; Visual Arts; Anti-colonialism/ nationalism in film. Assessment includes tutorial hand-ins (20%), 1st essay (20%), and 2nd essay (30%). Course entry requirements: None

This course examines the causes and correlates of global poverty, and investigates the policies used to address it. The approach of the course is microeconomic, meaning that it focuses on individual and household behaviors, as well as market failures which lead to sub-optimal choices by these individuals. It covers measurement of poverty and inequality, the role of health and education in poverty, problems in credit, savings, and insurance markets, the causes and effects of migration, environmental degradation, and child labor. 

This course addresses one of the most important contemporary issues - responsible data use. The concept of responsible data is based on understanding the individual and societal collective duty to prioritize and respond to the ethical, legal, and social challenges coming from the use of data. The key elements of responsible data use - data privacy, data protection, and data ethics - are discussed in detail. The main feature of the course is to bring all these three elements together and to discuss them in the context of the contemporary legal and technological environment as well as future development.

This introductory course in macroeconomics teaches the insights of macroeconomic theory from a real-world perspective. The course combines chapters from the Blanchard textbook and units from the textbook The Economy to present a picture of contemporary macroeconomic problems and theories.  The course starts with an introduction to key macroeconomic concepts, the use of models, the general equilibrium, and emerging properties. The second session focuses on economic fluctuations and the importance of multiplier effects. The next step is to analyze the importance and effects of fiscal policy. To provide a tool for analyzing the effects of policies, the wage and price setting model, and the Phillips curve are introduced. Special attention is given to the origins of inflation and the difference between supply and demand shocks. Next to fiscal policy, attention to monetary policy is given, after the role of the banking system in the economy is defined. The final session focuses on the specific problems that are related to the Eurozone countries; fixed exchange rates, the (non)optimal currency area, sovereign debt problems, and structural imbalances.

This course primarily focuses on the ocean's role in the global biogeochemical cycling of elements, with special attention given to the impact of human activities on the transport of these elements within these cycles. The course begins by covering basic ocean chemistry, followed by an exploration of the concept of global geochemical cycles based on water/rock interactions. The discussion then delves into nutrient and trace metal cycling, emphasizing redox reactions and the biologically mediated oxidation of organic matter. Steady-state models will be employed to explain the global distribution of these components in the oceans. 
 
In addition, the course examines the role of sediment in shaping ocean chemical composition, considering both equilibrium and kinetic perspectives and touches upon marine chemistry related to radioactive and stable isotopes. 
 

This course aims to provide young marine scientists with a foundation in the fundamental concepts of ocean chemistry, while offering a global perspective on the subject. There are no prerequisites for enrollment, but a background in basic chemistry (e.g., Chemistry 101) is preferred.