English

CIEE supports qualified students who wish to pursue an academically rigorous independent research project while abroad. In order to enroll, students must submit a research proposal including a clearly defined research topic,
explanation of research plans, description of preparation in the planned area of study, list of resources, tentative outline of a final paper, and suggested schedule of progress. Students complete a total of 100-120 hours of
research and meet regularly with an advisor to complete an academically rigorous, ethically sound, and culturally appropriate research project and final research paper. Approval for participation in Directed Independent Research
must be obtained from CIEE and the student's home institution prior to arrival on the program.

Where do the current beliefs - theories, doctrines, postulates and attitudes - of modern economics come from? If current theories and doctrines have a definite historical beginning, what schools of thought did they supplant? Are there alternative or dissident views which subsisted alongside mainstream economics in the twentieth century - and if so, what are they and where did they originate from? This course seeks to answer these questions, as well as others. It provides an overview of the development of economic ideas from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, combined with a more intensive focus on the thought of certain key figures in that history. The particular topics covered include: the formation of economics to 1776; Adam Smith; classical economics from Smith to J.S. Mill; the rise of marginalist economics; John Maynard Keynes; and orthodox and heterodox currents in twentieth century economics.

This course examines the relationship between architecture, place and society and explores the meaning of cultural and social sustainability in architectural design. A key aspect of social sustainability is the practice of social responsibility, and the course explores how this may occur, including involving people in the design process. On completion of this course students will be able to demonstrate: an ability to better understand the connections between architecture place and society, and the social, cultural, political and economic factors affecting sustainable environments; skills and knowledge in participatory processes necessary for effective communication about environmental design issues; increased critical awareness about social responsibility in relation to the practice of architecture and the design of the built environment, and an ability to exercise this awareness. 

This course introduces the highly dynamic economic transformation of the city of Berlin since the fall of the Iron Curtain. The course examines how Berlin has tried to turn its weakness (i.e., lack of financial capital) into a strength (i.e., wealth of cultural capital) by focusing heavily on "creative industries," tourism, and its world-famous club and art scenes. This course studies the transformation in all its economic and cultural ramifications: from the vibrant start-up culture and precarious employment patterns to the city's rapid growth and discontent with gentrification.

This course examines the major conservation issues facing threatened marine wildlife globally with a particular focus on Australia. It covers how marine wildlife research, management and conservation is conducted using ecological, population and life history data, and how threats may be managed. 

This course covers historical and thematic aspects of popular culture studies by raising some essential questions via a deep dive into a significant popular culture sphere: popular film.  

This is a “one-film-course" centering uponThe Greatest Showman, 2017, through which ten important themes of popular culture studies are critically examined: Being popular (History); Showman (Producer); Freak (Genre;) Fake (Authenticity); Dream (Consumption); Material (Infrastructure); Conflict (Humans); Class (Relations); Diversity (Community); and Happiness (Future). 

This course examines urbanism transnationally with a focus on the Global South cities to expose students to the accelerating rate of urbanization in fundamentally different urban settings. It unpacks complexities of urbanism specific to the Global South including but not limited to enormous rate of urban transformation, massive infrastructure gaps, ubiquitous informality, confronting inequalities, and exponatial rate of climate change. In doing so, the course sheds light on the historic, socio-economic, and geo-political setting behind the complexity of urban challenges and opportunities in unfamiliar geographies. This will provide students with provocative and productive urban frameworks for all cities, informed by an ability to transfer learnings from the Global South to the local context and unpack some of the growing concerns about widening inequities, infrastructure lags and others.

This course helps students to understand theories of comparative religion, placing religious expression and the formation of religious community and social choices in dialog with myth, ritual, politics, and science. The course examines concepts of God, purity, and the structuring of religious worlds.

This course examines the physics of the Universe from scales ranging from our Solar System and extrasolar planets to the origin and fate of the Universe. It covers astronomical techniques, history of astronomy across cultures, beginnings of the Universe, formation and evolution of galaxies, origin of life on Earth and search for life elsewhere, stellar structure and evolution, planet formation, black holes, and compact objects.