English

Public institutions and non-profit organizations play a fundamental role in today's economic systems as policy designers, public service-providers, grant-makers, and advocates of unmet ever-changing human needs. As their goals are different from those pursued by business companies, managers working in these organizations perform different tasks, follow different logic and must develop different skills. At the end of this course students understand these differences, are able to assess how successful public/nonprofit managers behave, are aware about which mistakes to avoid, and apply this learning to perform basic tasks connected to the overall creation of public value that public/non-profit organizations produce for their communities. The course is divided into 2 parts. Part 1: Public policy and public management (governments and their structure; role of bureaucracies; types of bureaucrats and how to motivate them; decision-making and performance evaluation in public agencies). Part 2: Non-profit management (role of the third sector in the economy; types of non-profit organizations: an overview; governance and management of non-profit organizations; how to secure contributed income: key successful factors in fundraising). Individual assignments, final group project.

This course  looks at a number of criminal trials, both high-profile cases and everyday proceedings, to understand how judicial proceedings have changed over a long time period while also retaining some essential structures. Through deep reading of sources from each trial as well as secondary literature, it considers how notions of "fairness," "due process," "evidence," or the "law" have evolved and how trials reflect normative expectations that are specific to and indeed highly revelatory of their respective temporal, spatial, and social contexts. The course investigates if and in what ways modern trials differ from their predecessors, how meaningful comparisons can be made, and whether or not there is a hard, systemic core to the "law" as opposed to politics, society, and culture which can be identified and studied by historians. Case studies include the trials of Jesus, Jeanne d'Arc, and the alleged witch Tempel Anneke, as well as the Stalinist show trials of the 1930s and cases from international tribunals such as those for Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. No prior legal knowledge is required.

This course introduces marketing from the perspective of the decision-maker. It examines controllable variables (product, price, promotion and distribution), uncontrollable variables (competition, law, society, technology, and economy), consumer behavior and marketing research. Course topics include: the marketing process; marketing strategy, plan, and program; environmental forces that affect the company’s ability to serve its customers; how external and internal marketing environment affect marketing decisions; the marketing information system and its parts; the marketing research process; consumer and business markets; consumer buyer behavior; the adoption and diffusion process for new products; market segmentation, targeting, and positioning; product strategies; pricing strategies; distribution strategies; promotion strategies; and marketing ethics and social responsibility. Text: Kotler, Philip and Gary Armstrong, PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING. Assessment: quizzes, project written report, project presentation, participation, research and in-class exercises.

This course examines the current major environmental issues related to the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere as well as looking at major threats posed by the environment itself in the form of natural hazards. In addition, the issue of a potential nuclear threat and the ever-increasing demand for energy are explored. Finally, the matter of sustainable development and intelligent management of the planet for present and future generations is addressed. 

This course helps students consider the various international perspectives to be incorporated in the field of education. Examining literature and case studies, it attempts to tackle imminent issues such as poverty, demographic change, environment, war, and gender imbalance in the globalizing world. The course provides the opportunity to propose a plan for incorporating international perspectives to a country's education system using collaborative online international learning (COIL) as one of the formats.  

The course addresses the following topics: 

- Education as a means of national development
- Internationalization of education
- Literacy
- Gender equality
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Environmental education
- Intercultural competence
- Multicultural education
- ICT and education
- Collaborative online international learning (COIL)
- Education and development
- Education and peace

This is an introductory course that lays the foundation for understanding the economic behavior of individual consumers, firms, and markets. This course delves into the fundamental theories and concepts of microeconomics and illuminates how these concepts apply to real-world situations. Students will explore supply and demand, elasticity, utility, production, cost, market structures (including perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly), factor markets, and market failure. This course requires no prior knowledge of economics and is suitable for students of all disciplines interested in understanding how microeconomic principles affect everyday life.

Students are expected to actively participate in various classroom experiments throughout the semester. 

 

This course examines basic data structures and algorithms that are commonly used in software development, and introduces students to broad concepts from Computer Science that enable them to develop effective programs. 

This course examines the creative process of writing literary work, from the first idea through the development, editing and presentation, including the identification of sources, and choice of style and form. Students will be encouraged to attempt a variety of forms including creative non-fiction, graphic narratives, photo-essays, screenplays, and scripts for games and podcasts. 

The Course will include a review on Chinese growing technology sector and its ever-changing competitive internet Universe, and the way Chinese entrepreneurs are reshaping traditional industries (i.e.green industries, auto industry, last mile delivery, micro-mobility, retail, finance, entertainment, artificial intelligence). This course will review Chinese modernization policies, including but not limited to China 2025, China Internet, the recently issued Five-year plan, and their implication in the development of China and impact on China’s business environment and society. Review on Artificial Intelligence, its impact in Chinese society, economy and culture will also be covered. Finally, Chinese One Belt One Road initiative and Chinese pivotal role in the international arena. Overall this course provides students with useful insights for students to understand China not only a supplier of goods and commodities, but also, as a business innovative economy with great potential for internationalization.

This course examines how glaciers respond to climate changes. It provides a global perspective with emphasis on examples from polar regions. The course focuses on understanding the processes and impacts of the climate on glacier behavior.