OCEU 2090 - The Future of Europe

***UPDATED for 2026/27***

flagship initiatives of the CIVICA project, an alliance of ten leading European higher education institutions in social sciences The course critically explores the main European policy challenges and is designed and taught jointly by a team of professors from the different partners of the alliance. The course will be delivered synchronously across all the campuses of the CIVICA consortium as a series of live on-line lectures, integrated with local activities. On top of lectures, the course spurs students to work in teams across countries and disciplines, with the aim of completing a final capstone project assignment related to specific and concrete policy challenges.

Learning Outcomes

While experiencing the unique opportunity of having direct interaction with some of the top scholars on policy areas across different countries and institutions, at the end of the course students will be able to:

• Outline and critically appraise challenging areas of policy-making facing the European Union in the coming years
• Apply key concepts and insights from the relevant theoretical literatures to the investigation of contemporary European policy challenges.
• Explain and evaluate the dynamics which characterize European Union policy responses with a particular focus on responses in times of crisis
• Identify and analyze the main economic, political and societal challenges posed by globalization, climate change, the digital transition and consider the evolution of the political systems within the European Union in response to these challenges
• Working in groups, develop and propose in written and oral form evidence-based policy solutions to EU-relevant policy problems

No specific prerequisite.

The final evaluation of the course is based on a group capstone project, to be developed by teams of up to 5 students representing (at least) 2 campuses. Each team must analyze one EU-relevant policy problem of choice (among a given subset of topics provided by instructors) and suggest possible policy solutions.

Each team is therefore expected to hand in by 14 December 2026 a policy paper of 2000 words outlining policy position and solutions. Detailed instructions on the Capstone Project will be provided at the beginning of the course, teams composition will be announced on 16 October 2026.

Please note that additional assessment methods can be added by each institution at the local level.

The course is organized in modules for a total of 24 hours of lectures, including two dedicated round table debate sessions grouped by topic.

Additional activities in each Campus may complement the course content to fit with each school requirement.