European College of Liberal Arts - Project Year

  Germany

• Berlin: 
Berlin

Term: Academic Year 
Dates: October- June

Description: The Project Year (PY) at ECLA is an interdisciplinary humanities programme concentrating on history, literature and philosophy. The programme has two main aims: to cultivate students' understanding of the concerns and methods of those three disciplines, and to initiate students in the fruitful conversation amongst the disciplines.

Students spend half their time on core courses, and divide the rest of their time between electives and a year-long individual project after which the programme is named. The individual project, arranged according to individual background and plans for the future, allows the student to pursue an old interest further, or acquaint him- or her-self seriously with new territory. The work is supervised by faculty members with relevant expertise and culminates with a 25-page essay to be submitted in term 3, as well as an oral presentation of the project to the rest of the school. The PY core course is devoted to value problems, like the AY programme, but with a special focus on methodological issues. Normally PY students have 2-5 years of relevant academic experience when they join the programme. Some have finished the Academy Year Programme; others come to the programme with some experience of value studies from disciplines like philosophy, comparative literature, political theory, theology and art history. Many PY students plan to continue with graduate studies, and in the past four years ECLA has helped place students in some of the best graduate schools, including programmes at Oxford University, New York University, Columbia University and Boston University.

Highlights:
* Combination of core course, electives and individual research project
* Reading-and writing-intensive courses
* Regular one-on-one tutorial meetings with project supervisor
* Small seminars
* Residential campus
* International community

Minimum Education: High School

Cost in US$: approx 19,000 USD

Experience Required: yes

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel to Germany Independently

Scholarships are Available. ECLA has a need-based financial aid policy and is committed to giving all applicants who qualify for admission a chance to enrol, regardless of their financial means. Financial aid packages vary in amount and are based on applicants' demonstrated need.

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Phone Interview
• Transcript
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network

ECLA European College of Liberal Arts's Mission Statement: ECLA is a private, non-profit institution of higher education. Philantropic grants allow the college to have a need-blind admissions policy and no qualified student is turned away for lack of funding. Each year 40-50 students who are serious about their education live and study together in Berlin. They are taught in small seminars and one-to-one tutorials by a select, young faculty who believe that education can be more than the preparation for a job. ECLA believes that certain problems concerning politics, morality, art and knowledge have a claim on everyone's attention, and that rigorous and genuine dialogue concerning them is a real achievement. We pursue these dialogues in the classroom - through the close study of texts and works of art that have shaped or seek to shape the values we live by - and beyond the classroom.

Year Founded: 2000