September 12, 2006 Source: :
http://www.carleton.ca/duc/newsroom/newsreleases/Sept_12d.html Carleton University Designated an EU Centre of Excellence Carleton University has been designated as an European Union (EU) Centre of Excellence by the European Commission. Carleton will receive about a half million dollars over three years to fund conferences, public events, and publications as well as offer an even wider range of courses to students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels relating to the EU and EU-Canada relations. In addition, it will enable the Centre to bring visiting professors from Europe to teach Carleton students. The project also operates a high school internet learning site on European integration, entitled EU Learning (www.eulearning.ca). Carleton University is also offering financial support for the project. The project will be operated by Carleton’s Centre for European Studies (CES), founded in 2000 and directed by Professor Joan DeBardeleben, herself an expert on EU-Russian relations. CES has also been selected as the Network Coordinator of the four EU Centres of Excellence in Canada. "This exciting development recognizes Carleton’s leadership role on all matters relating to the EU," says Dr. DeBardeleben, "and will enable the University to establish itself as a world renowned centre of excellence and expertise in this area." On September 15, CES will host a full-day international conference at Carleton that will examine the next wave of EU expansion - the expected admission of Romania and Bulgaria to the Union in January 2007. The conference will be opened by His Excellency Pasi Patokallio, Ambassador of Finland, the country which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council. The international experts assembled for the event will also consider prospects for Turkey’s inclusion in the EU and will assess the effectiveness of the EU’s policies in facilitating sustainable stability in the Western Balkans. The media are welcome to cover this event. More information is available at www.carleton.ca/ces. Carleton University offers an undergraduate degree in European and Russian Studies as well as a Masters degree plus a graduate diploma in European Integration Studies. The University has been a leading Canadian institution in the study of communist and post-communist studies since it first established programs in this area in the early l970s. With the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the University has engaged in a broad-ranging expansion of courses in this area to include all of Europe. CES Director Joan DeBardeleben describes these changes as "a deep Europeanization of our programs from east to west." In her view, the EU’s efforts to pool sovereignty, to create common institutions and to undertake initiatives to further regional integration and address common problems are worthy of Canada’s attention. In DeBardeleben’s words, the admission of eight post-communist countries to the European Union in May 2004 was "the final nail in the coffin of traditional distinctions between Eastern and Western Europe." Although the EU has not yet adopted a formal constitution after the failed referenda on Europe’s proposed constitutional treaty in 2005, DeBardeleben is optimistic that the trajectory of European integration will continue, and will "offer a point of optimism in a fractured and conflict-ridden world." -30- For more information: Dr. Joan DeBardeleben Director, Carleton’s Centre for European Studies 613-520-2600 ext. 2886 Joan_debardeleben@carleton.ca Lin Moody
Media Relations
Carleton University 613-520-2600 ext. 8705
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