Course Development Competition

[Andrea Peto]

COURSE DEVELOPMENT COMPETITION

ORGANISED BY 
THE CURRICULUM RESOURCE CENTRE (CRC), 
CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY 


CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2000

Application deadline: 10 April 2000

The Curriculum Resource Centre (CRC) of Central European University, sponsored by the Higher Education Support Program of Open Society Institute, announces a call for proposals to develop university courses. 

Aims of the Program 
This competition is intended to encourage the introduction of new courses which are innovative in content, methodology and teaching approach. 
The program seeks to further the dissemination of new curricula across our region (defined as Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Mongolia). 
Finally, we also aim to provide incentives and means for interdisciplinary and international co-operation amongst academics from the region. 

Competition Description
Applicants are invited to develop and teach a one or two semester long course on an important topic from a new perspective, in the discipline areas listed below. The course should be clearly directed towards one of the following levels: introductory; intermediate; advanced; post-graduate. 
The competition is open to individuals and groups for 10 month grants. During this period, the successful applicants should first prepare and then teach their proposed course. 
Group grants will be awarded to promote innovative, collaborative projects and priority will be given to groups of academics from at least two different countries or cities of the region who aim to design a course from an international perspective. 
Where appropriate, applicants are strongly recommended to base their courses on their original research in the given field. 
All applicants should show how they intend to apply new approaches (teaching methodology) to delivering the course. 
Project proposals should demonstrate the following: compatibility with the curriculum reform endeavours; innovative character and approach (also to course design); relevance to regional issues; scientific quality in the selected field; feasibility. 
All accepted applicants will attend a workshop on Curriculum Design and Teaching Methodology at the beginning of their grant period. 
Application is restricted to resident citizens of Central and Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union and Mongolia who are teaching or intending to teach at a university in any country of this region. 
Previous CDC grantees and HESP/RSS Course Development Fellows are not eligible for 5 years. Previous CRC participants can apply for a CDC grant.

Course Development Competition Grants
Grants for both individual and group projects will consist of the following: 
Monthly individual stipends for the preparation and teaching period;
An allowance for legitimate additional course development expenses (book purchases, teaching materials, photocopying, slides, etc.);
An allowance for additional, justified travel costs and administrative expenses in the case of group grants;
By negotiation with the CRC, an allowance for justified travel to a library outside the home city for the development of course materials etc. The CRC will not, however, cover the costs of study in countries outside the region. 

Group stipends for the teaching period will be calculated from the amount of a full stipend in proportion to the degree of involvement of each participant (involvement should be expressed clearly as a percentage in the course plan). Group leaders will, in addition, receive a small group leader's fee for their extra responsibilities. 

Evaluation Procedures
Applications will be evaluated and judged by a special selection committee set up by the CRC. Members of the committee will be respected scholars with sufficient knowledge of the higher education needs of the region. The new courses will also be evaluated by experts in the field. Finally, all successful applicants are expected to have their students on the given course provide their own evaluation. Finished courses will be edited and placed on the CRC Web Site to be available to all. 

Discipline Areas for the Course Development Competition 2000
The CRC invites applications to the Course Development Competition in the following subject areas:

Gender and Society
We welcome applications for courses which seek to combine socially relevant issues in the gender field either from your district, country or micro-region with a solid methodological approach from any discipline which gender studies touches. For example: Sociology, Political Science, Ethnicity/Nationalism, Cultural Studies, History, Public Policy etc. Applicants may use cross-disciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches. You may use 'Gender Studies' to apply to issues which are 'gendered' or raise questions about the nature or our understanding of gender, women's studies or men's studies. 

Literature
Applications may be in any one of the following fields: 
Comparative European Literature 
Contemporary * with an emphasis on the questions raised by the comparative aspect
Innovative and original Literary History and Scholarship of any period
The question of periodisation from a comparative viewpoint
The question of canons from a comparative viewpoint
Literature as a site for interdisciplinarity
Contemporary Literary Theories with an applied perspective

Qualitative and Quantitative Social Research
Courses should cover the purpose, design and analysis of quantitative and qualitative approaches to research in social sciences and the relevance of these methods to social theory and micro or macro level changes in post-communist countries. Topics could focus on case studies carried out by using one of the following research techniques: participant observation, ethnomethodology, biographies, conversation analysis, narrative inquiry, phenomenology, etc., or statistical computer packages, cluster and factor analysis, regressions, comparative methods, public opinion polls, etc.

Public Policy
We welcome applications for courses in Public Policy, Public Administration, Public Administration for Non-Government Organization (The Third Sector), Public Sector Analysis and Educational Policy and Analysis. Whilst the methodologies applied should be both rigorous and systematic, the topics to be discussed should be problems relevant to your society. If possible, the course should be based on original research into problem fields. Finally, we encourage the use of the Case Study Method. 

Comparative Historiography
Applicants should consider one of the following areas:
Contemporary trends in Historiography
A survey of Historiography from a comparative viewpoint
Applied Contemporary Historiography

Labour / Private Law
Proposals in the field of labour law should be aimed at the renewal of the content and method of teaching labour and employment law in the region. It should address the main challenges in this field, that is the analysis of the new relationship between private and labour law in the transitory market economies, the broadening legal and social forms of employing human labour and, not in the least, the changing forms and methods of workers' representation and interest protection in the context of the new constitutional order and fundamental rights. Inherent international as well as interdisciplinary aspects are expected to be covered.
Applicants in the field of private law should address the methodological and scientific problems of the changes  and enlargement in the relevant field of legislation and jurisprudence. Preference will be given to courses that build up an up-to-date and viable teaching project covering the various fields of private law - beyond developing detailed teaching material in one specific field of private law (primarily in the field of rights of the persons, contracts, and liability.

Social and Political Theory
We encourage applicants to design courses that deal with the fundamental changes of the main perspectives (paradigms) of social and political thought and offer the history of ideas that significantly influenced contemporary sociology and political science. Attention could be given to the analysis of the genealogy of the main categories and ideas of social and political theory: crisis, society, justice, social and political order, legitimacy, power, identity, open society, natural law, social contract, progress, science, objectivity, rationality, etc. Courses could also examine the thought of certain great pathfinders whose ideas had an important impact on contemporary sociological and political debates. 

How to Apply
Applications must be presented in English on CRC Course Development Competition forms (photocopied forms are acceptable). 
For individual proposals, the application form must be accompanied by a description of the proposed course, preliminary bibliography of materials to be used in preparation and teaching, a presentation plan, a curriculum vitae (also highlighting research activity), a letter of recommendation and a letter of endorsement from the host university. The letter of endorsement should include the host university's commitment to allowing you to teach the proposed course, and should clearly indicate the period when the course will be taught.
For group proposals, the application should be submitted by the project leader. In addition to the above it should contain a list of the individuals involved in the project, their CVs, institutional affiliations, contact information and a letter from each individual stating their willingness to be involved in the project. For group projects letters of endorsement must be submitted from all the institutions that will host the course (Please feel free to duplicate the letter of endorsement form if necessary).
Application forms can be obtained from your local Soros Foundation free of charge, from the Curriculum Resource Centre at Central European University or from our website, http://www.ceu.hu/crc/cdc/. Applications must arrive to CRC by 10 April 2000 (to the address: CRC * Central European University, 1051 Budapest, Nador u.9, Hungary). Applicants will be informed about the results in mid-May. Preparation should begin in June and courses should be taught during the first and/or second semester of the 2000/2001 academic year.

Dr Andrea Peto
Central European University
Budapest,  Nador u. 9
H-1051
phone: 36-1-3273192
GSM: 36-209-292519
fax: 36-1-3273191