ENroute Yearbook 2015-16
European Study Trips
Piotr Jaworski, Business School, Senior Fellow
There are plenty of opportunities to achieve funds in order to enhance the student
experience. The most beneficial way is to combine learning with practice, but not
without providing enough time to enjoy life. This is why I organised three European
study trips supported with a subsidy of €34,525 for 115 students in total.
The resources were provided by Scottish MEPs: David Martin in 2015 and
Struan Stevenson in 2014 and 2011. The trips were open to students who were
both EU and non-EU citizens. The latter category was of extreme importance as the
European Union is not a well-known insitution in either China or India.
During the first two trips, we visited the European Parliament, while in 2015 we also
included the Council of Europe and the European Ombudsman. The presentations
served as a practical extension to the Edinburgh Napier modules on Economics. They
were also enjoyed by the MEPs inviting us, which can be seen on David’s Martin
Facebook page: my students showed that they are capable of using in practice what
they learned at the University.
2015 trip photograph with David Martin, MEP
In 2015, we also combined the trip with a visit to the Frankfurt University of
Applied Sciences; practical intercultural exercises with local students gave a broader
understanding of differences and how to do business in a different environment.
From the perspective of time, the trips seem to have been a success. However, at
every stage of their preparation – practical organisation, meetings coordination,
hotels, flights or even stolen wallets and lost students – I felt depressed. Every time
such things happened I wished I had never started. Also, the time which they took
and practical lack of recognition from ab