The program’s first strength is the the wide range represented of people (participants, professors and the guests) by the fifty differents nationalities who attend CERIS every year, and enrich our training courses with different points of view. This therefore enables us to distance ourselves from ethnocentric vision, while still referring to the same paradigms of academic analysis.
The program’s second strength is the profile and variety of its participants. Brussels, being the home of many international institutions, including the EU & NATO, attracts a significant proportion of participants who are diplomats or international civil servants. Many others are corporate executives, journalists or NGO staff members. The group of participants has been consistently international, drawing people from all continents, and from practically all European countries. Top professionals of some 30 different nationalities attend CERIS Executive Masters. The average age of those attending courses lies at around 32. Two thirds of them are aged between 25 and 34, but more than a quarter are over the age of 35. Most have backgrounds in political science, economics, business administration, law or modern languages.
This diversity greatly enriches the program, allowing for exchanging of views with people who often are directly involved in the issues. Interaction within the group is an important part of the program, to which each participant can contribute with his or her specific expertise. Students are expected to actively take part in the programme. Socializing is an equally important part of the program: in addition to the classes and seminars, participants have regularly organized a number of informal gatherings and extra-curricular activities, including study trips or visits to international organizations in Europe.
Between 2019 and 2024 there were 250 participants in CERIS courses of 68 different nationalities from 6 regions. CERIS professors come from over 26 different countries. Each year there are more than 50 different nationalities represented at CERIS by participants, teachers and the guests at the Open Days.
