Central European - 2 years ago

Unique since its foundation in 2004, CEU’s special programs designed for Roma students have helped almost four hundred students from 20 European countries to access higher education, and enter international academia as well as professional and non-profit sectors worldwide. Alumni include the first Romani attorney in Sweden, Sunita Mem recipient of the Inaugural Global Anti-Racism Champions Award, Victorina L recipient of the Aspen Central Europe Leadership Award, Michal M and Visiting Instructor at CEU’s Department of Economics and Business, Mihaly Orsos.  To mark the 20th anniversary of its Roma Access Programs, the Romani Studies Program at Central European University is proud to announce its upcoming conference “Challenging the Reproduction of Inequality Through Higher Education: Critical Approaches in Romani Studies and Beyond”. The event, organized together with The Roma Program, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, USA; the Critical Romani Studies, Sodertorn University, S and CEU’s Elkana Center, Austria, aims to facilitate critical discussion on programs promoting the educational access of persons belonging to oppressed groups. The conference will take place on May 16-17, in- person in Vienna and online. Please register at this link. The Romani Studies Program (RSP) at CEU engages scholars, policy makers, and activists in interdisciplinary knowledge production and debate on Roma identity and movement, including antigy social justice and policy gender politics, and structural inequality. It encompasses two programs, the Roma Graduate Preparation Program (RGPP) and the Advanced Certificate in Romani Studies, and offers courses for CEU MA and PhD students, as well as summer preparatory and summer university courses for graduate students and activist scholars from across the world. The program creates academic space and support for historically discriminated groups, in line with CEU’s mission to build an open and democratic society that respects human rights, dignity and social justice.  “In most European countries, Romani students are provided with segregated and low-quality education, which either prevents them from pursuing further studies or leads them to low-prestige, low-quality study options and career choices – which perpetuates their exclusion from social, economic, and political participation,” said the program’s Chair and Academic Director Angela Kocze, who has assisted hundreds of Roma students in achieving their academic and professional goals. “We firmly believe that education could and should play a crucial role in social mobilization as well as in dismantling structural inequality, marginalization, discrimination, and prejudice. Our programs aim to enable Romani students to fulfill their potential and participate equally in all areas of modern society.”    More than 80 percent of RGPP graduates have been accepted to masters’ programs worldwide, and more than five percent to PhD programs. Besides academia and research, many RGPP graduates work for supranational organizations, national governments, international Roma organizations, NGOs, or have founded NGOs. Some have gone on to become MPs in their country, such as Lala Fridon, Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Regional Development, K and Ismael Cortes, former MP, Spain, and currently a Senior Policy Advisor in the European Parliament.  Watch these 2-minute videos about CEU’s Romani Studies Program and Roma Graduate Preparation Program at this link, and about RGPP here.  Notes for Editors:  Assistant Professor Angela Kocze, Chair of Romani Studies Program and Academic Director of the Roma Graduate Preparation Program, is dedicated to bringing attention to the dehumanization of and discrimination against Roma, and to help those afflicted by it. Her research has also contributed to broader understandings of anti-Roma hate, particularly hatred directed toward Roma women. Last September, The Bard Center for the Study of Hate awarded her with the 2023 Beth Rickey Award, which honors an individual from the Open Society Network who has taken sustained and effective action against hate. Read about her award-winning work, as well as what makes CEU a leading hub for Romani studies and access to higher education at this link.   CEU’s Romani Studies Program engages scholars, policy makers, and activists in interdisciplinary knowledge production and debate on Roma identity and mo antigy social justice and policy gender po and structural inequality. It encompasses the Roma Graduate Preparation Program and the Advanced Certificate in Romani Studies. Since 2004, CEU’s Roma access programs have graduated 355 students, of which 56% were female and 44% male. In these 20 years, most students were from Hungary, Romania and Mac with others arriving from Albania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Turkey, Serbia, Ukraine, Spain, Moldova, Bosnia and Hercegovina, the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Sweden, Greece, Lithuania and Montenegro.     The Roma Graduate Preparation Program is an intensive 10-month program preparing outstanding Roma graduates with an interest in social sciences and humanities to compete for places on Master s-level courses at internationally recognized universities, which provides Roma graduate students with high-quality academic and language skills development, equipping them with the confidence and skills to apply successfully to Masters’ programs at prestigious universities. The Advanced Certificate Program in Romani Studies offers MA and PhD students the core knowledge, expertise and critical competences and skills to lead Roma-related educational and research projects. It also prepares them to design and implement policies related to Roma equality, social inclusion and diversity management. Approved and registered by the New York State Education Department, it is designed as an inclusive interdisciplinary program for Roma and non-Roma students.    CEU’s Romani Studies Program holds annual academic conferences promoting critical approaches to Romani Studies and publishes Critical Romani Studies, an international, interdisciplinary, double-blind peer-reviewed open access journal. Thematic issues include: one on Roma LGBTI, Feminist Movement and Schol and another on the Roma Holocaust, Memory, and Representation.     Central European University (CEU) is accredited in the United States and Austria and offers English-language bachelor s, master s and doctoral programs in the social sciences, the humanities, law, environmental sciences, management and public policy. Each year, CEU enrols around 1,400 students from more than 100 countries and has a faculty from more than 50 countries.   In 2019 CEU relocated from Hungary to Austria as legislation initiated by the Hungarian government undermined its ability to issue US-accredited degrees in the country. CEU now offers all of its degree programs in Vienna, Austria, and retains a research and civic engagement presence in Budapest, Hungary, through its Democracy Institute, the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archivum, other research centres, public educational programs, lectures and events.     Unit: Romani Studies ProgramCategory: NewsPress ReleasesImage: Content Priority: High

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