Meeting of practice and theory: CESCI staff gave lectures at the NKE’s course on governance theory and international relations

In the first semester of the 2022/23 academic year, on the initiative of the NKE-CESCI Research Group on Cross-Border Cooperation, Melinda Benczi and Gyula Ocskay held classes for the students of the University of Public Service in order to emphasize practical experience in addition to theoretical education. The lessons followed a varied theme, but in each case some aspect of border theory was elaborated.

On October 17, 2022, Melinda Benczi, a member of the research group and of CESCI, was the guest speaker of the block lesson entitled “Institutional foundations and process of governance” by Dr. Zsuzsanna Fejes. After a theoretical introduction to cross-border project development, the students had the opportunity to try out a simulation game tailored to the needs of the group, through which they could proactively practice the process of cross-border project development and get to know more thoroughly the roles of local institutions in territorial development. During the game, everyone was given individual role cards, which outlined the main resources and priorities of the given institution. Taking these and the “borders” displayed in the room the students had to look for project partners and jointly create coherent project proposals, so that they provide an appropriate answer to a specific challenge. The course ended with a joint discussion of the experiences and the lessons learnt.

Gyula Ocskay, Secretary General of CESCI and a member of the research workshop, gave a lecture in Hungarian to the same group on November 30, and in English to the students of the International Relations course on December 5. Th lessons focused on the practice of cross-border governance in the European Union, the history of its development and its current challenges. During both presentations, he attempted to make these forms of network governance and their importance for European integration easily understandable by presenting several practical examples.