WELCOME TO THE CENTRE FOR EUROPEAN STUDIES – METU (CES-METU)

The Middle East Technical University (METU) is one of Turkey's premier public universities with a stellar reputation for its highly trained graduates in scientific, technical and professional fields. The Centre for European Studies (CES) is founded in 1997 at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences (FEAS) of METU in order to promote the development of an interdisciplinary environment conducive to study and research of European integration in a comparative manner. Since its inauguration, the Centre has actively engaged in teaching and research on policy and politics in Europe in general and the process of social and political transformation in Turkey on the way to EU membership in particular.

 

Drawing its strength from its close cooperation with the four departments of the FEAS, namely, International Relations, Political Science and Public Administration, Economics, and Business Administration, the Centre is involved in teaching activities. It offers an MSc Programme, "European Studies" (thesis and non-thesis) since 2001. Several courses taught in the programme have been awarded the Jean Monnet Permanent Courses and European Module titles by the European Commission and the emeritus director of the Centre holds a Jean Monnet Chair on Politics of European Integration. The Centre was also a partner of the Master in Euro-Mediterranean Affairs (MEMA/MAEM) network and contributed to the teaching and hosting activities of the programme in 2007. In addition to graduate-level teaching activities, the Centre has offered, in collaboration with prominent European universities and public institutions in Turkey, training programmes on various aspects of European integration designed for policy-makers and young civil servants.

 

In 2005, the CES has been awarded a substantial grant by the European Commission to advance its institutional and research capacity in European Studies to become a leading Centre of Excellence in the region. In this context, from 2005 to 2008, CES-METU coordinated the Specific Support Action (SSA) project of the 6th Framework Programme entitled "Enhancing the Comparative Research Capacity of the CES". As part of this goal, the Centre has concentrated its efforts on forming institutional networks with various research centres and universities in Europe in order to undertake joint research projects. In 2007, CES-METU was awarded the title of Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence by the European Commission with a Lifelong Learning Programme project.

 

To support teaching and research activities, CES hosts a European Documentation Centre (EDC), which collects and organises official publications of the European Union. To meet the needs of students, specialists, and the general public for material on the EU, the EDC supplies books, reports, collections, series, brochures, statistics, and the entire collection of the Official Journal of the European Union.

 

Bringing all these qualities together in its structure, the Centre continues to provide a unique venue for the meeting of a variety of research interests and disciplinary approaches to European integration and the enlargement process. In this respect, the Centre acts as a focal point between policy-makers, scholars and practitioners at the national and international levels on the future of the Turkey-EU relationship.


Last Updated:
29/09/2022 - 03:39