Objectives

Autumn School provides students with knowledge about the current and future development in the target
region. Autumn School program is closely connected to the program of the 17th Annual Aleksanteri
Conference Link . Students will attend the conference
plenary sessions and panels alongside with the individual and group work of the Autumn School.
The aim of the Aleksanteri Conference and the Autumn School is to examine where Russia and Eastern
Europe will be in 2030. A few years ago, ‘emerging powers’, including Russia, seemed to be on a path to
experiencing strong economic growth, delivering well-being to their citizens, shaping global cultural trends,
and ultimately challenging the prevailing balance of power. Despite the Aleksanteri Conference will focus on
Russia, other former Eastern European countries will be discussed in various sessions.

Conference and Autumn School sub-themes include:
· Energy and sustainability
· Russia’s welfare regime
· Russia in global and regional governance processes
· Russia and global transformations
· Russian foreign policy
· Institutions and decision-making in Russia and post-Soviet states
· Authoritarianism and development
· Pre-Soviet, Soviet, and post-Soviet legacies
· The intertwining of culture and economy
Students will be given the opportunity to choose a subject they would like to focus on from the list above
(or to suggest a related topic of their own) and to develop their teamwork skills by working in groups and
presenting their findings.

Structure and completion
The six-day Autumn School will comprise appr. 30 academic hours of study, combining different study
formats (e.g. conference sessions, group work, individual work, and Autumn School meetings).
The program awards 5 ECTS. Students are required to:
· submit a paper on a self-chosen conference related topic (2000 words) no later than 13th October
· attend Autumn School meetings, all the conference plenary sessions and relevant panels
· prepare and present a group work
Upon successful completion of the Autumn School, participants will receive a joint certificate from three
renowned universities (FUB, UH, UT).

Expenditures
There are no tuition fees. Accommodation will be booked and covered by the University of Helsinki.
Participants are expected to take care of the other travel arrangements and further costs themselves.

Application procedure
The Autumn School is open to MA students and advanced BA students of the above mentioned universities.

A letter of motivation (max. one page) together with your CV and academic transcript needs to be submitted
in order to apply. Please send your application via email attached as one PDF file to your respective program
coordinator. Deadline for applications is 7th June, 2017.

• Freie Universität Berlin

Mr. Dominik Sonnleitner

dominik.sonnleitner@fu-berlin.de