With the financial support of Bader Philanthropies, our Pre-RGPP online course has been offered to Roma students free of charge since 2019. Students enroll in a7-week program to improve their academic and English skills through taking part in Public Policy and Gender Studies, etc. modules and learn about the university. The course - designed, developed, and taught by RGPP faculty - aims at familiarizing future RGPP students with the academic opportunities RGPP provides and helps them improve the skills they need in a challenging English-speaking academic environment. The course is offered during the summers.
2023 cohort - 17 students from 6 counties. Selected student experiences:
Artur Ivanenko, Germany/Ukraine, MA in public administration and management
I come from the city of Kherson in Ukraine. I am a practicing oral surgeon and I also hold a master's degree in Public Administration and Management.
For me it was of utmost importance prepare for my upcoming studies at the RGPP at Central European University. I sought to acquire fresh insights into the realm of gender studies. This subject is intricately intertwined with mant aspects of my professional life and personal life as a healthcare provider, a leader of a Roma organization, and as an individual.
The most enriching aspect of this learning journey was the interactions with my fellow participants and tutors. Through this invaluable experience, we delved into the cultures, shared our personal stories, and began perceiving situations from various angles. In addition, our English language skills were significantly enhanced.
This course holds significance for those desiring to elevate their English proficiency. Becoming a student of the Central European University offered a unique opportunity to immerse myself in its environment, and connect with wonderful individuals from diverse corners of the world and prepare for RGPP.
Nikoletta Nemeth, Hungary, MA in social work
I was very happy that I had the opportunity to participate in the course. I obtained my degree in social work in 2008. Since then, I have been trying to learn about and understand the things that affect our society and that cause violent reactions from our society. One of the issues that concerns many people in Hungary is the topic of gender studies. Most people have an opinion about it, they have information, although this information is often incomplete or wrong.
In the Pre-RGPP the structure of tasks, the preparedness and helpfulness of the instructors, and the well-developed content provide a sense of security. This helps students from different countries connect with each other.
2022 cohort - 20 students from 9 countries. Selected student experiences:
Anzhelika Bielova, Ukraine, MA in psychology
Many of my friends who studied at RGPP are now excellent professionals in the field of human rights defense, NGOs, advocacy for the rights of Roma and other national minorities. They always talked about the effectiveness of the course, its impact on their future, and how it helped their career growth. That's why I decided to apply to the pre-RGPP and take introductory classes in gender studies.
The course helped me improve my English and I could meet other Roma students and discuss topics important for our community. The tutors are great, and the classes not only deepen my understanding of gender studies topics - sex and gender, gender roles, stereotypes, etc., - but also help improve my speaking skills in English.
This course is important for Roma students who dedicate their lives to advocacy, the fight for Roma rights, and want to bring change for the Roma community.
This course will help you improve your English and explore a topic that interests you. It will also help you understand complex social problems and have discussions with tutors and other students about how to address these problems.
Veronika Banova, Czech Republic, legal studies student
I am really glad that I took part in the pre-RGPP online course. Some of the reasons why I took this course were because I wanted to take public policy classes and I also wanted to improve my English. Because of COVID-19 and remote classes, I did not have a lot of opportunities to improve my English.
I enjoyed the online meetings the most. It is nice to meet other Roma students from all over Europe. The course is not only about learning about public policies together. We also improved our English, and we also got to know each other's cultures.
The classes were interesting and interactive – we learn through reading, videos, and vocabulary exercises. These exercises helped me improve my grammar, expand my vocabulary,etc.
I recommend this course to everybody who wants to meet amazing people (students, tutors), improve their English, and learn about interesting topics. In addition, you will get to know better the academic environment.
Alma Eminoska, North Macedonia, speech language therapist
Completing the CEU pre-RGPP course was one of the accomplishments I wanted to achieve.
In the pre-RGPP course, I studied gender studies, and I can say that the course helped me improve my reading, speaking and listening skills. Writing short assignments helped me to improve my writing skills and I also learned new academic expressions. The course was also a great opportunity to meet other Roma students.
As a clinical speech language therapist, I need to know languages very well so that I can help others.
I think everyone should take this course because it’s a great experience.
Barbara Perczel, Hungary, human resources management
The pre-RGPP English course was a great opportunity to have some intellectual challenge and to practice and improve my academic English.
I have found CEU’s online platforms excellent and easy to handle. I have specially enjoyed the online pronunciation assistant. Getting individualized written feedback on my work was insightful. Getting a glimpse of an international student group was impressive to me. I learned a lot from the discussions on public policies.
I recommend this course to anyone who wants to develop their academic English with self-paced work in a supportive community.
2021 Cohort - 35 Roma students from 15 countries. Selected student experiences:
My name is Rosa Oršuš. I come from Croatia. I am twenty four years old. A month ago, I completed a specialist graduate study in public administration at the Faculty of Law in Osijek (Croatia). I am a member and employee of the Roma youth organization of Croatia.
I applied to the summer online course because I wanted to learn English, which I had not been able to do before. My mother tongue is Romani. When I started learning English in elementary school, I also started learning Croatian and I focused more on my Croatian since I lived in Croatia. I am also very interested in gender equality, and that is why I studied gender studies for 5 weeks during this online course.
I am very grateful to have had at least this small opportunity to read in English and to improve my English. In this program we had several written assignments through which I learned new words and improved my vocabulary. Also, by reading the assigned texts, I expanded my knowledge about gender equality. It was very interesting that we could improve our speaking skills. The time was not enough to overcome my struggles, but it was very interesting that I could improve.
I would recommend it to anyone who has difficulties with learning English because it is a great opportunity for them to improve their English.
My name is Petr Banda, I studied economics and management, and I am Vlax Rom from the Czech Republic.
I took the course because I wanted to improve my English. During the course I took public policy classes, but we talked about several topics, including university life. I didn't know much about public policy but I enjoyed it very much. During the classes we discussed topics such as housing problems or school discrimination.I enjoyed the self-paced work so I could do the tasks whenever I was free. I recommend this course to anyone who wants to improve their English and wants to "meet" other Roma from all over the world.