Communication beyond national borders

Gain insights into uni, economy and society

The 5th American-African-European Summer School on “Environmental Communication“ takes place at the University of Texas at El Paso, USA (UTEP) from June 18 to July 3 2011. Together with students from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in South Africa, students from Chemnitz University of Technology take part in this year’s Summer School in the States.

The Summer School is intended to gain insight into university, business, and social life in Texas in general, and El Paso in particular. Participants learn to draw parallels to their home country and critically evaluate questions raised in connection with the main topic.

The program mainly consists of lectures and independent project work in small mixed groups. The group work is guided by the lecturers of the four universities participating. Topics of the group work deal with questions all about “Environmental Communication”.

Striking a new path

This year, however, the Summer School cuts a new way. Apart from learning on the basis of experience, participants conduct their own scientific research on a current topic. For the first time, the American-African-European Summer School is affiliated to a conference: At the same time, the UTEP Department of Communication organizes the 11th Biennial Conference on Communication and Environment (COCE). Within the framework of the conference, students present an international audience with the results of their project work.

Further components of the Summer School are field trips in the El Paso region. Among others, students visit the universities of Albuquerque and Las Cruces (New Mexico), as well as the artists’ community Santa Fe.