This summer, Widad Brimo, a second-year English Master in International Relations student participated in the “Migration Summer School” academic program offered by the European Public Law Organization (EPLO). The academic and financial support provided to the students by the International Regional Studies Institute of the Faculty with the grant given by the Hungarian Ministry of Justice. Due to the Covid-19 measures, this year’s program was also offered online-only in between the 26-31 July, 2021 with a special focus on “Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic” topic.

Our student had the privilege to listen lecturers from the distinctive higher education institutes of Greece, Spain and Italy in the fields where migration meets, such as, reception policy regarding migrants in Covid-19 period, human rights from the gender perspective specific to migrants, migration and labor during the Covid-19, and country specific cases to Italy, Greece and Spain. Each day the participants had two sessions with an opportunity to ask questions, react to the topic or just stress their opinions which lead building a meaningful conversation with the lecturers. Ms. Brimo stated that the topic was relevant to her academic and private life, and the program brought a professional point of view to both. According to Ms. Brimo’s report, the participants in the program had different backgrounds, some who had already worked as migration experts for international companies, organizations, or are university professors, researchers, and this brought diversity in looking into the problems, but sometimes unsurprising similarities.

In view of Ms.Brimo, the program not only did expand her lexical knowledge but also her speaking skills and problem-solving ability, as well as she realized that her comments, prior knowledge and opinions gained value in the group tasks assigned by the lecturers. Finally, she noted that she is looking for another opportunity to participate in the similar EPLO program next year.