In Europe, many important business and legal issues are regulated and solved by EU institutions. Studying EU regulations in a classroom is only part of building competence in EU-wide matters so in May a group of Master students from the Bucerius Master of Law and Business Program, travelled to the charming Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, home to a number of important EU institutions.
“Better to see once than to hear a hundred times” – Rapolas Kasparavicius, a current MLB student from Lithuania, is convinced that the study trip to Luxembourg was a great experience. Thanks to a wide network of partners of the MLB program, the students had an opportunity to visit the European Court of Justice, the European Investment Bank and the headquarters of the European Stability Mechanism. Representatives from these institutions not only introduced the students to the competences and functioning of these establishments but also enthusiastically shared their personal experiences, their daily tasks and working atmosphere.
Students learned about the European Court of Justice from all possible angles and had an extraordinary opportunity to meet and have lunch with one of the 9 advocate generals of the Court – Ms. Juliane Kokott. Dr. Klaus Landry from Graf von Westphalen gave an insightful briefing into the case to be heard in the ECJ where Dr. Landry was representing a client and Mr. Dirk Hamann shared his experience as a legal secretary to a judge in the Court.
In the European Investment Bank and the headquarters of the European Stability Mechanism, in-house professionals addressed a number of headline hitting issues, such as providing financial support to the EU’s members and its neighbours in cases of financial distress. Eduard Kosavtsev, current MLB student from the Ukraine, was particularly impressed with the presentations: “We bombarded them with dozens of questions about Greece and the Ukraine. It is incredible how thoroughly they answered each and every question and how delicately they avoided passing the line of confidentiality. Most of us hear about these issues only from newspapers or TV. It was amazing to hear this directly from the hands-on people.”
The MLB Program makes tremendous effort to combine studies in the classrooms with live contact to professionals and institutions within and outside the campus. The study trip to Luxembourg is an example of those efforts which the MLB students find beneficial both in their academic and professional career endeavors.
