TU Dortmund sets accents before the European elections: Milestone for TU Dortmund's first EU-wide journalism training project
In the past year and a half, the COPE consortium, led by Prof. Susanne Fengler and Isabella Kurkowski at TU Dortmund, has developed an e-learning platform for all 27 EU countries. Journalism students across Europe can learn how to report on EU topics here.
Thematically, the focus is on one of the two most important budget items of the EU: In addition to agricultural subsidies, the EU spends the most money on cohesion policy. These cohesion funds are also of great significance as a political bargaining chip—Hungary, for example, has repeatedly been denied funds due to a lack of rule of law. This makes the topic of immense political and economic importance.
The COPE e-learning platform—short for Covering Cohesion Policy in Europe—is aimed at journalism institutes across Europe, as well as newsrooms and individual journalists seeking further training opportunities. COPE was developed collaboratively by renowned universities in all 27 EU member states and is designed to help journalism students understand European policy-making and utilize relevant data and sources. COPE is available in all EU languages and is currently being tested in a pilot phase by universities in all 27 EU countries. Selected modules feature so-called 'local windows' that provide country-specific content. The COPE project is funded by the European Union with a budget of 1 million euros.
While the e-learning platform will be launched in the summer, the e-book for the project is already available—just in time for the start of the European election campaign. The newly published e-book summarizes all the content of the 14 COPE modules to make the teaching materials accessible to journalism educators, students, and media professionals beyond the digital version.
Isabella Kurkowski MA, head of the COPE project, states: 'The COPE consortium has a common goal: to promote even more cross-border collaboration and professional reporting on European issues among a future generation of European journalists.'
Prof. Dr. Susanne Fengler adds: 'We hope this e-book will inspire the creative use of our materials in teaching across Europe—and beyond.'
The e-book is available for free download in English here.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Susanne Fengler/Isabella Kurkowski MA
Erich-Brost-Institute for International Journalism
Technical University Dortmund
D-44221 Dortmund
E-Mail: susanne.fengler(at)tu-dormund.de, isabella.kurkowski(at)tu-dortmund.de