European Centre of Excellence, University of Victoria
The University of Victoria has been again selected as a European Union Centre of Excellence; they previously co-hosted from 2009-2012 with the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre. The EUCE is housed at the Centre for Global Studies (CFGS) and will coordinate lectures, conferences, workshops, summers schools, online courses, and student travel and research grants. UVic’s activities are unique in that they connect numerous facultiesworking in either an academic, outreach, or networking capacity. UVic will build further awareness and understanding of the EU and its policies for British Columbia across a wide range of stakeholders, including a conference on the Implications of CETA for BC in early May 2014.
UVic has a community of EU Scholars, which developed around our 2009-11 EUCE partnership with the University of Toronto. For our new EUCE, we mobilized a larger and more interdisciplinary group from five faculties and twelve departments that are interested in EU Integration. This expanded team is committed to engaging with business, civil society, students, and educational communities in British Columbia to increase knowledge about the EU and the EU integration process. UVic also endeavors to strengthen the linkages between EUCEs in Canada and in Asia Pacific with annual conferences showcasing graduate students’ research.