Pedagogical Approach

EUCLID’s aim is to prepare government officials and international civil servants, both active and aspiring, for qualified positions with their national governments, intergovernmental organizations and civil society.

This translates into an academic intent to offer the most advanced, dynamic, and as much as possible enjoyable approach to distance learning at the graduate and post-graduate level.

In this section, we will discuss the supports or courseware being used, as well as the actual methods of learning, interaction and evaluation.

Our approach relies on the following:

use textbooks considered as international references in their respective areas
these textbooks are supplemented by practical or customized contents
whenever possible, use campus recorded lectures / courses and webcasts / podcasts
provide a strong foundation in critical thinking in general culture (great books, world religions)
ensure that essential IT skills (Word Templates, Internet, basic graphics design) are acquired
document all courses and update all syllabi every year
develop professional paper/article writing skills
prepare students for global engagement and realistic career goals.

In order to help our students achieve these goals, our syllabi/course database includes a large selection of curriculum-documented courses delivered by various means: online lectures and podcasts, as well as textbook-based mentor-directed self-studies.

To make this possible, EUCLID builds on the products and services offered by the following resources:

In order to help our students achieve all these goals, our syllabi/course database called ELEMENTS is the repository of our fully documented courses. As a rule, a course is delivered through one or more major textbook supplemented by online lectures, relevant podcasts, as well as sample journal articles.

To make this ambitious approach possible, EUCLID builds on the products and services offered by a variety of resources, including:

The Teaching Company / Great Courses (CG) is a key courseware resource for life-long learners, both independent and school-affiliated. EUCLID incorporates a large number of these courses as required courseware. These DVDs allow students to experience top-rated US professors without having to incur the expense of attending an physical top-of-class institution. It should be said that in many campuses around the world, actual teaching is often delivered by unmotivated adjunct faculty whose teaching skills (and enthusiasm) may not be satisfactory. For this reason, relying on several Great Courses provides the students with the assurance of accurate, standard, and engaging lectures.

EUCLID faculty members, with the ongoing support of volunteer students and interns, are always looking for relevant educational or professional webcasts that may be added to the course requirements and in many cases incorporated into the syllabi. When possible and relevant, lectures held at UCSF are integrated in a number of courses, and we also also refer students to no-cost John Hopkins and Coursera courses.