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Center for European Studies partners with European Parliament for 3-year pilot exchange program

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The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) is thrilled to announce the launch of a three-year pilot exchange program with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), a political party in the European Parliament. The goal of this new agreement is to provide meaningful internships for Harvard College students, research opportunities for ALDE’s policymakers, and to promote a free exchange of ideas.

The program wrapped up its first phase as Harvard College students Beatrice Walton ‘14 and Karen Zhou ‘14 returned from a summer interning for ALDE in the European Parliament in Brussels. During the 2013-14 academic year, CES will in turn host members of ALDE’s senior policy staff as short-term policy fellows in residence, with Anders Rasmussen and Philip Drauz as the inaugural ALDE fellows. Both institutions are looking forward to the many fruitful exchanges that will come from leveraging the extensive resources and networks at Harvard and the European Parliament.

“This opportunity absolutely underscores CES’ core mission,” said Sarah Delude, a CES staffer who took part in writing the terms of this new agreement. “We are thrilled to provide Harvard students with a practical behind-the-scenes look into legislative processes within the European Parliament, while on campus we look forward to learning from ALDE’s policy experts as they engage with the Harvard community and create new transatlantic dialogues.”