Summer Program in Germany

We are happy to announce that the application period for the Leo Baeck Summer University 2016 has begun. The early-admission application deadline is December 1, 2015. The final LBSU application deadline is March 1, 2016.

We’d greatly appreciate your sharing this information and the attached flyer with your students and placing it in any upcoming bulletins / journals.

LBSU Advanced Program in Jewish Studies, June 30 to August 12, 2016:

Leo Baeck Summer University is an annual, six-week summer program in Jewish studies at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, under the auspices of the Zentrum Jüdische Studien Berlin-Brandenburg (Center for Jewish Studies). Advanced undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students are encouraged to apply. Upon successful completion of the program students are granted 12 ECTS credits, transferable to home institutions.

LBSU examines Jewish life in Germany before, during and after the Holocaust, with a particular focus on the contemporary experience in relation to the broader and ever more diverse German society as well as to other Jewish communities in Israel, the United States and worldwide.

In 2016, the second module of LBSU has new focus: The South American Dream: European Jews in Latin America. This module sets out to integrate the study of Latin American Jewish life into the greater picture of modern Jewish history.

Students are enrolled in a daily, three-hour morning academic seminar and attend professionally led excursions and lectures in the afternoon, which complement the subjects presented in the academic segment. The academic seminar is divided into two modules of three weeks and two weeks, respectively. During the sixth week, students complete work on final projects, which are presented during the final days of the program.

Applications must be sent to info@lbsu.de and include (in PDF format):
1. a resume
2. a brief (500-word) personal statement elaborating on their interest in the program
3. a letter of recommendation (in PDF) sent directly by a professor / instructor to info@lbsu.de
4. for students who are not native speakers of English, a letter from a professor / instructor attesting to their advanced English language skills

5. for financial aid applicants: a letter from your academic institution affirming your ongoing need for assistance

The program fee of 2,000 euros covers tuition, student lodging, mass transit within the city of Berlin, group excursions in the Berlin metropolitan area, health insurance and introductory and farewell dinners. We encourage students to discuss tuition assistance / grant possibilities with their home institution. Thanks to grants by the DAAD and the Heinrich Boell Foundation, LBSU will be able to provide financial aid in cases of need.

Please see our website for further information.