The European College of Liberal Arts in Berlin, Germany

European College of Liberal Arts (ECLA):
ECLA is a private, non-profit intitution of higher education in Berlin, Germany. Disciplines like philosophy, literature, political theory, art history, and film theory are taught in English by experts. Possible areas of concentration are Art and Aesthetics, Ethics and Political Theory, and Literature and Rhetoric. ECLA students and faculty come from all over the world and work together in English. They share the facilities of a small residential college and the cultural riches of Berlin.

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The original ECLA was founded in 1999 as a non-profit association (gemeinnützige Verein) by German intellectuals and entrepreneurs interested in liberal education. ECLA's first International Summer University was held with great success in 2000 at the Hufeland Campus in Berlin-Buch.

The academic year of 2002-3 was very significant for ECLA's development. The college became a non-profit organization (gGmbh), changed management, and introduced its first one-year programme. Today, each year 40-50 students who are serious about their education live and study together in Berlin.

ECLA believes that certain problems concerning politics, morality, art and knowledge have a claim on everyone’s attention, and that rigorous and genuine dialogue concerning them is a real achievement. We pursue these dialogues in the classroom – through the close study of texts and works of art that have shaped or seek to shape the values we live by – and beyond the classroom, over lunch in the cafeteria, for example, or in a Berlin café after a play. Through dialogue we aim to broaden and deepen our interest in what matters.

B.A. in Value Studies:
The European College of Liberal Arts is introducing a 4-year degree programme leading to a Bachelor of Arts in Value Studies. Students in this programme concentrate in the areas of Art and Aesthetics, Ethics and Political Theory, and Literature and Rhetoric. The programme is designed for students with a strong theoretical bent, who want to combine their pursuit of special interests with a demanding studium generale. Apart from the academic training on campus, the programme includes a period abroad, as well as an internship.

Academy Year:
In this one-year programme students divide their time equally between core courses and electives, and may study languages for extra credit if time permits. Our courses are currently dedicated to Greek Thought and Literature on Education, Art and Politics in the Florentine Renaissance, and The Ownership Society: Property in Modernity. Most AY students have already studied for 1-3 years elsewhere and typically come to ECLA to engage, or re-engage, their disciplinary training.

Project Year:
In this one-year programme students divide their time between a core course, reading groups, electives and a year-long individual project after which the programme is named. The individual project, arranged according to individual background and plans for the future, allows the student to pursue an old interest further, or acquaint him- or her-self seriously with new territory. The work is supervised by faculty members with relevant expertise and culminates with a 25-page essay to be submitted in term 3, as well as an oral presentation of the project to the rest of the school. In the past four years ECLA has helped place students in some of the best graduate schools, including programmes at Oxford University, New York University, Columbia University and Boston University.

International Summer University:
The International Summer University, ECLA's first programme, has existed since 2000. Each year it has been developed with a new or revised curriculum. During the six week programme readings and discussions are organized around given topics. The latest themes were taken from Dostoyevsky's novel The Demons. The next Theme will be Montaigne, the French Philosopher.

A world-class faculty/student ratio of 1:7 allows ECLA to make use of teaching formats that are particularly effective, but rare in higher education today. Students should expect to spend 12-18 hours in the classroom per week during term. All teaching formats used at ECLA are designed to facilitate ongoing dialogue, in and beyond the classroom. Our students are taught in small seminars and one-to-one tutorials by a select, young faculty who believe that education can be more than the preparation for a job.

ECLA’s three student houses are spacious, light-filled buildings which were originally constructed as the Egyptian and Cuban Embassies to the former German Democratic Republic. The neo-Bauhaus structures are recently renovated, and are situated on a leafy property with landscaped gardens and lawn areas. Each house has laundry facilities, a computer lab, a lounge and a kitchen. A study room with space for twenty students, an art room and a room for student projects are also located in the student houses. Students play badminton, soccer and table tennis in the grassy enclosure between the buildings.

ECLA organizes trips 2 or 3 times every year to various locations in Germany. These trips are in part social, but sometimes form an important part of the learning experience. The annual end-of the-year trip to the North-sea coast involves a discussion and evaluation of the experiences of the academic year that often lasts well into the night.