Fred Cuny Peace and Conflict Summer Program

(3 credits)

• This course explores the theoretical meaning, both domestically and internationally, and the institutional and political aspects of human rights. Issues covered include the definition of human rights; the relationship between civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights; the meaning and impact of humanitarian and international human rights law; the impact of cultural relativism in the definition and assessment of the promotion and protection of human rights; the significance of different religious perspectives; the question of the legitimacy of humanitarian interventions and the effects of globalization on human rights perceptions and practices.

(3 credits)

• The study of international law and organizations is the study of international cooperation and gover- nance. The course will cover a variety of theoretical and substantive topics including the theories of international law and organizations, the historical development of international organizations, how these organizations work in practice, and whether they are effective. Emphasis will be placed on the United Nations and the role and usefulness of nongovernmental organizations in international organi- zation. Several of the substantive issues discussed are interstate violence and attempts to address humanitarian concerns, globalizations, and the environment.

(3 credits)

• Students will assess the destruction and survival of societies, from the 19th century slaughter of Native Americans and Amazonian Indians to more recent genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, the Sudan, Iraq, Myanmar, Bangladesh and China. Students will consider similarities and differences in the social experiences of mass violence, and the ethics of protecting particular identity-based groups, and not others, in international, national and local laws. Students will become familiar with multiple inter-related justice systems, for instance, the International Criminal Court, national and United Nations-backed tribunals, and local justice systems such as the Rwandan Gacaca courts. Recent developments in legal ethics and international law will enable students to see how public sentiments, legal advocacy and other social, political processes facilitate enhanced protections for the world’s most vulnerable people.

(3 credits)

• This course provides an introduction to the dynamics of post war stabilization and reconstruction. It addresses the complexities of the transformation from war to peace, including interdependent politics, security, legal and economic aspects. Students will discuss these patterns through case studies from Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa. Students will learn about analysis, planning, operations, and reporting used in national and multilateral agencies.

        This class is also offered to graduate students as POLS 641.

(3 credits)

• This course explores the process by which states disintegrate and fail, the armed conflicts that follow, and international peacekeeping and subsequent efforts to build institutions at the end of armed conflicts. It will considers cases that include the wars of Yugoslav Succession, conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Syria and others. Students will consider the role of domestic and international actors, such as NATO, the US Government, the UN, and others. They will explore these efforts through readings, class discussion, debates, presentation of research, and role-playing exercises. The first portion of this course will cover the conflicts that arose from the disintegration of Yugoslavia, especially Bosnia and Kosovo, and the USSR, particularly the war in Ukraine. It will be taught by a former US diplomat who participated in many of these events and will include the role of domestic and international actors, international peacekeeping and subsequent efforts to build institutions at the end of armed conflicts. It will conclude with a role-playing exercise on Ukraine.

         This class is also offered to graduate students as POLS 642.

(3 credits)

• This course examines the causes, methods, and responses of non-state groups attempting to establish new political orders. The combined use of violence with the tactic of terror distinguishes these groups from others seeking political change. Special attention will be given to national and international efforts attempting to resolve such conflicts.

(non-credit)

• Basic Course in Albanian Language.

(non-credit)

• Basic Course in Serbian Language.

Louis D. Sell worked as a Foreign Service Officer for 28 years with the U.S. Department of State, including eight years each in Yugoslavia and the former Soviet Union or Russia.  He served as US representative to the Joint Consultative Group in Vienna, Director of the Office of Russian and Eurasian Analysis, Chief of the office of US-Soviet Bilateral Political Relations, and as Executive Secretary of the US delegation to the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks.  From 1995 – 1996 he served as political adviser to Carl Bildt, the first High Representative for Bosnian Peace Implementation.  In that capacity he attended the Dayton Peace Conference and participated in the first year of implementation of the Dayton accords.  In 2000 he served as Kosovo Director of the International Crisis Group. Serving as Executive Director of the American University in Kosovo Foundation (AUKF) from 2003 to 2007, Louis Sell helped establish the American University in Kosovo.

He has a B. A. from Franklin and Marshall College (1969) and an M. A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.  Mr. Sell’s political biography of Slobodan Milosevic, Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, was published by Duke University Press in 2002.  His book, “From Washington to Moscow: US-Soviet Relations and the Collapse of the USSR,” is due to be published by Duke Press in the fall of 2016.   He has been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and an associate at the Harvard Davis Center for Russia and Eurasia.  He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Maine at Farmington and lives with his family in a 200-year-old farm in Whitefield,Maine.

Michael Hess joined MPRI as Vice President for Development and Stability Operations in August 2009 after serving as Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Hess was in that position from June 2005 until January 2009.

Prior to his appointment to USAID, he worked as a Senior Risk Reviewer and Vice President at Citibank, responsible for monitoring and evaluating 15 areas of risk for corporate finance units at Citigroup Inc. in New York.

Hess has over 30 years of active and reserve service in the United States Military. He received his commission from the United States Military Academy in 1971, and has served in humanitarian operations in Turkey, Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo. Hess served in both command and staff assignments in the U.S. and Germany and taught European History at the United States Military Academy.

In April 2003, Colonel (Ret.) Hess was recalled to active duty to serve as the humanitarian coordinator in the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He later served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Coalition Provisional Authority, assisting in the establishment of the 2,000-person multinational organization responsible for establishing a representative government for Iraq as well as for rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure.

Hess has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a master’s degree in European History from Columbia University in New York, a master’s in business administration and international finance from New York University in New York, and is a graduate of the National Strategic Studies Program at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Jock Covey served as Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General at the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) 1999 to 2001 and as Deputy High Representative in Sarajevo from the creation of the Office of the High Representative in 1995.

He was Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs at Bechtel Corporation until 2010, where he was responsible for external affairs and issue management, security, and sustainability services, and closely supported Bechtel’s work in Iraq.

He also served twice as Special Assistant to the President at the National Security Council — first in the Reagan administration for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs and again in the Clinton administration for implementation of the Dayton Peace accords.  As a commissioned Foreign Service Officer, he served as Chief of the U.S. Mission in Berlin, as Deputy Chief of Mission in Cairo, and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. He negotiated the military portions of the Israel-Egypt-US Treaty implementing the Camp David Accords, was a member of the Habib cease-fire team in Beirut following the 1982 Israeli invasion, and served in Jerusalem and Pretoria.

He is a graduate of St. Lawrence University and a former Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the US National Defense University, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also served in the US Army, taught high school in Uganda, and co-authored Quest for Viable Peace: International Intervention and Strategies for Conflict Transformation.

Len Hawley served on the policy team of the National 9/11 Commission.  He was responsible for investigating U.S. counterterrorism policy in State, Defense, Justice, OMB, and the FBI from 1998 through the attacks of September 11, 2001.

He was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration where he directed U.S. engagement and political-military preparations for multilateral interventions to regional crises including Kosovo, East Timor, Lebanon, Congo, Sierra Leone, Eritrea-Ethiopia, and Afghanistan.

He worked at the White House on the National Security Council staff as Director for Multilateral Affairs where he coordinated U.S. political-military planning for multilateral complex contingencies.  He was also responsible for U.S. government efforts to strengthen the capacity of the United Nations to respond to crises. Prior to serving at the White House, he acted as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Len worked as a congressional staffer in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.  He served in the US Army for twenty-five years where he deployed with ground combat units overseas in Vietnam and Germany, and he was a research fellow at the Naval War College and also at the National Defense University.

Before he died, Len advised US officials at the National Security Council, State Department, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense on contemporary policy issues and interagency pol-mil planning.  And he served as a senior mentor for executive leadership courses sponsored by the State Department and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Dr. Robert Muharremi holds a doctorate in law from the University of Saarland (Germany) and a M.Sc. in public policy and management from SOAS London (UK). He has worked for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and served as adviser to different Kosovo government institutions, including the Office of the Prime Minister, the Kosovo Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of European Integration. He is currently assistant professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology – Kosovo campus where he teaches international law and international relations.

Chris Coleman is a senior mentor and consultant in international peace and security.  For more than 30 years Chris has been involved in the prevention and mediation of armed conflict, as well as post-conflict reconciliation, in Africa, Latin America and Southeastern Europe.  His most recent field assignment with the United Nations was as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Deputy Head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), from January 2016-November 2020.  From 2011-2015, he led the planning for and strategic reviews of multiple UN engagements in North, East and West Africa, including the Sahel region.

Chris played a central role in strengthening the UN’s practical work in the mediation of armed conflict.  He led the Policy and Mediation Division from 2006 to 2011, providing conceptual and practical support to dozens of UN engagements, while also carrying out special assignments for the United Nations Secretary-General.

From 2001 to 2006, Chris dealt with peace and security matters in Africa.  He played an active role in the three-year peace talks leading to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement; and led UN planning for the peacekeeping operation which supported the implementation of that agreement.  He also worked extensively with the African Union (AU) in helping it to strengthen its peacekeeping operation in Darfur (Western Sudan).

Chris was Chief of Policy and Analysis in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations from 1993-2001.  Prior to that, he held a series of positions at the International Peace Academy, including Director of Peacekeeping Training and Director of Conflict Resolution Studies. From 1983 to 1984 he worked at the Organization of American States, focusing on the Central American conflict.

Chris holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Texas Christian University.  He has been an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, a Visiting Fellow at Brown and Yale Universities, and an Instructor at the University of Maryland.  He teaches in the Summer Programme of the American University of Kosovo.  Chris has authored articles on UN peacekeeping, the exercise of leverage in peace processes, and UN reform. 

Countries that can enter Kosovo without visa: Visa Free

Special Categories Exempted from Visa Requirements

The exemption from the visa requirement applies also to the following categories:

• Citizens of the countries which are required to obtain a visa for Kosovo but hold a biometric valid residence permit issued by one of the Schengen member states or a valid multi-entry Schengen Visa are exempt from the requirement to obtain a Visa to enter, transit, or stay in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo for up to 15 days.

• Citizens of: EU and Schengen Zone Member States; Holy See; Principality of Andorra; Principality of Monaco; Republic of San Marino, Republic of Albania, Montenegro, and Republic of Serbia are allowed to enter, transit, and stay in Kosovo for up to 90 days for a six-months period with a valid biometric identification card.

• Holders of diplomatic and service passports issued by Russian Federation States, People’s Republic of China, Egypt, Indonesia and Ukraine shall be allowed to enter transit or stay up to 15 days in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.

• Holders of valid travel documents issued by Special Administrative Regions of People’s Republic of China: Hong Kong and Macao are exempted from the obligation to obtain a visa.

• Holders of travel documents issued by Taiwan shall be exempted from the obligation to obtain a visa provided that they preliminarily notify the Diplomatic or Consular Mission of the Republic of Kosovo.

• Holders of Travel documents issued by EU Member States, Schengen zone States, United States of America, Canada, Australia and Japan based on the 1951 Convention on Refugee Status or the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, as well as holders of valid travel documents for foreigners, may enter, pass through the territory and stay in the Republic of Kosovo up to 15 days without a visa.

• Holders of Laissez-Passer, regardless of their nationality, issued by United Nations Organizations, NATO, OSCE, Council of Europe and European Union, are also exempt from the visa requirement.

All participants are strongly advised to ensure the adequate medical insurance. Ask your medical insurance company if your policy applies overseas, and if it covers emergency expenses such as medical evacuation. If it does not, consider supplemental insurance.

Note: All medical expenses in Kosovo or outside Kosovo will need to be paid by the student.

Meals will be provided at the convenient Restaurant Omël located at the RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) campus from Monday – Friday.

Taxis

There are several taxi operators in Kosovo, fares are cheap and official taxis are marked and metered.  It’s preferable to book your taxi in advance by calling. Taxi Roberti, London, Beki, Urban, City, Golden, Blue are all reliable operators.  In general, it is advisable to use taxis from a reputable company if possible.

Car Rental

Renting a car in Kosovo is also possible, with a choice of several internationally-recognized rental companies as well as local operators.

https://www.europcar.com/location/kosovo

https://www.sixt.com/car-rental/kosovo

Buses

Bus travel is the preferred means of public transportation as it is frequent, clean and cheap. Routes cover most of the country with major attractions mostly within an hour or two from the capital. Pristina is the country’s hub for bus travel and also offers service to international destinations in other Balkan countries such as Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Greece and others.

Within Prishtina, several bus lines cover all the districts, although the downtown can easily be explored on foot.

For more information contact the summer program team at summerinfo@auk.org.

Please note that all students attending the program will be provided with a monthly bus ticket. This ticket is valid only for bus number 4.

Bus #5 (a private bus line) also travels to campus for Euro 0.50.  

The program fees vary depending on the student’s selection:

• Part I or II: EUR4000
• Part I or II (internship included): EUR4500
• Part I and II: EUR7000
• Part I and II (internship included): EUR7500

The program package covers the following:

• Part I or II: 6 transferable credits (two courses) from the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
• Part I and II: 12 transferable credits (four courses) from the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
• Regional Study Tours: Seven days around Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Two days cultural visit in Kosovo
• Seminars and workshops
• Basic Course in Albanian and Serbian Language (15 hours)
• Accommodation, meals, and other expenses

• RIT Kosovo campus dorm
• All meals throughout the program: breakfast, lunch, and dinner from Monday through Friday at the RIT-K canteen.
• Bus ticket for Prishtina
• Phone card: each student will be provided with an IPKO sim card including (€3 credit).

• Round Trip Airfare to Kosovo
• Books & Supplies: € 90 ($ 100)
• Phone card refill: Students can refill their IPKO card at the local IPKO offices in Pristina. For those coming out of countries with locked phones, please unlock before arrival to Kosovo – or inexpensive phones can be found in Prishtina.
• Transport to/from the airport: The ride from the airport to RIT-K campus is 20 minutes and costs € 15 ($17). More information will be provided closer to date.

Note: The additional costs are to be covered by the applicant.

Personal expenses during the program vary based on individual spending.  While most of the meals are covered in the package fee, weekend meals and personal transportation costs differ depending on student preferences.   Meals in Kosovo are very reasonably priced from a range of €2 – €5 ($3 – $6) a dish.  Public transportation €0.40 cent ($0.50) and taxis from €1.50 – €5 ($2 – $6) in the surroundings of Pristina. Please contact our Program Coordinator for more information about pricing in Kosovo at summerinfo@auk.org.
Please note that evening and weekend events organized by students will be at student own expense.

If students would want to take a third course the Total Cost for an extra course is: € 1100.00.

Extra Course = 3 Credits.

There is no application fee. To reserve a place in the program, students should pay a non-refundable reservation fee of 200 EUR. This fee will then be deducted from the total of tuition payment.
Based on the student's needs, the full tuition fee and the deposit can be made via bank transfer in the US in USD (NOTE: Please use the most updated exchange rate to match the requested amount in Euros).

Bank Name:          Citibank N.A., New York
Routing number:  021000089
FBO:                      Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Account number: 4055-3953
Bank address:      399 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022
For further credit to: Account # 6453-5147 American University In Kosovo

To pay through PayPal please click the button below:

Summer Program

Full tuition €3,995.00 EURReservation Deposit €200.00 EURTuition - Reservation Deposit €3,795.00 EUR

Also for international bank transfer use:
Bank Name:    Raiffeisen Bank, Prishtina, Kosovo
SWIFT code:   RBKOXKPR
IBAN Code:     XK051501001003342712
Acc. Number: 1501001003342712
Account Name: RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) College
Address:         Dr. Shpetim Robaj Str. NN,Prishtine

The Deadline for making the full Tuition payment is April 30, 2024