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Brussels Study Tour
The 2025 Brussels Study Tour will be June 15-21, 2025.
Applications for the 2025 Brussels Study Tour open Friday, November 22, 2024 and close Friday, January 10, 2025 at 11:59p.m. ET.
Program Overview:
With the generous support of a National Resource Center (NRC) grant from the U.S. Department of Education, and in cooperation with the Center for European Studies at the University of North Carolina, each summer the University of Pittsburgh's European Studies Center plans a week-long study tour to Brussels, Belgium, for K-16 educators to learn about the European Union. The ESC provides funds to support summer study tours of Brussels for K-12 educators and faculty teaching at community colleges or minority serving (Title III- or Title V-eligible) institutions. This study tour will provide educators with the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge and experiences to further their understanding of Europe and the European Union.
Selected participants are expected to attend all activities organized as part of the tour. In addition, all selected participants will be expected to participate in two videoconferences (one before and one after the study tour). As a requirement of the grant, participants will submit a lesson plan or syllabus module in August that shows how they will incorporate what they learned into the classroom. For an example of what previous participants have done, see our classroom resources page.
Travel Grants:
All selected participants for the 2025 cohort will receive travel grants providing up to $1,500 toward the cost of their roundtrip, economy-class airfare to Brussels. Six (6) nights double (shared) occupancy in a four-star hotel located in the EU Quarter are provided. Hotel breakfasts are included, as is one group dinner. Participants will be responsible for all other meal costs, additional expenses, and any transportation expenses over $1,500. There will also be a $275 USD non-refundable administrative fee charged to all participants. Learn more and apply here.
The ESC encourages applications from K-16 educators in any discipline with ideas for how to incorporate the European Union into their curriculum in engaging and creative ways. Previous successful applicants have included social studies and language arts teachers, as well as educators in business, education, pre-law, and environmental studies. Applicants are encouraged to explain in detail how the study tour will impact students in their classrooms, schools, and/or districts. Applications that propose interdisciplinary, team-taught courses (maximum 2 educators) are welcome, though both teachers/educators must apply individually; please make clear in the written portions of the application with whom you are applying.
Funding is available for educators from anywhere in the United States, though a number of slots are set aside specifically for teachers and faculty members in the regions served by the organizing universities: western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and eastern Ohio; and North Carolina.
Participants from partnering universities from across the nation will also be attending the Brussels Study Tour. The organizing centers at Pitt and UNC are grateful to our partners for their continued support of this program.
Please direct questions to Samantha Moik, ESC Engagement Coordinator, at meeteu@pitt.edu.
Funding provided by the International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office of the U.S. Department of Education.