The course on “Challenges of Transformation” was offered as a 12 sessions seminar by Profs. Riham Bahy and Jan Völkel in the winter term of 2014/15. More than 15 students were constantly engaged in a critical reassessment of Euro-Mediterranean Relations after 2011 even though the class could only be offered as an optional course.

Their enthusiasm and their critical comments were absolutely crucial. The pilot course proved that the proposed mix of participatory teaching methods and critical social science theorizing indeed furthers class-room participation and enables participants to gather structural knowledge beyond the cases studied. On the institutional level, some more steps are necessary in order to fully integrate the new classes and turn them into obligatory courses.