Study trips

From 5 - 17 May 2016, a group of 43 second year MAIS students, accompanied by the Chair of History, the Director, and Study Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, undertook a study trip to the Balkans.

The Austrian embassies in Sarajevo, Belgrade, Skopje and Tirana organised a study programme with visits and briefings at the Foreign Ministries, with representatives of non-governmental organisations, the business world and DA alumni working in these countries. Among the many highlights were a briefing in the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo, a meeting with Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic in Belgrade, a briefing by Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki in Skopje, and a briefing by Dorian Jano, Executive Director, Albanian Institute for Public Affairs - AIPA. The group was invited to receptions at the residences of the Austrian ambassadors in Sarajevo, Skopje, and Belgrade and met with guests from the international community and civil society of the respective countries.

An optional trip to Kotor was organised. On the bus ride from Skopje to Tirana, a lunch stop was made in Ohrid on Ohrid Lake, and on the way back to Vienna, short stops were made in Budva, Dubrovnik and Split.

The annual study trip to Brussels for a group of 100 first-year students took place from 24 – 27 March, 2019.

The students had the opportunity to discuss current EU affairs like Brexit, EU migration policies, transatlantic relations, or environmental challenges with representatives from the respective EU institutions. The following meetings were organised:

• At the Permanent Representation of Austria to the EU: briefing by Mirjam DONDI (Austrian PermRep); panel discussions on three topics (Environmental challenges, Migration, Security) with expert speakers in the respective field
• At the European Commission: briefings by Valeria SETTI (DA Alumna; Commission Coordinator for the Rights of the Child, DG Justice and Consumers), Katerina WOLFOVA (EU migration policy, DG Migration and Home Affairs), Christian WIGAND (DA Alumnus; Spokesperson for employment and social affairs, justice, consumers and gender equality, rule of law, EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, DG Communication), Jan STADLER (DA Alumnus; Policy officer, Union citizenship rights and free movement, DG Justice and Consumer rights)
• At NATO-Headquarters: briefings by Elisabeth KORNFEIND (Austrian ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and NATO), Martin BOTTA (Deputy Head of Mission of Austria to NATO), and Franz LEITGEB (Military Representative of Austria to EU and NATO)
• Socialising with DA alumni working in Brussels
• At the European Parliament: briefing by Antonio VALE (Visitors and Seminars Unit, European Parliament)
• At the Council of the European Union: briefings by Alenka JASCHKE (DA Alumna; Political Administrator, Task Force on the UK, General Secretariat) and Vera KADAS (DA Alumna; Political Administrator, General Secretariat)

In 2018, the Diplomatische Akademie Wien – Vienna School of International Studies and the Austrian embassy in Sofia (Ambassador Roland Hauser and Aneta Genkova) organised the sixth optional study trip of DA students to Bulgaria. From 1 to 8 April 2018, eleven students and staff participated in the excursion.

Besides guided tours of Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Arbanasi and the Rila Monastery as well as visits of Kazanlak, the historical landmark Shipka pass and the Shipka Memorial Church, the group had the opportunity to discuss current issues with officials, representatives of NGOs and academics. The following meetings and events were organised:

• Get-together with DA alumni Ambassador Hauser and Thomas Stölzl (Deputy Head of the Austrian embassy)
• Briefing on Bulgaria and the EU with a special emphasis on the Bulgarian EU Presidency with Ambassador Ognian Zlatev, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria at Sofia's House of Europe
• Briefing by and discussion with the Executive Director of the Economic Policy Institute, Mr Yasen Georgiev, on the political and economic situation of Bulgaria
• Meeting with representatives of the Ministry for the Bulgarian EU Presidency and tour of the National Palace of Culture, the main venue of the Bulgarian Presidency
• Presentation by the Country Manager of Concordia in Bulgaria, Ms Stela Gachevska, on the social situation in Bulgaria in general and the work of Concordia in particular as well as a tour of Concordia's Sveti Konstantin Youth and Social Center in Sofia
• Meeting with members of the Bulgarian Parliament's 'Friendship group Bulgaria – Austria' and guided tour of the historic National Assembly building
• Briefing by and discussion with Ms Tanya Mihaylova, Director of the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute, and Ambassador Petar Vodenski on Bulgarian foreign policy and diplomatic training at the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Get-together with DA alumni in Sofia
• Briefing by and discussion with representatives of Plovdiv's Open Arts Foundation on art projects in the city including its European Capital of Culture 2019 programme