OSUN Certificate in Civic Engagement

The Certificate in Civic Engagement provides a structured path for students to merge curricular and co-curricular civic pursuits and interests and to deepen their knowledge and understanding of civic engagement.

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What is the Certificate?

What is the Certificate?

Certificate Courses focus on a theme related to civic engagement and/or the practice of it. Students will learn about theories of citizenship, democratic participation, civil society, and social action; familiarize themselves with their local community, and develop an understanding of ways in which the local, the national, and the global are linked.

Students are also required to develop firsthand experience with civic engagement through co-curricular activities outside of the classroom setting and to use their experiences to inform their academic work. The certificate is acknowledged on each student’s transcript.

Certificate Requirements

  • Course Requirements
    To complete the certificate, students need to take four courses (4 US / 8 ECTS credits each) that focus on a theory or practice of civic engagement. At least one course needs to be an OSUN network or OSUN course. Courses for the certificate must include:
    1. The OSUN / Network / summer course on Civic Engagement
    2. Two courses that connect classroom learning/theory with practice, such as the network course on Social Entrepreneurship or the OSUN summer course on Women and the Pandemic: Activism, Leadership, and Civic Engagement. BCB options may include IS331 Berlin Internship Seminar: Working Cultures, Urban Cultures (with suitable internship).
    3. One course that studies the theories of civic engagement, democracy, and social action, such as the OSUN network course on Global Citizenship or Human Rights Advocacy.

    For a list of current eligible Certificate courses, please refer to the course list.
  • Co-Curricular Activities
    Students participate in at least 100 hours of co-curricular civic engagement activities during the course of their study. The civic engagement activity can be developed through:
    - Student project coordination (i.e. through Civic Engagement Fellowship)
    - Participation in student projects at BCB
    - Participation in BCB-organized volunteer programming in Pankow and Berlin
    - Independent community engagement activity or volunteer work
    - On-campus programming with Civic Engagement office
    - Co-curricular workshops on leadership and project management
    - Engagement for social change through other activism: organization/participation in events or conferences (example REAL TALK), writing, publishing, producing for and about topics of social change
    - Training done through Civic Engagement Fellowship / Global Fellowship programs
    - Suitable internship through BCB (if not previously applied to fulfill coursework requirements)
    - Summer volunteer programs or an OSUN Community Action Award
  • Culminating Project
    Every student enrolled in the certificate program will complete a culminating writing activity or an engagement analysis. In their junior or senior year, students will prepare a 10-page analytic essay or other form of work (SWOT analysis, film accompanied by a short essay) linked to their engagement activities. They will be required to make a public presentation of this culminating activity.

    There are a number of OSUN funding opportunities available to support civic engagement activities or summer internships (for example BCB Civic Engagement Fellowships or OSUN Community Action Awards), students are encouraged to use this support.
Civic Engagement Course
Students during an excursion with Refugee Voices Tours in Berlin

Civic Engagement Course

Reflecting a balance between theory and practice, the course explores historical, philosophical, and practical elements of civic engagement while also investigating the underlying question of what it means to be an engaged citizen in the early 21st century. Students address issues r​elated to political participation, civil society, associational life, social justice, and personal responsibility, particularly in relation to the liberal democratic order and its rupture. With guest lectures and field trips, this work feeds into engaged student research, participation in local and global initiatives, hands-on project development trainings, and the crafting by each student of a project proposal aimed at improving their local communities. The course is a requirement to complete the CE certificate.
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