ECLA is a private, non-profit institution of higher education in Berlin, Germany. It's a college without departments, dedicated to the study of values. Students are taught in small classes and one-to-one tutorials by a select faculty from disciplines like philosophy, literature, political theory, art history, and film theory. Academic programmes include a six-week International Summer University, one-year programmes for undergraduates and recent graduates, and a B.A. Programme in Value Studies. Possible areas of concentration are Art and Aesthetics, Ethics and Political Theory, and Literature and Rhetoric. Philanthropic grants allow the college to have a need-blind admissions policy and no qualified student is turned away for lack of funding. Students and faculty come from all over the world and work together in English. They share the facilities of a small residential campus and the cultural riches of one of the most vibrant capitals in Europe.
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| Number of students | Number of courses |
| 50 | 12 |
Student programs
BA in Value Studies
The ECLA degree programme is designed to secure a very high level of general education and prepare students for continued study in fields such as philosophy, literature, political theory, and art history. The ECLA degree also provides excellent support for students interested in careers in politics, organizational work, public policy, law, journalism, or the art world.
It takes four years to complete the programme. Students spend the first two years at ECLA dividing their time between common core courses and foundational studies in their areas of concentration. The third year is arranged for each student individually according to his or her interests, and will normally be spent studying or working somewhere else in the world.
Students finish their degrees back in Berlin with a year structured around a research project supervised by one or two of the ECLA faculty members.
Students completing the programme will receive a BA in Value Studies and concentrate in two of the following three areas:
- ART AND AESTHETICS
- ETHICS AND POLITICAL THEORY
- LITERATURE AND RHETORIC
Academy Year (AY)
ECLA's first one-year programme was introduced in 2002, and continues today in a developed version as the Academy Year Programme. Students divide their time equally between core courses and electives, and may study languages for extra credit if time permits. In 2009-10 the core courses are dedicated to Greek Thought and Literature on Education, Forms of Love: Eros, Agape and Philia, and The Values of the Florentine Renaissance. Most AY students have already studied for 1-3 years elsewhere and typically come to ECLA to engage, or re-engage, their disciplinary training with a broader context of moral, political, epistemological and aesthetic concerns. Some students enrol in the AY Programme immediately after high school, often inspired by a serious interest in politics, ethics, literature or art - and a wish to find an alternative in higher education to what they consider premature specialization.
Project Year (PY)
The Project Year Programme was introduced at ECLA in 2003. Students spend almost half their time in core courses, and divide the rest between electives and a year-long individual project. The individual project, arranged according to individual background and plans for the future, allows the student to pursue an old interest further, or to get acquainted with new intellectual territory. Supervised by one or two faculty members with relevant expertise, the work culminates with a 25-page essay and an oral presentation of the project to the rest of the school.
The PY core course is devoted to fundamental questions about the ideals that guide the human pursuit of knowledge and understanding. In 2009-10 the topic is The Idea and Ideal of Objectivity. Normally PY students have 3-5 years of relevant academic experience when they join the programme. Some have finished the Academy Year Programme; others come to the programme with some experience of value studies from disciplines like philosophy, comparative literature, political theory, theology, and art history.
International Summer University (ISU)
The International Summer University, ECLA's first programme, has existed since 2000. Each year it has been developed with a new or revised curriculum.
The theme for the 2009 ISU is “Montaigne and the Making of the Modern Self”. During the six week programme, students and faculty will explore how a new image of the modern self emerges from Montaigne’s Essays and investigate the impact of Montaigne's moral, religious, cultural and political ideals on our understanding of the modern self.
Each week, readings and discussion will be organized around a general topic related to Montaigne's Essays, including the birth of the modern self in Renaissance Europe, the discovery of the New World and its consequences for the self-understanding of European cultures, Montaigne’s criticism of human presumption and pride as root causes of the Wars of Religion in 16th century France, the relation between morality and politics in modern statecraft, and the place of pleasure, friendship and sexuality as well as death in the care of the self.
Along with Montaigne’s Essays, students will study a variety of philosophical, literary, and historical texts, including Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Machiavelli’s The Prince, Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals, Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, Camus' The Fall, and Plato's Apology. Films and museum visits will complement the readings.
