Programme
Workshops
The Prague Student Summit is unique by having a preparatory part which distinguishes it from such international projects. The Summit’s participants go through five preparatory meetings – workshops. The students learn different kinds of skills – they educate themselves in international affairs and diplomacy, they learn to speak in front of a wide audience or they get to know the strategies of negotiation. On top of that, they are able to have a discussion about current topics with important guests.
Interesting Guests
The Summit is grateful for the support of well-known people. Every year over forty Czech and international important diplomats, politicians, academicians, business managers or journalists visit the Summit. For example, during the past years the Summit has been visited by Petra Procházková, a journalists and a humanitarian worker; Štefan Füle, a member of the European committee; Vladimír Špidla and Pavel Telička, former members euro commissioners; Cyril Svoboda, a former minister of foreign affairs; Richard W. Graber, a former ambassador of the USA in the Czech Republic; William F. Martin, a former special advisor to an American president, Ronald Reagan. We were also supported by Alexandr Vondra, a former vice-premier; Madeleine Albrightová, a former minister of foreign affairs in the United States; Václav Havel, a former president of the Czech Republic; Karel Schwarzenberg, a former minister of foreign affairs in the Czech Republic.
Panel discussions
The young diplomats can not only attend lectures but also engage themselves in panel discussions. One of the debates was focused on the American presidential election and Erik Best, an American journalist living in Czech, and Vladimíra Dvořáková, an Americanist and a prominent Czech polimetrician, have attended this discussion. The Chairman Europe of Microsoft, Jan Mühlfeit, a director of inner relations at Škoda Auto, Radek Špicar, and a member of the National Economical Advisors of the Government (Národní ekonomická rada vlády – NERV), Michal Mejstřík, have talked about the economic crisis. The students were able to debate in another panel discussion concerning the relationship between media and politicians. The famous journalists that attended this debate were Erik Tabery, weekly magazine Respekt; Jindřich Šídlo and Zdeněk Velíšek, ČT (Czech Television); Viliam Buchert, MF Dnes.
Seminars on diplomacy
The new thing in the Summit, are seminars on diplomacy that are focused on enlarging the student’s knowledge of diplomacy, etiquette or strategies of negotiations. During last year, different guests spoke in each of the lectures – Irena Krasnická, a director of the Diplomacy Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerstvo zahraničních věcí – MZV); Radek Špicar, a professor at the Diplomacy Academy of MZV; Marie Chatardová, a director of the Diplomatic protocol.
Side Events
The programme for students is full of many supporting events - thematically focused lectures, discussions or trips to headquarters of international organisations (EU in Brussels and Strasburg, NATO in Brussels and UN in Vienna). In the past, the students have visited the Nuclear power plant Temelín, the Czech National Bank or an air-base in Čáslav. The programme is also enriched by social events, such as the reception in the exclusive residence of the Prague mayor or the CERGE-EI institute. On top of all, the students also got to visit the Ministries. One part of the student group visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Trade or the Ministry of Defence. Every year, visits to embassies of states the students represent and a discussion with real ambassadors are a part of the supporting programme.
Regularly Occurring Activities
Next to one-time trips and seminars, a regular post-workshop programme has enabled for students a more systematic training with other branches. For example, this programme includes p.ex. the Human-rights cinema.
The Final Conference
For a delegate, the highlight of a year’s work is the final conference which is divided into two main parts. The Opening ceremony happens with the participation of many prominent Czech politicians, diplomats or well-known private sector owners. The ceremony takes place in prestigious places (i.e. Míčovna of the Prague Castle, Černín palace, Hotels Ambassador and Hilton Prague or the City Hall) and it is one of the great events with social character. The three upcoming days of intensive negotiating all students can put their skills, gained during the workshops, into use and get the feel of difficulty of negotiating. The Closing ceremony takes place on the third day and there is always some kind of a surprise involved.
