2006 Testimonials - Course 9E: Introduction to the European System of Human Rights Protection and Promotion

What participants said about this course:

"The course exceeded my expectations very much. It was well structured, very dynamic, the response to our questions and needs was very prompt, both from [the course instructor] and from [the facilitator]."

"The course met all my expectations."

"For me, everything was perfect, the interaction with other colleagues, with teacher and with technical assistant, etc. I was my first experience in the "field" of "distance learning" and I found it very well organized."

"As an online course it was very well organised."

"The course highly met my expectations. It covered wide range of topics and involving discussions. The experience from other participants also made significant contribution to the course."

"This is my first on line course and I was very well impressed: I had a lot of accurate learning materials but enough time to study its, I had the opportunities to share others peoples experience (during the weekly discussion and chat sessions) and [the instructor's] weekly messages helped me to understand the topics."

"This course was much more helpful and fruitful than I had expected."

"The training met my expectations. It was very well organized. Although it required more time than what I expected."

"I had no knowledge whatsoever about the European human rights system. The Course provided me with a valuable understanding of the different instruments on human rights in Europe as well as the different institutions and mechanism in this area. The course more then met my expectations. It has given me a broad understanding of the complexity of the human rights issue and through the readings, definitely widened my understanding and knowledge of this issue."

"The course overmatched my expectations: I didn't think it would be so interesting and competitive."

"It met [my expectations] perfectly."

"The course information was very useful for me. I have enjoyed reading the course materials, [the instructor's] comments and suggestions. I have enjoyed reading my (course) colleagues opinions and learned from them."

"[The course] was very interesting because we could explore not only the theory, but the practical way the institutions are doing their work, so we could get a critical opinion about the most efficient ones. The study of the jurisprudence was particularly interesting."

"I think the topics chosen represent thoroughly the European human rights system."

"The course has very interesting topics which covered various subjects."

"The course topics were very relevant and rationalized."

"The curriculum was rather well and includes all necesary information."

"It was the first time that I worked with legal text such as those of the European Court. I found it difficult! Because of the assignments it was workable; I knew what to look for. This was a great experience that I wouldn't have done by myself. I learned that I knew very little in advance…"

"Discussions really help to understand the topics at hand and furthermore thus all the participants can share their valuable experience."

"For me, the most important benefits of the weekly discussion questions were the opportunities to share ideas and experiences with other participants."

"It was really helpful to hear from people with such different backgrounds and different local situations in different countries. This diversity really helped me to see how the universality of the human rights meets the local situation."

"The weekly discussions were very fascinating, not only for the skills of the facilitator and the participants, but also because they represented a great variety of human rights traditions."

"In general, the contributions from the participants were very interesting, but some of them, especially the ones from [names of several course participants] were particularly fascinating as they introduced ideas and approaches that I ignored."

"I liked the discussions very much. Without then I would not have read that much or that closely. Good that you can choose between two questions. Good that [the course instructor] comments on the discussions."

"The contributions of other course participants were welcome for me, because they introduced me to different perspective"

"I very liked the session with the CPT member - it's wonderful to have the ability to form your own expressions from the person and overall work of the CPT through direct communication."

"The course readings helped my very much to understand the topic and to complete my knowledge in human rights area."

"The volume of the course readings was rather big and therefore very informative."

"The mandatory and supplementary reading material was very instructive. Before I started the course I thought its content would be limited to the European Court of Human Rights basically, I did not expect to have the opportunity to examine such a broad range of institutions. The teaching system, with weekly research assignments and in-depth research was fascinating."

"[The instructor's] tutoring encourages me to continue exploring minority rights in their connections with the European Court system."

"The weekly Instructor Messages helped me to understand the topic of the course and the feedback messages of the instructor encouraged me to learn and to improve my future answers."

"I think [the course instructor] was an extraordinary facilitator. He was able to instruct us, raise our interest and comment our work in a very constructive and nice way. He was very encouraging and understanding. I hope I will have the chance to interact with him again."

"I think [the course instructor] was just wonderful, making it a point to comment on almost everyone's assignment."

"I have nothing to say about the Instructor but the gratefulness I want to express for his diplomacy and professionalism."

"[The course instructor] is a perfect instructor - very knowledgeable, intelligent and attentive to the "students". I enjoyed his guidance very much. Thank you! "

"Unfortunately, I could only participate in the first [chat session], since I was not in my office in the second occasion, but it was very illustrative and the variety of the issues tackled was great."

"I liked the chat (I attended one). Maybe one more? It could be improved by 'rules for discussion'; now it was all asking at the same time."

"I regret that I was not able to participate in the chat sessions because of the time difference and work and personal commitments, although we were given the chance to prepare questions for our guest speakers in advance."

"The written assignments were very relevant and helped very much to understand the topics presented."

"I do not have any complaints regarding the technical issues. Everything was done professionally!"

"The technical response to questions and answers on the side of [technical support] was fantastic, thank you very much!!"

"The course website is very easily used and does not contain additional unnecessary elements that websites usually have."

"As this course is an introduction itself I found it wonderful. This course stimulates me to further explore the European human rights machinery as I am just starting to know it better."

"I learned a lot about human rights treaties and European Court of Human Rights."

"The training course was a great opportunity to complete my professional expertise in human rights. The theoretical and practical knowledge on the principles and the methods of human rights monitoring and on monitoring of specific institutions and situations are very much needed in my work (I am working with victims of torture - among former political prisoners and refugees)."

"The final paper I wrote for the course was translated into Russian and shared with other lawyers in Russia and Ukraine."

"I hope that I will have the opportunity to follow other HREA courses in the future."

"I think the course was very good, beyond my expectations and wishes. Having finished a more theoretical introductory human rights course just before I started this one, I find the HREA course extraordinary. I am looking forward enrolling in the Inter-american Human Rights System, if not possible in June, maybe in the second half of 2007."

"The course is great as it is."

"I would like to thank once again [the course instructor] and [organisers]. They were very considerate towards any question or request. The course was very well organized and I really enjoyed the learning process. I received a lot of new and very important information, which will surely contribute to my career promotion. So thank you very-very much. I will keep you posted on my further achievements in the field of human rights protection and promotion in Armenia."

"Everything was wonderful, thank you!"

"I would like to thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to learn more about the European system of human rights and for offering me a scholarship."

"As a legal office in my current employment, the knowledge that I have acquired, will be enable me to be more vigilant in ensuring that human rights issues are incorporated into new legislations that are being drafted in Kosovo under the UN interim administration."

"I want to thank the organisers of the course for giving us so many possibilities to learn and explore human rights issues without leaving our jobs/studies."

"Due to the fact that I am working in an NGO which is dealing with representation of applicants before the ECHR and promotion of human rights issues in Moldova, I will apply the knowledge, skills and experience I got during this course in my work within our NGO."

"During January-May I will teach a course on Human Rights Protection and knowledge got during this online course would be of great help. I got some new ideas about how to organise and structure my course."

"I just would to thank one more time to [facilitator and instructor] for their wonderful work! I will encourage my colleagues to participate in the HREA on line courses. Thank you for everything!"

"I will definitely recommend the course to other friends."