Summer courses are an excellent opportunity for many reasons. First, and the most popular reason, is to learn about a specific topic. Many summer programmes are oriented to discus and analyse the main ideas of contemporary scientific debates. Surely you can find one for you. Second, they are important for you Curriculum Vitae. They do help to make the difference in front of the competition. Summer courses are the perfect opportunity to meet people expert on the field, to increase your social capital, and to discuss your working papers with others. Finally, summer courses let you travel around the world, while you visit new universities and places. Is like holidays but with some extra work.

We have made here a selection of 12 summer courses. All of them have excellent quality and prestige.

1. The University of California Berkeley Summer Sessions
At Berkeley (in front of San Francisco, California), United States.
600 different courses (choose only one). Look in different Departments.
6 week courses: 2 July – 10 August. 8 week courses: 18 June – 10 August.
Probably the best.
Ideal accommodation: International House.

2. Harvard University Summer School 2012
25 June – 10 August.
At Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Expensive but excellent.

3. Oslo Summer School in Comparative Social Science Studies
Organized by the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway.
11 excellent courses. Not expensive.
23-27 July, and 30 July to 3 August.

4. International Summer Schools, University of Cambridge
At Cambridge, UK.
Term I: 9 July – 3 August
Term II: 5-18 August
Three courses per term (morning, before lunch, & afternoon).
And very good lectures in the evening.
Best accommodation: Selwyn College Old Court.
See also: Science Summer School (for the scientific mind).
Term I (8-21 July) and Term II (22 July- 4 August).

5. IELTS Preparation Course, University of Cambridge
At Cambridge, UK.
English language courses.

6. 65th Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States.
4 June – 27 July.
The best for survey research methods.

7. Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research
ICPSR, Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States.
Two sessions of 4-week courses: 18 June – 13 July, and 16 July – 10 August.
Also three to five day statistical workshops.

8. Essex Summer School in Social Science and Data Analysis
University of Essex, UK.
9 July – 17 August.
Three sessions, 2 weeks each.

9. ECPR Summer School in Methods and Techniques
Organized by the ECPR (European Consortium for Political Research,
University of Essex (Colchester, UK).
At the University of Ljubljana.
End of July middle of August.
They have some other summer schools.

10. ECSR and University of Trento Summer School 
ECSR European Consortium for Sociological Research, University of Groningen
(Netherlands)
At Trento, Italy.
Early September 2012.

11. Berlin Summer School in Social Sciences
On “Linking Theory and Empirical Research”
Organized by Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences, WZB, and Humboldt University.
Berlin, Germany, 16-28 July.

12. European Sociological Association PhD Summer School 2012
esa-summerschool2012@fcsh.unl.pt
“Doing Research in the Midst of Social Change”
Lisbon (Portugal) 22-26 July
For PhD students. Deadline application 27 February.

Enjoy your summer…