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Key Executives Abroad

An immersive learning experience for Key students in Brussels, Belgium. Key MPA, Key Certificate students and alum are all eligible to participate!

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Key Executives Abroad: Brussels, Belgium, 2025

Group photo of students in front of the European Commission

If you’re a graduate student or practicing federal executive, the Brussels experience is for you!

Through the Key Executives Abroad Program, participants have an opportunity to engage in the European public sector in Brussels, Belgium during the one-week intensive residency.

The program is designed to expose federal leaders to a comparative, experiential exploration of the politics, policymaking, and public administration challenges faced by public service leaders in the United States and European Union (EU). As public servants are challenged with decisions having a global impact, this program is designed to provide a greater understanding of the processes and influences guiding those decisions both home and abroad.

While in Brussels, participants learn from high-ranking officials from the EU Parliament, Commission and Council, and from staff members of various governance entities. In addition, leaders will spend a day with representatives from NATO discussing current controversies in the NATO community.

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Group of students sitting at a roundtable with padfolios and microphones in front of them

The Brussels Experience with Key

Federal leaders are challenged with decisions having a global impact. This program is designed to provide a greater understanding of the processes, influences, and impact guiding those decisions both home and abroad. Ìý

The focus is on best practices and lessons that can be learned from the seasoned executives leading the European Union, and anÌýinteractive learning experience highlighting the similarities and differences between the US and EU political, governance and public administration processes. Both systems are examined to understand how policies and legislation are adopted, implemented, and enforced with the goal of identifying what is the same, what is different, and why the respective systems have developed as they have.
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Three people stand together in a plaza during an evening in Brussels

ÌýSpecific advantages to attendees include:

  • An in-residence opportunity to spend 6 days with federal executives from other agencies to examine and compare the processes, external forces, and internal mechanisms challenging leaders in the federal government.
  • Exploration of the impact of political parties, culture, administrative barriers, race, interests, and capitalism on the implementation of public policy in the European Union.
  • One-on-one time with senior leaders of the European Union Parliament, Commission and Council to explore and contrast institutional, economic, and political forces driving policy implementation from the 'federal' level.
  • Exposure to the best practices used by European Union leaders in delivering Euro-wide policies and programs.
  • Meetings with senior officials at NATO and the US Embassy to understand the leadership challenges faced on an international stage.

-Russell R. -ÌýKey Alumni, on his experience in Brussels

Key students have the opportunity to learn more about European government and engage in cultural exchange while in Brussels.
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