Andrews announces membership of influential European university network

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A time to build, not burn, bridges says Scotland’s oldest university

The University of St Andrews is to join the Europaeum, an association of leading European university institutions dedicated to maintaining strong cross border academic ties.

St Andrews is the first Scottish university and second in the UK to join the Europaeum, whose members include the universities of Oxford, Helsinki, Leiden, Munich (Ludwig-Maximilian), Paris I, and Prague (Charles).

The Europaeum is designed to serve as an ‘international university without walls’, in which scholars and future European leaders have an opportunity to share common learning and confront common concerns.

The Europaeum exists to foster collaborative teaching and academic exchange; to provide opportunities for scholars, leaders, academics, and graduates to participate in conferences, summer schools and colloquia; and to enable leading figures from the worlds of business, politics and culture to take part in transnational and multidisciplinary dialogue with the world of scholarship.

Above all, the Europaeum “aims to add to the sum knowledge about – and for – the new Europe, to help prepare the future citizens and leaders of – and for – Europe, to ensure that all partner universities are fully engaged in both explaining and making Europe’s future, and to leave all those involved in the Europaeum with an enlarged ‘sense of Europe’.”

St Andrews Principal, Professor Sally Mapstone, confirmed the University’s membership of the prestigious group in a recent message to staff.

“St Andrews is, and will remain, a highly connected global university,” she said.

“We are taking practical steps to strengthen our academic networks, in Europe and across the world. We have recently accepted an invitation to join the Europaeum, a network of research-focused European universities, and the Talloires Network, a global body of universities with a focus on civic engagement.

“When governments disagree, diverge or disconnect, academia has an even more important role to play in communication and the maintenance of relationships. This is a time to build bridges, not burn them.”

Dr Andrew Graham, Chair of the Academic Council of the Europaeum, commented “We are delighted that St Andrew’s with its long tradition as an excellent university is joining the Europeaum. As Professor Mapstone has indicated, the timing could not be more significant, and we look forward to working with St Andrews to strengthen cross-Europe links.”

Notes for Editors

The Europaeum was founded in 1992 on the initiative of the University of Oxford. Its current members are the universities of Oxford, Barcelona (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Geneva (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies), Helsinki, Krakow (Jagiellonian) Leiden, Madrid (Complutense), Munich (Ludwig-Maximilian), Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) and Prague (Charles). The Institute of Political Studies at Lisbon is an associate member. The Europaeum’s mission is to promote excellence in academic research and teaching collaboration between Europaeum partners, especially in the humanities and the social sciences and to serve as a resource for the general support and promotion of European studies. It seeks particularly to bring together graduate students from across Europe and to engage them both with academics and to engage in discussion of contemporary European issues.

The Europaeum is overseen by a board of Trustees. The members are Dr Pierre Keller (chair), José Manuel Barroso (former President of the European Commission), Philippe Burrin (Director of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva), Dr Erhard Busek (former Vice Chancellor of Austria), Professor Karel Stolker (Rector of the University of Leiden), Professor Yves Mény (former President of the European University Institute in Florence), Lord Christopher Patten (Chancellor of Oxford), H.E. Karel Schwarzenberg (former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic), and Professor Ngaire Woods (Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University).

Two rectors from the member universities serve in rotation.

The Trustees are advised by the Academic Council which contains the Rectors (or their appointees) plus one other representative from each of the member universities. The Academic Council also oversees all the academic work of the Europaeum. The Chair of the Academic Council is Dr Andrew Graham (former Master of Balliol College, Oxford).

The head office of the Europaeum is in Oxford and the day to day administration is led by the Secretary-General, Dr Paul Flather.

For further information about the Europaeum, please contact either Dr Graham ([email protected]) or Dr Flather ([email protected]).

Europaeum Lecture : The Changing Character of Human Rights

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Key current Human Rights issues and concerns including the frontiers of human rights protection, the application or Human Rights to armed groups such as Isis and Boko Harem and to corporations such as Shell, as well as the relevance of Human Rights in times of armed conflict, especially in the case of states taking action abroad, will feature in the next Europaeum Lecture coming up in Oxford on November 23rd. Dr Andrew Clapham, Professor of Public International Law at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, will give a major lecture on “The Changing Character of Human Rights”, in our continuing series of Oxford-Geneva Programme lecture series. Professor Clapham is a very distinguished legal academic and practitioner who has worked with the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights (2006-14) and as representative of Amnesty International at the UN in New York (1991-97). Professor Clapham has also worked as Special Adviser on Corporate Responsibility to Higher Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and Adviser on International Humanitarian Law to Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq. His expertise focuses on the International obligations of non-state actors under human rights law and under international humanitarian law. The lecture will take place at 17.00 at St Antony’s College and will be open to all. It will be chaired by Professor Sir Adam Roberts, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University.  For more information, please view the poster here. Last year’s lecture assessing the work of Henry Kissinger, given by Jussi M. Hanhimäki, Professor of International History and Politics at the Graduate Institute, is to be published soon and will be available on our website.

Europaeum MA Lecture : British Exits in a Historical Perspective

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This year the Europaeum will use Brexit – which is to be a central theme to the current British General Election – as a peg on which to hang its  annual History seminar series, which will look at British Exits in a Historical Perspective. The series will start with the exit from the Roman Empire in 410, and look at other exits involving the Danes and Vikings, the exit from Papal authority, in and out of Europe since 1945, and culminating with a look at English exceptionalism and the 2016 Brexit vote. The series involves many front rank speakers including Professor Norman Davies, author of the best-selling bookEurope, and Professor Lyndal Roper, whose recent biography on Luther, has become a global best-seller. The seminars are linked to our MA Programme in European History, but are open to anyone, on  Tuesday mornings in the History Faculty. Please see here or full details of the seminars and speakers.

February 17th -Europaeum Lecture : Illiberal democracy and Post-Truth politics

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ALEKSANDER SMOLAR, the well-known journalist and commentator, will be giving the keynote Europaeum Lecture in Prague on February 17th at 17.45 on the theme of Illiberal democracy and Post-Truth politics : counter-revolution in Poland today ?  He was a well-known member of the anti-communist opposition, founder and editor of the political quarterly Annex, and spokesman for a number of activist groups. After 1989, he served as an advisor to Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Hanna Suchocka. He is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and has many awards including the Sakharov Prize for lifetime achievement (2009).  We are also pleased to have Professor PÉTER BALÁZS, now professor at the Central European University in Budapest, and a former member of the European Commission and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary to give a Hungarian perspective too, alongside a leading Czech commentator, Dr Martin Mejstřík, from Charles University, to give Czech perspectives. Everyone is welcome, and for full details, see: the poster.

Oxford-Geneva bursary winners investigate refugees and Yekkes

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This year’s Europaeum Oxford-Geneva Study Bursaries have been won by two young scholars who will respectively be researching encounters between Yekkes and Arabs in British Mandate Palestine, and the self-reliance of the refugees. These bursaries, now worth €1000 each, have been awarded annually since 2001, and are designed specifically to encourage links between Geneva Graduate Institute of International and […]

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Europaeum YouTube account launched – 25th anniversary movie

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As part of our preparations for this 25th anniversary of our founding in 1992, we are working to produce – and make accessible – more video reports of our many events. We have now started to post items on our YouTube Europaeum account. Please do register yourself, and you can see our first posts of including a short film, Introduction to the work of the Europaeum – past, present and future ambitions, an interview with Dr Paul Flather, our Secretary-General, filmed by one of our interns. You can also find some of the lively panel discussions from last year’s pioneering summer school on China and Europe: Challenges for the Future  which brought together a dozen native Chinese students together with 25 Europaeum graduates to share insights into common problems such as ageing, political legitimacy, urban anomie,  social policy, economic markets, and anti corruption strategies.  We will also re-load presentations from our Jenkins Scholars 10th Anniversary event, including contributions from Lord (Chris) Patten and Baroness (Shirley) Williams, and one or two recent Europaeum Lectures. Meanwhile see our special anniversary leaflet here

Europaeum Summer School: Is Democracy in Crisis ?

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Everywhere democracy seems to be in crisis. The rise of a new populism seems to have bypassed traditional political party structures, while the new leaders have broken traditional leadership tropes customs and rules, and voters have either stayed at home, or voted more frequently for outsiders and independents, heaping opprobrium not only on the establishment elites but on all politicians and politics itself. So Trump rules in part through Twitter, the UK establishment delivers Brexit which is does not support, while third parties rise in Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Scandinavia – even Modi promotes Hinduvta over traditional secularism in India. This year’s Europaeum  annual Summer School – the 24th in our series – explores the rise of Populism and Anti-Politics: and asks Is democracy in crisis ? Applicants are now invited for this event, hosted at the Escorial Monastery, linked to  Complutense University Madrid, in early July, 2017. Liberal Democracy has long been the desirable model –  balancing representation, accountability, equality, participation, and “good governance”, boosted through the European Union expansion ending dictatorships and absorbing the former Eastern bloc. Experts from politics, civil service, think tanks, NGOs, and universities, will discuss key issues over five days of talks, panels, working groups, debates, a role-playing exercise, and discussions. It is open to all Europaeum graduates with local costs covered apart from travel. (other students must cover local costs). To apply, please send a short CV (max. 2 pages), a letter of motivation, and a reference from your supervising professor to [email protected] no later than early June. For more information see the poster here.

International Graduate Debate in Lisbon – the role of populism ?

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Once again the Europaeum will be facilitating our usual lively international debate led by Europaeum graduates as part of the next – 25th Estoril Forum on June 26th  – 28th near Lisbon, organised by our colleagues at the Institute of Political Studies IEP at the Catholica University, before an audience of some 150 participants. This year the conference will focus on the theme Defending the Western Tradition of Liberty under Law. Keynote speakers will include Professor Jose Manuel Barroso, who led the European Union for eight years, is now a trustee for the Europaeum, and teaches at the Catholica; Jacques Rupnik from Sciences Po and the College of Europe in Bruges, who has collaborated with the Europaeum through our Vaclav Havel Dialogue Project; William Kristol, Editor-at-Large at the Weekly Standard; Lord Raymond Plant formerly from Oxford and now at London University, and Professor Timothy Garton Ash, from St Antony’s College, Oxford, who will give the Dahrendorf Lecture. The programme will be posted online soon.

The Europaeum is one of a number of leading partners working with the IEP and the debate we will organise, is likely to be on a related theme. Those interested in participating, who should have excellent English and experience in debating,  are invited to write to the Secretary-General at the Europaeum office. All costs will be covered including a small travel grant. For more information see the updated programme here.

Spring school on Religion, Conflict, Secularism and Tolerance

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On 31st October 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of All Saints Church, Wittenberg: an act symbolizing the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. 500 years later, Europe has been shaped and re-shaped by waves of reformation and counter-reformation; by secularism and scientific discovery, and by new religious thinking, recently and most significantly by its new Muslim citizens.

Our next Spring School graduate workshop to be held in Oxford on April 20-2nd will focus on Religion, Conflict and Tolerance:  500 Years After Wittenberg looking at the role of faith in our European societies, how has the state managed its role as arbiter, and about how our philosophy of tolerance towards all beliefs has developed – and is challenged today.  Yet religion is often cited as a cause of conflict and terrorism. The workshop will explore the legacy of Luther, of changing religious demographics, and the place of religious tolerance. Our three-day workshop will be hosted with the Maison Francaise d’Oxford, linked partriularly to our joint MA. programmes in European History and European Politics and Society. As ever,  this event will be participatory and engaging, involving talks and lectures from experts and professionals, as well as younger scholars, together with working groups and debates. More details will follow in the coming weeks. Please see the full poster here.

Deadline for Prague workshop on crisis in Europe’s values ?

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The final deadline approaches for our major workshop on What does it mean to be a “good” European ? This question recurs as Europe grapples with a series of simultaneous crises: the current problems with refugees, multi-culturalism, uneven economic development, and bailing out neighbours at a time of low economic growth. On top of these comes the new politics of Post-Truth and alternative facts, of prejudice, and the rise of populism, nationalism and jingoism. Do we respond with walls OR with Willkommenskultur ? These are tests for each of us; for all communities, regions, and nations.

We have a host of major speakers for this workshop in Prague, hosted with our partners from Charles University including Aleksander Smolar of the Stefan Batory Foundation, Tomas Halik, winner of the Templeton Prize for religious ethics, Peter Balazs, former European Commissioner, and Tomas Sedlacek, author of the prize-winning The Economics of Good and Evil.

There are one or two places left especially for research graduates from Charles University If you are interested in participating in Post-Truth, Populism, and Prejudice: Europe’s Values in Crisis, please send an application right away (with a CV, a letter of application, a reference, and optionally a suggestion for a possible paper) to the Europaeum office (see the Poster here and the programme here)