History

Overview

From left to right – Grierson, Weidenfeld, Pulzer, Prince Hans Adam, Sir Peter North – former VC of Oxford

The Europaeum was conceived in the early 1990s by Lord (George) Weidenfeld and Sir Ronald Grierson to give future young scholars and leaders the chance to meet, discuss, and develop together a real ‘sense of Europe’. The Europaeum was to be the framework within which a group of leading European universities would strive, together, in search of new kinds of pan-European thinking, linking the brightest academic minds and young scholars. It was also conceived as an autonomous and free-thinking body that would seek to add to the sum of knowledge and ideas in the ‘new’ Europe. Its development can be split into four phases: a successful launch period, an important period of consolidation, a phase of innovation, and now a phase of extension.

Phase I: Launch 1992-1996

The mood of the times, including a move towards integration in Western Europe and the reemergence of Central and Eastern Europe after the collapse of Communism, encouraged and encompassed a need to promote pan-European ideas, programmes and initiatives, even styles of thinking - and universities clearly had a key role to play.

The Europaeum was launched as a department of Oxford University, formally to ‘advance European studies and education’, encouraging ‘the movement of academic staff and students’ and for ‘the study of the languages, history, cultures and professions of the people of Europe’. Core partnerships were established linking Oxford with the universities of Leiden, Bologna and Bonn, and an international network was born. Oxford played a lead role during this phase, spearheading a significant and successful fund-raising drive across Europe, with the committee legally linked directly to the University.

The Europaeum in Oxford helped establish two new centres: the Institute for the Advanced Study of European and Comparative Law (IECL), now a highly developed and flourishing centre which has an active relationship with the association; and the Centre for European Politics, Economics and Society (CEPES), closed in 2003 in an Oxford Politics Department reorganisation. It also led to the creation of new posts, some within the centres: most notably a Chair in European Thought, the establishment of a range of scholarships for European graduates to come to Oxford, and a general boost for European Studies at Oxford. A number of linked Visiting Chairs, for example in Literature, Opera Studies, and Jewish Studies, were also set up.

Collaborative activities were launched, including annual conferences and summer schools. A Founders’ Council of key benefactors, friends and supporters was created to play its role, while an ad hoc ‘supervisory’ Europaeum Committee was set up in Oxford to oversee development of the network. Work was coordinated by the Steering Group, while much depended on the energy of key individuals.

Phase II: Consolidation 1996-2000

The network expanded to include Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), Geneva (Graduate Institute of International Studies, HEI), and finally Prague (Charles University). Oxford also initiated its own five-year institutional review following its standard custom, and all Europaeum partner groups were invited to comment on developments. In 1998, various new initiatives took place. While the annual summer schools and conferences continued to flourish, with a clear policy of rotation by institution, a regular newsletter was created, alongside a new website for easy access, plus a database of academics working in European Studies and related subjects at the partner institutions. A small ‘subscription’ was introduced to support core costs, while funds were raised to support individual projects.

Each partner institution was invited to create its own appropriate local Europaeum committee or group of linked academics to feed in new ideas and comment on policies. The Europaeum Committee was converted to an international Council with representatives from all partners. Group meetings bringing together key academics within their own subject discipline were arranged, and plans were discussed to promote small international collaborative research groupings. A detailed Steering Group report presented the Europaeum Council with options for development, and the governing structure was simplified, with the Europaeum Council now established as the governing body (abolishing the Oxford structure); supported by an Academic Committee to oversee academic priorities and projects, and a Management Committee to supervise and organize the day-to-day links.

It was also agreed to appoint a part-time Secretary-General, whose brief would be to focus solely on the overall development of the Europaeum, to help steer what was now an association into its next phase of development. Projects would also seek to involve more graduates and young scholars.

Phase III: Innovation 2000-2003

The Secretary-General formally took up his part-time post in Spring 2000 and immediately started work on a Business Plan to lay out clear objectives, update the mission, outline strategies for development, and structure a financial plan through 2005. Consultations took place in 2000, and the plan was formally approved in 2001. A part-time assistant was hired in Spring, and in the Autumn a full-time assistant was appointed and the Secretariat was established in new premises of its own, its first, on the Banbury Road, in the Voltaire Foundation building in Central Oxford. With these new institutional arrangements, the Europaeum was ready to embark upon a period of innovation and play a fuller part in the changing European higher education area. To underline this, all regular activities were encompassed within formal guidelines.

New projects set out to utilise the enormous opportunities provided by new technology. An international research project examining the Future of European Universities in the ‘Knowledge Society’ was unveiled with the backing of a substantial grant from DaimlerChrysler Services, a leading financial corporation in Germany. The project analysed future trends for university development, the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and ways to advance learning and research.

Three new small grant schemes were also established during this period. Joint research was to be supported via the Europaeum Research Project Groups. These were designed, significantly, to draw additional disciplines within the orbit of the Europaeum, including Modern History, History of Science, Classics, Philosophy and Theology.

The New Initiatives Scheme was introduced to widen innovation in collaborative activities by encouraging more debates, lecture series, mobility grants, joint teaching, library links and technology transfer. Two model European student debates were backed under this scheme and graduates now regularly participate in events. Study days and policy fora are also supported.

Finally, academic mobility was boosted under the Europaeum Visiting Professorships, enabling leading academics to teach and research at partner institutions within the association, helping nourish future academic and teaching links.

Meanwhile, the programme of summer schools, conferences and scholarship programmes continued to expand. At an important meeting in Paris in 2001, the Council determined that the Europaeum should set a target of 10 university members, develop ideas for policy research, and focus on joint teaching opportunities for young European scholars. The Europaeum Review, launched in 2001, serves as a forum for intellectual exchange, and increases the profile of the association. A revived Europaeum Lecture series has also led to several significant publications. Keynote speakers at Europaeum events during this period have included Tim Berners-Lee, Umberto Eco, Lord (Ralf) Dahrendorf, Jacques Delors, Timothy Garton Ash, Sir Marrack Goulding, Avishai Margalit, David Marquand, Ben Okri, Lord (Chris) Patten, Romano Prodi and Mary Robinson.

Most important were the fresh initiatives to boost joint teaching initiatives. An Academic Committee working party examined ways of encouraging teaching collaboration, reviewing half a dozen current partnerships spawned under the Europaeum. Two innovative programmes, an MA in European Politics, Culture, History and Institutions, linking Bologna, Leiden and Oxford, and a plan for modular programmes in European Business, Culture, and Institutions, initially to link Leiden and Oxford, were run as pilot projects.

Fundraising efforts continued to boost the Projects Fund, alongside the subscriptions from members to cover core costs. The Europaeum was also converted to an independent charity, run as a not-for-profit company.

Phase IV: Extension 2003-2007

With fresh momentum, the Europaeum found itself involved in a burgeoning number of projects, still based on the principles of rotating venues for conferences, meetings and summer schools. A new Academic Business Plan for the fourth phase was endorsed with the key aims of completing and consolidating the membership target, developing joint teaching initiatives, and creating a joint Policy Institute.

In 2003, Complutense University joined the Europaeum. Helsinki followed in 2004 and the Jagiellonian, Krakow, in 2005. The association thus reached its target of 10 members, although as an open body, the Europaeum collaborates with scholars and experts from all other bodies.

Rapid progress was made on joint teaching initiatives: in 2004-5, Oxford, Paris and Leiden piloted a new jointly-offered Europaeum MA in European History and Civilisation, with the programme formally launched in 2005-6. The Leiden-Oxford Programme was also re-launched over 2004-5 with a series of policy-oriented symposia, followed by workshops and events focusing on Europe, with student participation. The Europaeum’s successful policy forum series is now established with events on a range of topics including Reshaping Europe, Turkey, Corporate Governance, Islam in Europe, The Barrier between Israel and Palestine, and The Future for Europe.

After widespread consultation, a proposal for a new Europaeum Public Policy and Governance Institute was approved in 2004. The current focus is on fundraising, with steps underway to link Europaeum experts and university-based policy units within a ‘virtual cluster’ of policy experts, and to set up Europe-wide collaborative research project prototypes across the association.

Three major overarching themed programmes were launched, each initiating a series of linked workshops, seminars, conferences and lectures, and each leading to a major Europaeum-inspired publication: the Humanities and New Technology programme in 2003, the Islam-in-Europe programme in 2004 and the USEurope TransAtlantic Dialogue programme in 2005. The latter will open up opportunities for partnerships with US universities.

Following the death of Roy Jenkins, one of the founders of the Europaeum and former Chancellor of the University of Oxford, a memorial fund was set up to raise funds for European scholarships, and these have been directly linked to the Europaeum by the trustees. Two early awards were made in 2004, reflecting early fund-raising success. This success continued, and from 2005 the scheme will make four awards a year to Europaeum graduates to study at Oxford, and up to two awards for Oxford graduates to study at Europaeum institutions. The scheme has been warmly welcomed by all Europaeum partners, and efforts continue to develop further scholarship schemes.

Further joint MAs in European Economic Integration and European Theology are currently in incubation, while discussions continue regarding the revival of jointly-offered MAs in European Political Cultures, International Relations, Community Law, and Philosophy. The award of Europaeum Certificates, conferred upon students who complete scholarly work while engaging in Europaeum activities, has been extended. In 2004, a major gift was received from the Lisbet Rausing Foundation, which allowed the Europaeum to move into new premises, upgrade its computers and extend its programmes, and in 2005 the Oxford-Geneva Link programme also received a further benefaction.

The Europaeum has also focused on publications in this phase of extension, with the continuing series of Europaeum pamphlets and the Europaeum Review, which continues to command respect. The organisation has supported conference and workshop reports on, for example, Whose Europe?, The Other, E-commerce, Corporate Governance, and Europeanisation.

The Europaeum has widened its scope with workshops in the history of science and European science policy, and through its new programmes with partnerships in US bodies, and a proposal to create a European Studies institute in Turkey.

Many of the targets for this fourth phase of ‘extension’, including enlarging membership from seven to 10 university members, consolidating a research strategy, developing grants and scholarship schemes, and launching major joint teaching initiatives along the ‘Euro-Masters’ models had been achieved by 2006. The focus for the future years is on publicising the findings of the Europaeum’s two-year research enquiry into the future of European higher education; pursuing new programmes on US-Europe Relations, Islam-in-Europe, and Humanities and New Technologies; developing a ‘virtual cluster’ of policy institutes and researchers; extending fund-raising work; and developing Knowledge Centre operations linking partner institutions and individuals.