The conference is based on essays written by students from different faculties at universities in South-East Europe, Croatia and Germany on the topic ‘Hope for Europe?’. What expectations and hopes do they associate with the European project for themselves and their societies? Where do they see the challenges, problems, and opportunities?

The essays have been anonymized, written in the respective national language, and analysed qualitatively. The results will be presented at the conference on 29 November 2024 and discussed with academics, students and European politicians. A particular focus of the conference is the development of European perspectives for the education and science systems in Southeast Europe and the discussion with students about their ideas of Europe and the presence of Europe in their studies and everyday academic life at their universities.

Participating countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Each country participating in the conference will be represented by an academic country representative and one student. The conference is divided into three sections:

• Introductory lecture: Europe in scientific discourse – challenges and perspectives of a continent
• Presentation and discussion of the results of the student essays from eight countries
• Politics meets students – discussion between students and politicians about Europe in education and science, introduced by keynote speeches by politicians on the European dimension in education, and statements by students from Southeast Europe, Croatia and Germany on the presence of Europe in everyday academic life.

The conference is open to the public and explicitly open to students. It is the prelude to working together with project partners from Southeast Europe and the EU in the form of transnational projects focused on implementing a European dimension in education and science – with the aim of sensitising students and young people to questions of European integration and inspiring interest in the European process.

The conference is organized by the Centre for German and European Studies (CGES) and the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSS).

The Centre for German and European Studies (CGES) (https://unizg-cges.eu) – founded in March 2023 – is a binational and interdisciplinary higher education institution of the University of Zagreb and the University of Regensburg, including the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg, with its headquarters in Zagreb.

The Hanns-Seidel-Foundation is a German and Bavarian political foundation based in Munich, founded in 1967. Its aim is to promote democratic and civic education both in Germany and internationally. As part of the Southeast Europe project, the foundation promotes European dialogue at both multilateral and bilateral levels.