The one-day workshop will focus on the possibilities of implementing a European dimension in academic teaching and qualifying students to participate in the European integration process through European-oriented teaching content and degree programs. The conference Hope for Europe? Politics Meets Students. European Ideas of Students from Germany, Croatia, and Southeast Europe, held in November 2024 at the University of Zagreb in cooperation with the CGES and the HSS, clearly highlighted that students not only lack basic information and knowledge about the European integration process, but that these gaps in knowledge also relate to neighboring countries, making it extremely difficult for students to contribute to the European process with their own thoughts, suggestions, and concerns. At the same time, the conference showed that there is overwhelming interest in these issues on the part of students and a great willingness on the part of teachers to address this topic more intensively in their teaching.

The workshop aims to explore how this topic can be addressed in the respective country-specific conditions at universities in the region, to what extent Europe is already present as a topic in teaching or as a course of study, what materials can be developed for a European dimension in different fields of study, what barriers exist at universities, and to what extent new forms of digital and hybrid teaching can be incorporated into transnational cooperation. To this end, a questionnaire will be developed in the run-up to the workshop, the results of which will be presented and discussed at the workshop.

Based on both CGES-HSS projects, the center will launch an initiative for a comprehensive empirical study on this topic in Southeast Europe, Croatia, and Germany and prepare a funding application in the form of a multi-year European project.

Agenda for the one-day workshop

09:00 – 12:00

• Presentation of the survey and research results – introduction of best practice examples
• Development of key points for the production of materials to support a European dimension in academic teaching

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch break

1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

• Identification of structural obstacles to the implementation of a European dimension in academic teaching – Discussion of country-specific differences and strategies for overcoming these obstacles
• Development of a joint statement on the European dimension in academic teaching as a template for education policy decision-makers at the partner universities
• Discussion of European funding programs for the continuation of the project

5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Buffet