European Cultural Studies is high on the agenda of a brand new Programme which has been introduced by the University of Aberdeen’s Centre for Continuing Education and begins Thursday 28 September, 2000.
Bringing together the Centre’s German, Music Studies and European Studies Studies courses, students will be able study a range of topics, from “Culture and Industrialism: The Nineteenth Century” to “Modern Times: The Twentieth Century”. The topics will be taught by tele-conferencing to distance centres throughout the North of Scotland but students can also come in to the Centre at Aberdeen and be part of the class. The first course, “Culture and Industrialism: The Nineteenth Century” begins on Thursday 28 September, 6.00-7.30pm, and runs for 12 weekly sessions.
David Hastie, Development Officer for the Centre for Continuing Education said: “The courses cover specific topics such as major influences which have shaped the respective centuries, for example, modernism and other ideologies, national identities and technology for “Modern Times: The Twentieth Century” and industrialisation, the bourgeois and working-class and the rise of mechanical reproduction in “Culture and Industrialism: The Nineteenth Century”. The courses have been designed to offer, not a chronological study of these fascinating centuries, but snapshots on particular themes.”
The Programme has been developed as part of a wider European initiative, the Examen Europeaum. David Hastie continued: “Our European Studies courses grew out of the Socrates Programme established to fund Higher Educational projects. Examen Europaeum was established in November 1999 as part of that project at a meeting in Vienna involving representatives from The Swedish Adult Education Centre of Helsinki and the University of Turku, both Finland; the Estonian Popular Education League in Tallinn, Estonia; the Centre for Civil Initiatives, Vilnius, Lithuania; the Centre for Distance Irish Education Research and Applications, Dublin; the Europa-Akademie Dr. Roland in Vienna, Austria and The University of Aberdeen.
“The Examen Europeaum project is an exciting development for the Centre for Continuing Education. The concept underpinning the initiative is to develop courses that can be taught not only within the education institutions that develop them but also in partner organisations. We already have two examples of this. The course entitled “Culture and Industrialism: The Nineteenth Century” has been developed by Professor Hannu Salmi of the University of Turku, Finland but we will be teaching it in the first half-session of years 2000-2001. We have also just received a course from Dr Peter Roland of the Europa-Akademie Dr. Roland in Vienna called “A history of the European Idea” which we will be using in our Programme.
“Such a cross-fertilisation of ideas and expertise has only arisen through the hard work and serious commitment shown by the members of the Examen Europeaum team and gives an extra dimension to our European Cultural Studies Programme which will be of great benefit to our students.”
Anyone interested in the European Cultural Studies Programme should contact the Centre for Continuing Education, University of Aberdeen, King’s College, Aberdeen, AB24 3FX; Tel – 01224 273528 or Fax – 01224 272478
Further information from: Mr David Hastie; Tel: 01224 272977
University Press Office on telephone +44 (0)1224-273778 or email a.ramsay@admin.abdn.ac.uk.