Propeace in few words

At the very beginning of our project, there were some meta-issues that have been discussing in the French team and among the Students of our first Joint Master Degree Erasmus Mundus « Dyclam »:

To what extent is it possible to speak of European cultural Heritage?

How the appropriation of European cultural Heritage could develop the European awareness and encourage the consolidation of European values?

What role could play the University to reinforce among the Students a sense of belonging?

A European Strategic Project was submitted to United Europe by Jean Monnet University (Saint-Etienne); in July 2016, the Project has been accepted.

The inaugural session took place in Saint-Etienne (October 2016).

ProPEACE is a Strategic Partnership involving 10 partners:

-5 universities from France, Iceland, the Nederland, Romania and Spain

-3 economic and cultural actors enhancing heritage in Europe (Italy, Romania, Scotland)

-2 non-European universities with expertise in digital mediation (Canada) and interculturality (Israel).

The team is an example of European diversity: partners from the North, the South, the East, the West of Europe, from the Atlantique to the Mediterranean Sea, involving Europeans out of Europe, from a linguistic diversity to a cultural mix.

This project is also supported by political (e.g. Firminy, Saint-Etienne), economic (e.g. Italian local authorities) and cultural (e.g. Europa Nostra) institutions.

ProPEACE seeks to place the academic field of heritage in a European perspective. In order to do this, it has to offer innovative solutions for a dynamic modernization of the European higher education about heritage. Over 3 years, ProPEACE proposed a program of activities to reconsider the European heritage and teaching in a European perspective.

1) Every year, in April, May or June, Intense Programme (IP) gathered academics, students, economic or cultural actors. It was moment for new form of teaching avec activities (encyclopedia, lexicon, experience of virtual exhibition), workshop (about news jobs), lectures and visits.

3 places: Edinburgh (2017), Ravello (2018) and Santiago (2019).

Some activities took place during Intensive Program in spring:

A virtual exhibition created by students helped by all partners
A moment of discussion about jobs in Europe (specificities to find a job in Europe) managed by Cluj and Sibiu.

A moment to discover a new methodology of Cultural research with Tel Aviv partner.

2) Every year in December or January, Workshops has been organized for professors and cultural/economic partners in order to define the notion of European Cultural heritage, discover new methodology developing by each partner.

It’s also a time to exchange points of view, to visit heritage sites, to meet actors, and to understand the challenge of each national heritages.

3 places: Wageningen (2017), Cluj (2018) and Reykjavik (2019).

3) The main Activities and Achievements realized with all partners:

Lexicon: project coordinated by Iceland with participation of students and all partners

Encyclopedia: project coordinated by Quebec with participation of students and all partners

MOOC: France has designed a MOOC to spread the results of the ProPeace project, integrating video, lectures, power point, articles. This MOOC includes a GUIDE-LIGNE to sensitize teachers, students and cultural mediators to the challenges of cultural Europe

A new Master: In-depth and collective thinking has been conducted to imagine a new way of thinking and teaching European cultural heritage. This resulted in the creation of new certificate: the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree: DYCLAM+, opening in September 2019
A European Jean Monnet CHAIR: thanks to the dynamic created by this partnership, his coordinator presented a project for the creation of the Jean Monnet European Chair which was accepted by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency in 2018.