Every other year, the Allianz Summer Academy (ASA) brings together students pursuing diverse areas of study from each of five international universities. Since 2004, a total of 17 institutions of higher education and students from over 30 countries have taken part.
At the Academy, the students deepen their knowledge and share their preliminary results with representatives from politics and civil society and, at the end of each academy, sum up their conclusions in a collective manifesto that makes political recommendations and should open up fresh perspectives that point the way forward to a different Europe. Since 2013, output from the discussions between participating students and external guests has been flowing into a publication that appears both online and in print.
The students have introduced themeselves on the mic and explained why they participate in the Summer Academy and which expections they have.
Listen to the short presentations by the students from Sofia.
Listen to the reportage on the Summer Academy 2017:
Discussing European Divides at the Starnberger See
The venue of the the Summer Academy located close to Munich looks like a fairytale. The event organized by the Allianz Cultural Foundation gathered people from Hungary, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Sweden and Germany who worked together to asses and evaluate the topic of European divides.
The participants prepared and presented national reports concerning local perceptions of the EU, labor market and unemployment as well as European cooperation to fight terrorism and other potential threats.
What are the unifying points?
The cultural values? It is difficult to talk about the same values among such diverse mentalities, concepts of economy, languages and traditions. But maybe it will be the new technologies and global competition that will bring us together in a search for our touchpoints and cooperation? It is an important point, indeed.
Elisabetha and Kristina showed us two cases concerning the perspective young Italians and Bulgarians have at our Europe today.
Ideas and concepts around European welfare, open dialog between groups and collaboration to defeat terrorism will be included in publications following the event and will be then recommended to the European institutions in Brussels.
The this year Summer Academy took place at the Starnbebrger lake
Organization by the Allianz Cultural Foundation
