Representatives of the academy meeting in Munich in 2011 to determine the activities of Alma Mater Europaea.Alma Mater Europaea headquarters at Sankt Peter Bezirk in Salzburg, Austria
Since the early 2000s, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts has been planning a university scheme named Alma Mater Europaea, sometimes with the subtitle of European University for Leadership.[2][3][4]
File:Werner Weidenfeld Angela Merkel.jpgWerner Weidenfeld, Rector of the Alma Mater Europaea, and Angela Merkel, Chancellor of GermanyAlma Mater Europaea graduation ceremony. Maribor, Slovenia, 12 March 2013
Establishment
In 2010, Alma Mater Europaea was officially established. Prof. dr. Felix Unger was appointed the first president of the university, while the German political scientist prof. dr. Werner Weidenfeld became the first rector, and the Slovenian lawyer and diplomat prof. dr. Ludvik Toplak the first prorector.
On February 18, 2011 the university board met at the Center for Applied Policy Research (de: Centrum für angewandte Politikforschung) in Munich, Germany, in order to determine the development activities for the new university. Under the patronage of 12 different presidents of the European Union member states, they decided that courses would be taught in various cities within the European Union. Courses would be taught in, but not limited to, English, German, and Spanish language.[5] In the spirit of the Alma Mater as an international university, students, teachers, and leading European thinkers would meet at an international symposium at the end of their studies. It was also decided that Alma Mater Europaea would be incorporated in European and international networks of universities through cooperation agreements.[6]
The board of the Alma Mater university issued a statement stressing that Alma Mater Europaea university would be based on three so-called "W principles": Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft, Wirken. In German, this means: Science, Economy, Effect.[7]
At the meeting it was decided that in the first stage, Alma Mater Europaea would start three 2-year degree programmes.[8]
In 2011, the university opened in Slovenia its first campus, the Alma Mater Europaea - Evropski center, Maribor (ECM) (eng. Alma Mater Europaea - European Centre Maribor). In 2011 about 500 students were enrolled in the programmes of the campus in Maribor. In July 2011, Alma Mater Europaea of the European Academy of Arts and Sciences also co-sponsored a summer school in St. Gallen, Switzerland.[9] In the 2012-2013 academic year, about 800 students were enrolled in Maribor. In 2013, the Salzburg campus of Alma Mater Europaea was founded and several other campuses are planned to be opened this year. It is planned that about 1000 students will be enrolled in various studies in Austria, Slovenia, and other countries in academic year 2013/14.
Locations and departments
The Alma Mater Europaea building in Maribor, Slovenia. Behind it is the Maribor Old City Hall
Old Meeting Room at the Alma Mater premises in Maribor
Currently, the university has premises in Salzburg, Ljubljana, Maribor, and Murska Sobota. While administration and offices are mainly in Salzburg and Maribor, lecturing takes place mainly in Ljubljana and Murska Sobota. Lecturing in Salzburg, as well as some other European cities, will start in 2014.
Department of Physical Therapy
Department of Nursing
Department of Social Gerontology
Department of Management and European Studies
Department of Archival and Documentology Studies
Programmes
European leadership program, producing future European thinkers; the studies focus in European leadership, culture, political sciences, law, and human rights.
European business studies, producing future European business leaders; This European MBA program would focus on political leadership and strategies, European identity and political culture, transformation and development of Europe, social reforms, sustainable development, globalization.
Theological studies, which would be studied at the newly set-up European Dialogue Center for Theological Studies. A network of dialogue between Catholicism,
Orthodoxy, and Islam would be formed with a focus on question "What do the others think differently?" [10]
