Ourstory
CLIOH-WORLD is not yet one year old. But there is a long story behind it. CLIOH, CLIOHnet, CLIOHnet2, Clioh's Workshop are related projects which have preceded it, whereas the sister Network of Excellence, CLIOHRES, is still active. Through their own activities and through the other Networks with which they collaborate, the "CLIOH-nets" are changing the way History is studied, taught and researched in Europe and even in other continents.
Our history is closely linked with the on-going process of building a European cultural space, of creating a framework in which the rich diversity of academic, cultural and intellectual traditions of Europe can interact to the greatest benefit. Students and professors have dedicated great energy to this project in different ways since the end of the 1980s.
The original nucleus of what today is CLIOHnet2 was formed by the Universities participating in the History Subject Area Group of the European Credit Transfer System Pilot Project -- a project developed to facilitate the mobility of students in Europe by creating a system for the recognition of the academic work carried out abroad. History was one of the 5 subject areas in the ECTS Pilot Project which began in 1988.
After the successful conclusion of the Pilot Project -- today ECTS is used all over Europe and is the basis for the national credit systems instituted in the 46 signatory countries of the Bologna Process and others as well -- the Universities participating in the History Subject Area decided to continue their collaboration. They successfully presented and completed an Erasmus-Socrates Curriculum Development Project, coordinated by the University of Groningen, on the "Idea and Reality of the History of Europe".
At that time, the group decided that one of the best ways to explore the great potential for innovation in the teaching/learning of History was to organise Intensive Programmes, in which students and teachers from the participating Universities could interact in an actual teaching/learning situation. To date, the group has successfully presented and held eight Intensive Programmes: Bologna, May 1998; Pisa, May 1998 Gent, March 2000, Reyjkavik, May 2000; Roskilde, March 2001; Pisa, May 2001, Riga, May 2003, Madrid in March 2004, Adana in January 2008.
Plenary
Meetings
Intensive
Programmes
In May 1999 the ECTS History Network held a European Conference on " The Present of the Past . History in European Universities: comparison, harmonisation, innovation". There CLIOH was conceived. CLIOH meant extending the partnership to the new Europe, including the Eastern and Central European Countries.
CLIOH ("Refounding Europe: Creating Links and Overviews for a New History Agenda") began activities in 2000, creating materials and proposals for the teaching/learning of history in Europe. The year 2003-04, as CLIOH-DISS, was dedicated to disseminating the insights gained.
With the birth of CLIOH came the realisation that the foundations for developing into a European History Network as an Erasmus Thematic Network were in place. CLIOHnet ("Creating Links and Innovative Overviews to Enhance Historical Perspective in European Culture") was an Erasmus Thematic Network which brought together all the countries eligible for participation at that time. Running from 2001 to 2004, it too was followed by a "dissemination" year (CLIOHnet-DISS, 2004-2005).
In the meantime, CLIOH and CLIOHnet carried out two Culture 2000 projects with the University of Pisa Press: Clioh's Workshop and Clioh's Workshop II. Thanks to these projects it was possible to publish (in 10000 copies each and on-line for free download) 9 volumes, based on the Intensive Programmes carried out by the Network. These are available and widely used for teaching.
Language and Identities
in Historical Perspective
CLIOHnet gave rise to two new Networks: CLIOHnet2 and CLIOHRES.net, the first for History in Higher Education and the second a Network of Excellence for research.
CLIOHnet2 ("Consolidating Links and Innovative Overviews for a New History Agenda for a Growing Europe") -- running from 2005 to 2008, had the task of developing the awareness that History is a vital sector in European Higher education. Its study is important not only for future historians, but also for citizens in general. CLIOHnet2 developed a number of widely used tools to assist Europeans Universities in updating and enhancing the quality of their curricula, designing new study programmes and new learning/teaching and assessment methods.
CLIOHRES.net (“Creating Links and Innovative Overviews for a New History Research Agenda for the Citizens of a Growing Europe”) is a Sixth Framework Programme Network of Excellence organized by a group of 45 universities, all of which are CLIOHnet2 members. CLIOHnet2 collaborates in the research groups and the publications of CLIOHRES (to date 24 books) and in creating teaching/learning materials to disseminate the results and the approaches of the Network of Excellence.
The CLIOHnet2 partnership includes partners in all European countries; and has developed links with other countries and continents as well. CLIOHnet2 collaborates with the Tuning Educational Structures in Europe project through the History Subject Area Group (www.unideusto.org/tuning). Tuning and CLIOHnet2 share the same roots. Both derive from the ECTS Pilot Project, and they work hand in hand worldwide to improve the provision of History at University level, giving substance to the Bologna Process.
On the basis of the work of CLIOHnet2 the new Erasmus Academic Network CLIOH-WORLD ("Creating a New Historical Perspective: EU and the Wider World") has been designed, to develop knowledge of European Integration and of the European Union itself; as well as a better understanding of how Europe and its history relates to that of the wider world. CLIOH-WORLD began activities on 1 October 2008.
