Misplaced Pages

Latest revision as of 10:28, 10 January 2025

European Graduate School

Type	Private graduate school
Established	1994
Founders	Paolo Knill Wolfgang Schirmacher
Parent institution	The European Graduate School Foundation
Dean	Margo Fuchs Knill (AHS), José Miguel Calderon (AHS), Christopher Fynsk (PACT)
Chief Academic Officer	Christopher Fynsk
Location	Visp, Switzerland (Administrative Office); Saas-Fee, Switzerland; Valletta, Malta
Website	www.egs.edu

The European Graduate School (EGS) is a private graduate school that operates in two locations: Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and Valletta, Malta.

History

It was founded in 1994 in Saas-Fee, Switzerland by the Swiss scientist, artist, and therapist, Paolo Knill. It was co-founded by the Swiss Canton of Valais, which is represented in its board. The school initially offered programs in Expressive Arts Therapy, as part of a broader initiative to develop a network of training institutes in Expressive Arts Therapy. A division of Media and Communication (later renamed Philosophy, Art and Critical Thought) was established in 1998 by Wolfgang Schirmacher.

The EGS was created to be an academic institution that would function beyond the many constraints of traditional disciplinary structure while stimulating work leading to respected and well-recognized academic degrees. For the EGS, education remains a process that is both experimental and transformative, and learning is never divorced from critique. Faculty are given maximal freedom from cumbersome bureaucratic duties and encouraged to focus on teaching that is not just research-led, but in itself an active form of research. The EGS does not shy from the requirements of professionalism, but it seeks to redefine the conditions for achieving the true meaning of this term. The EGS seeks to intervene in a global context where education is increasingly structured by instrumental ends that favour the development of technical expertise and frustrate fundamental questioning. It seeks to keep alive a spirit of free enquiry devoted to supporting creating practice as well as intellectual exchange of the highest level directed to the most pressing issues of our time.

In the work of its two divisions, and for almost three decades, the European Graduate School has sought to pursue forms of cross-disciplinary research and teaching that draw deeply upon philosophical foundations and reach across the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Both divisions have sought to pursue forms of creative thought and meaningful engagement that answer concretely to the social needs they serve.  Both have drawn significantly upon the arts in the teaching and research that have brought EGS to where we are today.

Art, Health and Society maintains a strong vocational orientation designed for professionals in education, therapy, and coaching, while serving the academic field of expressive arts.  Philosophy, Art and Critical Thought pursues fundamental questioning in the general field of social thought that is both inventive and at the highest academic level.  The divisional practices and emphases thus differ, but the values and many goals guiding their work overlap profoundly.  They seek the conditions of human meaning that evolve in socio-historical contexts and in forms of relation with the environing world.  They work to draw forth and enhance that meaning in both study and relational engagement.

As an institution, the EGS looks to models and predecessors such as the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (for excellence), and the Black Mountain College in North Carolina (for creative discovery).  In pedagogy, it aspires to the highest values of the Humboldtian model (though it moves “research-led teaching” into “teaching-led research”), and draws inspiration from the North American concept of the graduate seminar and the examples of seminars directed by leading modern European thinkers. EGS is licensed as a university in Malta and is recognized in the Swiss canton where it operates, but is not recognized by the Swiss University Conference, the main regulatory body for universities in Switzerland. Teaching is mostly remote, with required attendance for short periods at the school; ad hoc meetings in various cities also take place.

Notable teachers

Notable faculty members have included Giorgio Agamben, Chantal Akerman, Pierre Alféri Judith Butler, Achille Mbembe, Avital Ronell, Slavoj Žižek, Alain Badiou, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Nancy, Paul Virilio, Donna Haraway, Alenka Zupančič, Jacques Rancière, Bracha Ettinger, Jean Baudrillard, Catherine Malabou, Achille Mbembe, Sha Xin Wei, and Sandy Stone, etc.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni and attendees have included Lara Khaldi, John Maus, Gael García Bernal, Ariana Reines, Micah White, Pablo Iglesias Turrión, Bruce Barber and Duane Rousselle.

Notes and references

1. "EGS European Graduate School Foundation - Saas-Fee". Moneyhouse.ch. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
2. ^ Zurbriggen, Andreas (2015-08-19). "Universitätsstadt Saas-Fee" [University Town Saas-Fee]. Walliser Bote [de] (in German).
3. Levine, Ellen; Levine, Stephen K.; Knill, Paolo, eds. (2005). Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. p. 256. ISBN 1-84642-032-6.
4. "Universitäre Institute und weitere Stiftungen". Archived from the original on 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
5. Levine, Ellen; Levine, Stephen K., eds. (1999). Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy: Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives. London. pp. 9–10. ISBN 1-85302-463-5.
6. Atkins, Sally (2005). "Artists in Community: The Black Mountain College and the White Mountain Graduate School". POIESES: A Journal of the Arts and Communications. 7: 108–124.
7. Dalli, Miriam (2015-06-22). "Swiss grad school seeks university status in Malta". Malta Today. Malta. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
8. "Wolfgang Schirmacher". The European Graduate School. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
9. "About – EGS – Division of Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought". Retrieved 2025-01-10.
10. by (2024-10-30). "President's Statement, 2024 – EGS – Division of Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought". Retrieved 2025-01-10.
11. by (2024-10-30). "President's Statement, 2024 – EGS – Division of Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought". Retrieved 2025-01-10.
12. "List of Licensed Institutions and Accredited Courses > Universities". Retrieved 15 March 2016.
13. Canton du Valais Formation et recherche universitaires Page accessed April 7, 2016
14. "swissuniversities". Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
15. Zurbriggen, Andreas (2015-08-19). "Universitätsstadt Saas Fee" [University Town Saas Fee]. Walliser Bote [de] (in German). Der Kontakt wird dabei online hergestellt oder bei Fakultätstreffen in sogenannten «Hubs» – dezentralen Einrichtungen der Universität, die in Städten aufgebaut werden, wo besonders viele EGS- Studenten leben
16. Kuhn, Albert (2005). "Interview mit einem schellen Brüter" [Interview with a speedy Breeder]. LEARNing Landscapes (in German). 45. Archived from the original on 2017-01-21. oder die Philosophen Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou und ich. Wir drei sind befreundet. Wir treffen uns dort jedes Jahr, sind engagiert für drei Wochen
17. Haber, John. Chantal Akerman: Bordering on Fiction. Haber Arts.
18. University of Buffalo.Bilingual reading by Pierre Alféri Accessed: August 4th, 2011
19. ^ European Graduate School, faculty. Accessed: October 10th, 2018
20. admin. "Faculty". The European Graduate School. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
21. "people - Sharjah Art Foundation". sharjahart.org. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
22. Wappler, Margaret (2013-11-26). "Fifteen suppositions from John Maus on art, music, blowing up cities on film and Ariel Pink". Archived from the original on 2017-02-12. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
23. Tsoler, Tekeyan (2013-11-26). "Documentary Filmmaking and Social Change". The Link. Archived from the original on 2017-02-12. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
24. "Ariana Reines The Poetry Foundation". Retrieved 2021-08-21.
25. "Who is Micah White? Official Biography and notable facts". Micah White, PhD. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
26. "CURRICULUM VITAE | Pablo Iglesias Turrión" (PDF). 2014-10-30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
27. Ercheca, Endrýu (2014-07-23). "Se Acabaron las Gambas: EXCLUSIVA: Toda la verdad sobre Pablo Iglesias Turrion (I): Expediente Académico". Se Acabaron las Gambas. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
28. "Bruce Barber at NSCAD". Archived from the original on 2017-03-07. Retrieved 2017-03-21.

Further reading

• MacLaughlin, Nina (10 April 2003) "Going the distance". The Phoenix.

External links

• European Graduate School

46°06′52″N 7°55′46″E / 46.11457°N 7.92939°E / 46.11457; 7.92939

• European Graduate School
• Educational institutions established in 1994
• Universities and colleges in Switzerland
• 1994 establishments in Switzerland