NEW EUROPE FOUNDATION
NEW EUROPE COLLEGE
Institute for Advanced Study
The New Europe College (NEC) is an independent Romanian institute for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences founded in 1994 by Professor Andrei Pleşu (philosopher, art historian, writer, 1990-1991 Romanian Minister of Culture, 1997-1999 Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs) within the framework of the 1994 established New Europe Foundation (a private foundation subject to Romanian law).
Its impetus was the New Europe Prize for Higher Education and Research, which was awarded in 1993 to Professor Pleşu by a group of six institutes for advanced study (the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences, Wassenaar, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin).
Since 1994, the NEC community of fellows and alumni has enlarged to well over 300 members. In 1998, the New Europe College was awarded the prestigious Hannah Arendt Prize for its achievements in setting new standards in higher education and research. One year later, the Romanian Ministry of Education officially recognized the New Europe College as an institutional structure of continuous education in the humanities and social sciences, at the level of advanced studies.
Aims and Purposes
- To create an institutional framework with strong international links that offers young scholars and academics in the fields of the humanities and social sciences from Romania and South-Eastern Europe working conditions similar to those in the West, and provides a stimulating environment for transdisciplinary dialogues and critical debates;
- To foster, through its programs and activities, the development and reform of the Romanian higher education;
- To promote contacts between Romanian and regional scholars and their peers worldwide;
- To cultivate the receptivity of academics and researchers in Romania for fields and methods as yet not firmly established here, while preserving what might still be precious in the particular type of scholarly approach that emerged, against all odds, in the local pre-1989 unpropitious intellectual, cultural, and political context;
- To contribute to the development of a core of promising young academics and scholars, who are expected to play a significant role in the renewal of the Romanian academe and intellectual life.
As an institute for advanced study, NEC is not, strictly speaking, an institution of higher education, although it has been consistently contributing to the advancement of higher education through the impact of its programs and of the activities organized under its aegis. In order to further enhance its support for the development of higher education in Romania , NEC has initiated as of 2003 the NEC-LINK Program , thus establishing its direct presence in the major universities of the country.
Programs
NEC Fellowships (1994 – to present)
Each year, ten NEC Fellowships for outstanding young Romanian scholars in the humanities and social sciences are publicly announced. The Fellows are chosen by the NEC international Academic Advisory Board for the duration of one academic year (October through July). They gather for weekly seminars to discuss the progress of their research projects and participate at all the scientific events organized by NEC. The Fellows receive a monthly stipend for the duration of nine months and are also given the opportunity of a one-month research trip abroad, at a university or research institution of their choice. At the end of the NEC academic year, the Fellows submit papers representing the results of their research. The papers are published in the “ New Europe College Yearbook”.
RELINK Fellowships (1996-2002)
The RELINK Program targeted highly qualified, young Romanian scholars returning from studies abroad to work in one of Romania’s universities or research institutes. Ten RELINK Fellows were selected each year through an open competition; in order to facilitate their reintegration in the local scholarly milieu and to improve their working conditions, a support lasting for three years was offered, consisting of: funds in order to acquire scholarly literature, an annual allowance enabling the recipients to make a one-month research trip to a foreign institute of their choice (in order to sustain existing scholarly contacts and forge new ones), and the use of a laptop computer and printer. Beside their individual research projects, the RELINK fellows of the last series were also involved in organizing outreach actives within their universities (for which they received a monthly stipend). NEC also published individual or group works of the RELINK Fellows.
The GE-NEC Program (2000 – to present)
Starting with the 2000-2001 academic year, the New Europe College administers a program that is financially supported by the Getty Foundation. Its aim is to strengthen research and education in the fields of visual culture, by inviting leading specialists from all over the world to give lectures and hold seminars for the benefit of Romanian under-graduate and graduate students, as well as young academics and researchers. The program includes 10-months fellowships for Romanian scholars, who undergo the same selection procedures as the NEC Fellows (see above). The GE-NEC Fellows are fully integrated in the life of the College, receive a monthly stipend, and are given the opportunity of spending one- month abroad for a research trip. At the end of the GE-NEC year, the Fellows submit papers representing the results of their research. The papers are published in the “GE-NEC Yearbook”.
NEC Regional Fellowships (2001 – to present)
As of October 2001, the New Europe College has introduced a regional dimension to its programs (that were hitherto dedicated solely to Romanian scholars) by offering fellowships for academics and researchers from South-Eastern Europe ( Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Croatia , Greece , The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova , Serbia and Montenegro , Slovenia , and Turkey ). This program aims at integrating into the international academic network scholars from a region, whose scientific resources are as yet insufficiently known, and to stimulate and strengthen the intellectual dialogue at regional level. With the prospect of the European integration, and in complementing the efforts of the European Union to implement the Stability Pact, the New Europe College invites academics and scholars from the Balkans to cooperate towards overcoming the tensions that have won this region an unfortunate fame over the last decade. The Regional Fellows receive a monthly stipend and are given the opportunity of a one-month research trip abroad. At the end of the grant period, the Fellows submit papers representing the results of their research, to be published in the “NEC Regional Program Yearbook”.
The NEC-LINK Program (2003 - to present)
Drawing on the experience of its NEC and RELINK Programs in connecting with the Romanian academic milieu, NEC initiates in 2003 a new program, that aims to directly contribute to the advancement of higher education in four major Romanian academic centers ( Bucharest , Cluj-Napoca , Iasi , and Timisoara ). Teams consisting of a visiting academic and one from the host university offer joint courses for the duration of one semester in the fields of the humanities and social sciences. A precondition for these courses is that they be new ones and that they meet the distinct needs of the host university. The grantees participating in the Program receive monthly stipends, a substantial support for ordering literature relevant to their courses, as well as funding for inviting guest lecturers from abroad and for organizing local scientific events.
The Britannia-NEC Fellowship (2004 – to present)
This fellowship (1 opening per academic year) has been initiated by a private anonymous donor from the U.K. The fellowship is identical to a NEC Fellowship in all respects. NEC contributes the one-month research trip abroad, all other costs being covered by the aforementioned donor.
The New Europe College hosts within the framework of its programs ongoing series of lectures (an average of 40 per academic year) given by prominent Romanian and foreign scholars foremost for the benefit of specialists and students in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, but also for a wider public. The College also organizes international and national events (seminars, workshops, colloquia, and symposia).
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Beside the above-described programs of the College, the New Europe Foundation expanded more recently its activities by administering a research institute and a major translation project:
The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Religious Studies towards the EU Integration (2001 - present)
As of 2001, the Austrian Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft funds – within the framework of the New Europe Foundation – a newly created institute, that focuses on the extremely sensitive issue of religion related problems in the Balkans (and beyond) from the viewpoint of the EU integration. Through its activities, the institute intends to foster the dialogue between distinctive religious cultures (Christianity, Islam, Judaism), as well as between confessions within the same religion, and aims at investigating the sources of antagonisms and to work towards a common ground of tolerance and cooperation. To this end, the institute hosts international scholarly events, sustains research projects, brings out publications, and strives to set up a topic relevant library in Romania , intended to facilitate informed and up-to-date approaches in this field.
The Septuagint Translation Project (2002 - present)
This project aims at achieving a scientifically solid translation of the Septuagint into Romanian by a group of very gifted, mostly young, Romanian scholars. The financial support is granted by the Romanian foundation Anonimul and amounts to 120,000 USD. The translation is scheduled to be ended in 2006, the first two volumes having already been published by the Polirom Publishing House of Iasi.
Financial Support
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
The State Secretariat for Education and Research of Switzerland
The Federal Ministry for Education and Research of Germany
The Federal Ministry for Education, Science, and Culture of Austria
Le Ministère Français des Affaires Etrangères – Ambassade de France en Roumanie
The Romanian State – indirect financial support through tax exemption for fellowships
Zuger Kulturstiftung Landis & Gyr – Zug , Switzerland
Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (DaimlerChrysler-Fonds, Marga und Kurt Möllgaard-Stiftung, Sal. Oppenheim-Stiftung and a member firm) – Essen , Germany
Volkswagen-Stiftung – Hanover , Germany
Stiftung Mercator GmbH – Essen , Germany
The Open Society Institute (through the Higher Education Support Program) – Budapest , Hungary
The Getty Foundation (Getty Grant Program) – Los Angeles , U.S.A.
The Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft – Vienna , Austria
Britannia-NEC Scholarship Founder – U.K.
Fundaţia Anonimul - Bucharest , Romania
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Founder and President of the New Europe Foundation, Rector of the New Europe College
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Andrei PLEŞU
Marina HASNAŞ, Executive Director
Dr. Anca OROVEANU, Scientific Director
Administrative Board
Dr. Cezar BÎRZEA, Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, Bucharest ; Professor, National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest , Romania
Heinz HERTACH, Zurich , Switzerland
Dr. Charles KLEIBER, State Secretary, Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs, State Secretariat for Education and Research, Berne , Switzerland
Dr. Joachim NETTELBECK, Secretary, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin , Germany
MinR Irene RÜDE, Director, Dept. for South-Eastern Europe , Federal Ministry for Education and Research, Bonn , Germany
Dr. Heinz-Rudi SPIEGEL, Program Manager, Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft and German Foundation Center (Deutsches Stiftungszentrum), Essen , Germany
Dr. Ilie ŞERBĂNESCU, Economist, Bucharest , Romania
Dr. Mihai-Răzvan UNGUREANU, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania ; Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Iasi , Romania
Hanna WIDRIG, Director, Zuger Kulturstiftung Landis & Gyr, Zug , Switzerland
Academic Advisory Board
Dr. Horst BREDEKAMP, Professor of Art History, Humboldt University , Berlin , Germany
Dr. Hinnerk BRUHNS, Director of Research, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris; Deputy Director of the Foundation “Maison des Sciences de l’Homme”, Paris, France
Dr. Iso CAMARTIN, President, Suisseculture, Zurich , Switzerland
Dr. Daniel DĂIANU, Professor, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest , Romania
Dr. Mircea DUMITRU, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest , Romania
Dr. Dieter GRIMM, Rector, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin ; Professor of Law, Humboldt University , Berlin , Germany
Dr. Gabriel LIICEANU, Professor of Philosophy, University of Bucharest ; Director of the Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest , Romania
Dr. Andrei PIPPIDI, Professor of History, University of Bucharest , Romania
Dr. István RÉV, Director of the Open Society Archives, Budapest , Hungary
