International Conference “Being a Student in the Habsburg Monarchy” (Zagreb, May 18-19, 2017)
In the Croatian Institute of History in Zagreb, a conference Being a Student in the Habsburg Monarchy was held on May 18 and 19, 2017. The conference has been organized by the project “From Proto-Modernisation to Modernisation of Croatia’s Schools System”, funded by the Croatian Science Foundation.
The Habsburg Monarchy was, together with Prussia, the birthplace of the modern, state controlled school system. In the second half of the 18th century, education became a political issue. Since then, numerous modernisation projects for education were written and discussed, and a specific legal framework was built in order to support the complex system of schooling. The state education also played a major role in integrating the Habsburg provinces, otherwise socially, economically or constitutionally very heterogeneous. These connections were especially reflected in a unique system of gymnasia throughout the Monarchy, or in the international importance of the University in Vienna that served as a centre for cultural and intellectual transfers among the students from the Habsburg lands. We decided to approach the school system through the perspective of the student, as the end user of the system, believing that such a reversal in perspective provides a better understanding of the actual scope of educational reforms in different political, economic or cultural environments of the Habsburg Monarchy.
We would like to thank all participants for interesting lectures and for the lively discussions. It has been two exceptionally enlightening and informative days which we will keep in good remembrance!
More information on the conference (programme, book of abstract) can be found here.
