Critical thinking, questioning, holistic approaches, constructive handling of (inter-)cultural settings, creative and interdisciplinary action: the Erasmus+ project “Advancing the Value of Humanities” examines the conveyance, tangibility and qualities of these skills and strengthens their relevance for education, society and the economy by means of three teaching projects.
University graduates should develop into strong personalities, who are able to critically question, think holistically and recognize connections to pressing social, economic and political tasks in a committed, sustainable and considerate way.
The project is realised jointly by the Universities of Liechtenstein and Graz as well as the HafenCity University Hamburg and is financed by an initiative of the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.
Drawing: Robin Klengel. On behalf of Büchersegler, Mariahilferpl. 5, 8020 Graz
Three seminars,
three places,
three experiences.
“When you are usually in class, you know you have to learn this stuff so that you will pass the exam. And here it was more the case that you made your contribution ... and could make your own thoughts. It was much more open than any other class. And I think the participants also actively took part more and thought about it more, from my point of view.”
(a student, Vaduz).
"Our map is a statement against working with maps far removed from the places they depict and the notion that just by looking at the map you think you have understood the place. Our map doesn't work like this. It works by hanging it up at the very place we have mapped. This encourages viewers to perceive the space around it. While on the university campus it is rather difficult to think about other places, you have to go there and hang around a bit."
(students, Hamburg)
“I experienced what it is like to work on ideas without pressure or strict restrictions. Our research topic changed, as did our understanding of what ‘university’ and ‘learning’ mean. After a while, I got the feeling that we were working here out of interest and less driven by getting ECTS points.”
(a student, Graz)
Politics and society are experiencing profound upheavals. This lecture provides insights into the “Valhuman” project and locates the role of the humanities in times of social crisis.
What is happening when nothing seems to happen? Humanistic research has a potential for searching for what is overlooked or silenced, looking for the forgotten or ignored and exploring the hidden undercurrents of everyday life. What does this research terrain look like and what approaches could be developed further?
In addition to highly specialised knowledge, skills that belong to the knowledge base of the humanities, cultural and social sciences and are to be imparted from the perspective of these disciplines are decisive for successfully coping with upcoming, sometimes not yet known tasks in one's own subject area, and in complex, interdisciplinary fields. Desired competencies include:
The most important sponsors and guarantors of these socially and economically important skills are considered in university departments to be the humanities and cultural studies. In the present project, the qualities of these skills and how they are imparted are examined from a cultural studies perspective.
To this end, exploratory courses were held at all three locations and reciprocally evaluated. These case studies form the empirical basis for the material found on this website: the Toolbox and the Whitepaper.
