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GERMAN INSTITUTE CHOOSES YORK UNIVERSITY-U. DE MONTREAL TO PIONEER ITS CANADIAN CENTRE FOR GERMAN AND EUROPEAN STUDIES TORONTO, January 16, 1997-- Following an intense competition, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has chosen York University and L'Universite de Montreal (UdeM) to pioneer its Canadian Centre for German and European Studies. "We wanted to enhance interdisciplinary study of contemporary German and European issues at Canadian universities,"said Dr. Rolf Hoffmann, Director of DAAD's New York Office. "In the combined effort of UdeM and York, we found partner institutions willing and able to help us reach this goal. They offer a rich and stimulating academic environment, highest standing in teaching and research, a bilingual atmosphere and an established academic network in and between Canada and Europe to foster and disseminate this agenda," Hoffmann said. The primarily government-funded DAAD is an association of Germany's post-secondary institutions whose mission is to promote international academic exchanges through scholarships, research grants, visiting professorships, and support of conferences and curriculum development in Germany and abroad. DAAD made its decision in late 1996 after a bi-national group of expert scholars conducted site visits and studied all the candidates' proposals. The York/UdeM proposal included letters of support from Canadian, American and German universities as well as from the Minister of International Trade, the provincial government and the Goethe-Institut in Toronto. The University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia were also vying for the Centre. With this announcement, York and UdeM join the ranks of Harvard, Berkeley, and Georgetown, universities which house the three DAAD-administered German and European Studies centres in the United States. The Canadian Centre will play a key role in facilitating interaction with the U.K. Institute for German Studies at the University of Birmingham and the American centres. Key players are meeting at York over the next two days to discuss the implementation of the York/UdeM proposal. The group will continue negotiations next month in Montreal. The project has a combined $8 million commitment over ten years from the DAAD, the two operating institutions and third party support. The funding will be applied to academic appointments, student exchanges, summer institutes, conferences, scholarships, a documentation and resource centre, and outreach activities. The Centre's first students will start in the fall, 1997. "This announcement is a recognition of the interdisciplinary strength and innovation of York and Universite de Montreal. It is most appropriate that our two universities co-operate in the training of future scholars, researchers, diplomats and journalists in matters German and European," said York University President Dr. Susan Mann. "The Centre, which will draw upon scholars from across Canada and Germany, will become a national resource," said UdeM Dean of Arts and Science Dr. Mireille Mathieu. The events of 1989 and their ramifications necessitate a new definition of German Studies. The older generation of experts on Germany and Europe is rapidly nearing retirement. A new kind of scholarship and a new generation of Canadian scholars and experts is needed to study and to interact with the changed Europe after the end of the Cold War. The tensions and process of integration between East and West in Germany and Europe demand new forms of scholarly attention. And the globalization of economics and culture poses new questions to scholars and policy-makers in Europe and Canada. The Centre has three principal goals:
York and UdeM, both leaders in the field of interdisciplinary German Studies in Canada, are superbly and specifically suited to undertake this challenge, said Hoffmann. They have led the way in areas that matter much in contemporary Germany and Europe: ethnic, immigration and refugee studies; international and strategic studies; constitutional and public policy studies of issues in federal states, and cultural studies. The research and teaching Centre will involve scholars from the fields of political science, sociology, history, philosophy, art, drama and music history, German language and literature, economics, geography, women's studies, Jewish studies, environmental studies and law. It will offer graduate level specialist certification in German and European Studies and seminars for business leaders, journalists and others. Dr. Mann said it is becoming increasingly important for a significant segment of Canada's leaders to acquire a comprehensive, contemporary understanding of Germany. This need relates not only to the fact that Germany is one of the world's great economic and cultural centres, but also to the wider context in which Germany plays a leading role in European unification, she said. Dr. Mathieu said both UdeM and York understood the importance of co-operating, rather than competing, in times of tight public sector funding in both Canada and Germany. "The Centre will benefit from the co-operation already established in German studies between the UdeM and McGill University," she added.
For more information or interviews, please contact:
Sine MacKinnon
Office of the Dean of Arts and Science
Dr. Rolf Hoffmann
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