Strengthening the teaching and study of history to foster democratic engagement

“Education, where the skills and challenges faced by newer generations intersect, is the ideal setting in which to lay the foundations for the construction of a Europe 'based on the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law'”. With these words, Rector Giovanni Molari opened the third Forum of the Intergovernmental Programme on History Education, promoted by the Council of Europe alongside the University of Bologna.

Hosted in the University’s Giorgio Prodi Lecture Hall and entitled “Reinforcing historical awareness and culture through higher education: threats and challenges”, the event was dedicated to the threats and challenges in teaching history at higher education institutions - history, a subject that is often disputed or even left out in favour of other disciplines.

Representatives of the Steering Committee of Education (CDEDU), student and PhD organisations, higher education associations and institutions, historians specialising in training history teachers, professors and university governors discussed the role of higher education in history education and research, the identity, roles and responsibilities of historians, and the role of higher education in promoting a historical culture within society.

“Culture can help us to learn more about the past, locally, nationally and internationally; to further understand our identity and our affiliations; and to broaden our horizon so as to include different perspectives: in this way, we can better understand the relationships between different people, institutions and countries. - added Rector Molari in his opening address - Consequently, as emphasised by the Council of Europe's Forum on History Education, it is also through proper history teaching that we can contribute to citizenship education and thus foster democratic engagement”.

The Council of Europe's Forums for History Education are a platform for sharing perspectives and practices on history teaching and jointly developing guidelines to improve it. The Forums are a central element of the Intergovernmental Programme on History Education and are designed to promote dialogue and collaboration between different stakeholders and to share best practices and suggestions from different fields of history study at European level.