CENTRE'S HISTORY

Europe has for a long time been a major player in the socio-economic realm of the world. It was and is an important economic, political, geographic and military entity and has become even more so since the formation of the European Commission (EC), its constant expansions and, more recently, the successful creation of European Monetary Union. To many North Americans Europe represents the ancestral homeland and, as such, conjures up many emotional and intellectual questions. It is imperative that Canadian academics, be they professors or students, improve our understanding of European affairs and, secondly, to be able to relate meaningfully to European perspectives and its evolution.

Over time there has been a substantial interest about European issues among faculty and students at Laurier. A large number of courses in different departments focus on European issues and a number of faculty have major research interests in Europe. Laurier has over 20 co-operative partnerships with European universities and many students study for a semester or two in Europe. For these reasons alone it was thought to be important for this University to have a multi-disciplinary research Centre on Europe.

The initial idea for such a centre occurred in 1992 when a number of WLU professors formed an informal research interest group on Europe. This group kept working together with a similar interest group at the Philipps University in Marburg, Germany, a partner institution of WLU since 1983. The group has held a number of symposia over time, hosting guest lectures, and publishing a discussion paper series on Europe. This series was first published as hard copies and later as papers on the Internet. With the introduction of a University Strategic Research Plan, a Centre focused on European issues was eventually created and will contribute to and support, the goals of the university plan.