EUROGEO is a European scientific society, which networks geographers. It is an international non-governmental organisation. Since 1987 EUROGEO has been a participative member of the Conference of International NGOs of the Council of Europe. The association is involved in national and international activities and projects in geography including those related to education and training. It is a not profit organisation, which aims to develop, support and promote policies designed to advance the status of geography; establish and promote cross-border cooperation; promote education and training in geography from a European perspective and represent nationally and internationally the views of its members.
EUROGEO activities include organising events, producing publications, supporting geographers in their jobs and careers, the teaching of geographical sciences, identifying and promoting good practise, co-operating with the European Union, Council of Europe, European Commission and other relevant organisations; lobbying at global, European and where relevant national level, providing a forum for the discussion of matters of common interest to geographers, giving advice on geography and making recommendations to policy makers.
EUROGEO was first established in 1979 under the name of European Standing Conference of Geography Teachers Association (ESCGTA). In the beginning it was an association of associations. In 1994, when other European countries became members, the association took the name of its bulletin, EUROGEO: European Network of Geography Teachers´ Associations. The principal aims of that organisation were to advise and promote the European dimension in geographical education and teaching about the countries of Europe as a contribution towards the development of a European dimension in education. Members were geography teacher associations and geographical associations from around Europe. Presidents of these associations or their representatives attended the bi-annual meetings that were originally organised and funded by the European Commission in Brussels.
EUROGEO was led by a small committee of volunteers headed by Henk Meier representing the Dutch Geographical Association (KNAG). In between each of these conferences a EUROGEO bulletin was published.
Conference year | Place | Bulletin year | Issue | Topic |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Brussels (Belgium) | 1981 | 0 | Migration |
1982 | Brussels (Belgium) | 1983 | 1 | Tourism |
1984 | Paris (France) | 1985 | 2 | Regional Problems |
1986 | Brussels (Belgium) | 1987 | 3 | Industry |
1988 | Brussels (Belgium) | 1989 | 4 | Energy & Environment |
1990 | Brussels (Belgium) | 1991 | 5 | Agriculture |
1992 | Brussels (Belgium) | 1993 | 6 | Traffic & Transportation |
1994 | Brussels (Belgium) | 1995 | 7 | Demography & Migration |
1996 | Salzburg (Austria) | 1997 | 8 | Geographical aspects from different countries |
In 1987 EUROGEO applied for and was accepted as an international NGO with representation at the Council of Europe. Since this time representatives from the association have participated in NGO meetings in Strasbourg, being the voice of geography and geographers there. In 2003 the status of EUROGEO, along with other NGOs, was reviewed and the association became a fully participating NGO at the Council of Europe. [2]
In 1999 a successful application was made by EUROGEO for a European Minerva Project (Euro.Geo) to produce materials that promote European citizenship through the use of ICT in teaching geography in school education. The project was coordinated by Karl Donert at Liverpool Hope University.
At the Liverpool meeting of EUROGEO in 2001, members of the association decided to apply for a project to share news and information about the state and status of Geography in Europe. The project produced a Web site, interactive maps of Europe as well as teaching and training resources in different languages.
Henk Meijer decided to stand down and in 2002 and during the EUROGEO Annual meeting held in Madeira, Portugal at elections for new Presidium Karl Donert was elected President of the association.
In 2002, the proposal to establish a Socrates-Erasmus Thematic Network project on university Geography and the Bologna Process funded by the European Commission was successful. [3] This was the HERODOT Network for Geography in Higher Education. This thematic network was coordinated by Liverpool Hope University and led by Karl Donert. HERODOT sought to improve the quality of learning and teaching in higher education and teacher training and address issues raised by the Bologna Process like quality assurance, the use of new technologies and research in geographical education.
There were two phases of the project that ran from 2002 to 2005 and 2006–2009. A large number of publications were produced and many events were held around Europe dealing with issues relating to Geography in higher education and teacher training. Members of EUROGEO participated in the funded network. Under HERODOT, Geography became a subject assessed under the project Tuning Educational Structures in Europe. [4]
By 2009 HERODOT had connected more than 300 organizations throughout all European countries and 60 partners from other countries around the world. These partners joined HERODOT meetings and workshops to share their ideas, innovations and best practice online and face-to-face. The broad partnership of the network included universities and research centres, companies and NGOs as well as teacher training and other education bodies like Ministries of Education. Many of those who participated in the work of HERODOT are still actively collaborating in follow up activities, project and meetings.
The idea to establish a European Geography association that supported not only teachers and educators, but also geographers working in other professions came as a result of the discussions that took place at several Herodot meetings.
At the annual meeting of EUROGEO in Liverpool in September 2008, member associations unanimously agreed to change the legal status and remit of the association. This was presented to HERODOT partners, after which members of the EUROGEO Presidium and the HERODOT Core Group held a joint meeting to form a working group to restructure the association as a membership organisation.
After lengthy discussions both organisations held a joint meeting in Ayvalık, Turkey in June 2009, where the new EUROGEO association held its first elections and passed its revised statutes. Karl Donert was then elected president of EUROGEO. This was the final meeting of the HERODOT network. The new, restructured organisation now deals with educational, scientific, research and applied parts of Geography with a European perspective.
EUROGEO cooperates with many other international institutions and associations including the AAG, SEAGA and the International Geographical Union (IGU) and is a stakeholder organisation in the UNEP, EyeonEarth and "Geo for All" initiatives.
EUROGEO members are geographers and related professionals who work in the public, private, and academic sectors. They work in a wide range of careers, as teachers and trainers, state and local government employees, planners, cartographers, scientists, non-profit workers, entrepreneurs, business people, graduate students, retirees, and university administrators.
There are three categories of membership:
EUROGEO has published a large number of books, articles, magazines and conference proceedings and the society has developed the European Journal of Geography. The European Journal of Geography published its first issue in 2010 and since then has regularly produced issues and widely cited articles on geographical themes relevant to the activities of the association. In February 2014 the European Journal of Geography was accepted and indexed in Scopus.
EUROGEO is associated with the geography education journal, the Review of International Geographical Education Online, which developed as an initiative from HERODOT members.
EUROGEO regularly applies for new projects, currently under the Erasmus +, Jean Monnet, Citizenship and Horizon 2020 Programmes.
Since 2009, the number of innovative geographical projects EUROGEO has been involved in has increased. Four types of projects have been developed and supported i) networks, ii) multilateral projects iii) awareness raising and iv) support for associations.
EUROGEO has been responsible for the creation of networks of academics and educators on specific priority themes, such as the digitalearth.eu: geomedia in schools network (Lifelong Learning Programme), [5] where a number of Digital Earth Centres of Excellence were accredited, [6] and since 2013, the School on the Cloud network: connecting education to the Cloud for digital citizenship. [7]
EUROGEO has participated in a large number of multi-lateral education development projects. These have established training of teachers and educators in important geographical areas, such as GIS (the iGuess and iGuess 2 Projects), data and statistics in schools (the I-Use Project) and more recently powerful disciplinary knowledge (the GeoCapabilities project).
GeoCapabilities is a 3-year project with a key objective to create teacher training materials to develop teachers as curriculum leaders through a capabilities approach. The project embraces diversity in culture and language and in how geography is understood and expressed in national school standards. The project believes that a capabilities approach helps geography educators in all jurisdictions articulate the relevance and power of learning how to think geographically. The key output is "to develop and pilot an online professional development communications platform for teacher preparation in geography." This includes resources (teaching materials and communications tools), international collaboration and online teacher exchanges.
EUROGEO participates in the SeaChange Horizon 2020 Project, raising awareness of the importance of Ocean Literacy. The project aims to establish a fundamental "Sea Change" in the way European citizens view their relationship with the sea, by empowering them, as Ocean Literate citizens, to take direct and sustainable action towards a healthy ocean and seas, healthy communities and ultimately a healthy planet.
EUROGEO has been coordinating since 2016 the YouthMetre Forward Looking Project that addresses EU Youth Priority 7 "Using e-participation as an instrument to foster young people's empowerment and active participation in democratic life". The aim is to empower young people to become engaged and affect EU youth policy. An e-tool will be produced to close the gap between youth and institutions by collecting the perceived needs of youth in key policy areas and providing guidelines to public institutions that help address them. Through training YouthMetre will provide youngsters with necessary skills and knowledge to foster effective implementation by policy makers of the guidelines provided by the "Youthmetre".
In 2013 EUROGEO was awarded a Jean Monnet grant for pan-European associations.
Title | Years |
---|---|
iGuess – GIS in several subjects | 2008-2010 |
iGuess 2 – Integrating GIS in several subjects | 2012-2014 |
PIRI REIS: Network, Collaboration and Development for Geographers | 2011-2013 |
SPACIT: Education for Spatial Citizenship | 2011-2013 |
I-USE: I Use Statistics in Education | 2012-2014 |
Geo-capabilities: Teachers as curriculum leaders | 2013-2016 (Now Geocapabilities 3 until 2020) |
GeoSkills Plus | 2013-2015 |
GI Learner: Developing a learning line on GIScience in education | 2015-2018 |
SMILE (Soft Mobility In Learning English in Primary Schools) Erasmus Plus Project | 2015-2017 |
Sea change: Our Ocean, Our Health | 2015-2018 |
YouthMetre: A tool for forward looking youth participation | 2016-2017 |
L-Cloud – Leadership on the Cloud | 2018-2019 |
SEED (Smart Entrepreneurial Education and training in Digital farming Project) | 2018-2020 |
MY-GEO - Geo tools for Modernization and Youth employment | 2018-2021 |
The Association organizes events and activities for members, the most relevant of these is the annual conference and the Annual Meeting.
Year | Place | Host Institution | Topic |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Stockholm (Sweden) | Stockholm University | Geography for Society: Putting Bologna into Action |
2008 | Liverpool (United Kingdom) | Liverpool Hope University | Future Prospects in Geography |
2009 | Ayvalık (Turkey) | Balikesir University | Celebrating Geographical Diversity |
2010 | Prague (Czech Republic) | Charles University | Sustainable Geographies |
2011 | Athens (Greece) | Laboratory of Geography of the National Technical University of Athens | Geography: Your world – A European Perspective |
2012 | Dublin (Ireland) | St. Patrick's University College | Geography and Global Understanding: Connecting the Sciences |
2013 | Bruges (Belgium) | Ghent University | Geography: Linking Tradition and Future |
2014 | Valletta (Malta) | University of Malta | The power of Geography and the Role of Spatial Information |
2015 | Ankara (Turkey) | Turkish Association of Geographers & Gazi University | Communicating Geography: serving our world |
2016 | Málaga (Spain) | University of Málaga, Real Sociedad Geográfica de España & Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles | Geographic Information: for a better world |
2017 | Amsterdam (The Netherlands) | Key challenges for geographical education | |
2018 | Cologne (Germany) | University of Cologne | Geography for all 15 – 16 March 2018 |
2019 | Paris (France) | Teaching Geography in challenging times 14 – 16 March 2019 | |
2019 | Ljubljana (Slovenia) | University of Ljubljana | Hidden Geographies 29 – 31 August 2019 |
2020 | Madrid (Spain) | Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) | Sustainable Development Goals for All 23 – 24 April 2020 now moved to 22-23 April 2021, same place & same topic |
2022 | Mytilene (Greece) | University of AEGEAN | Re-Visioning Geography for Sustainability in the Post-COVID Era 5 – 6 May 2022 |
2023 | Kraków (Poland) | Faculty of Geography and Biology. Pedagogical University of Kraków | Future-Ready Geography 27 – 28 April 2023 |
2024 | Porto (Portugal) | Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto | Compromised Geography: Spreading a New World 30–31 May 2024 |
EUROGEO is managed by its Presidium, which consists of a President, Secretary General, and Treasurer and up to five Vice Presidents. The Presidium is responsible for the finances and administration of the association and in maintaining the web site of the association and other information sources. Co-opted members may be invited to join the Presidium for specific activities. The current Presidium: Rafael de Miguel González (President), Karl Donert (Past President and Vice-President), Luc Zwartjes (Treasurer and Vice-President), Maria Luisa de Lázaro Torres (Secretary General and Vice-President), Daniela Schmeinck, Aikaterini Klonari, Caroline Leininger-Frézal, Tijana Ilic, Gerry O’Reilly and Gert Rupert (Vice-Presidents) and Co-opted members: Kostis Koutsopoulos (European Journal of Geography), Harry Rogge, and Michaela Lindner-Fally.
The Erasmus Programme is a European Union (EU) student exchange programme established in 1987. Erasmus+, or Erasmus Plus, is the new programme combining all the EU's current schemes for education, training, youth and sport, which was started in January 2014.
The Geographical Association (GA) is an association in the United Kingdom. The organisation has a stated aim of improving geographical knowledge of the public through promoting geographical education.
The Erasmus Student Network (ESN) is a Europe-wide student organisation.
The European Geography Association (EGEA) is an association encouraging European students to engage with geography through hands-on learning experiences. EGEA provides exchange programs and excursions to facilitate connection between European students and others from across the globe.
The European Association of History Educators (EuroClio) was established in 1992 with the support of the Council of Europe. The NGO works as a European wide facilitator for innovation and progress in history Education. The organisation contributes not only to the development, but also on the actual implementation of regional, national and European long-term projects, which focus on establishing knowledge, experience and expertise in the countries by training and consulting teachers. EuroClio develops teaching materials, builds and maintains professional Networks and acts as advisor to governments, international organisations, NGOs, History Teacher Associations and other Organisations. EuroClio is supported by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union and has, for many years, Official Participatory Status and is part of the EU Stake Holder's Network in Education and Training.
The Agence universitaire de la Francophonie is a global network of French-speaking higher-education and research institutions. Founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1961, as the Association des Universités Partiellement ou Entièrement de Langue Française (AUPELF), the AUF is a multilateral institution supporting co-operation and solidarity among French-speaking universities and institutions. It operates in French-speaking and non-speaking countries of Africa, the Arab world, Southeast Asia, North and South America, Polynesia, the Caribbean, Central, Eastern and Western Europe. As of 2020, the AUF has 1,007 members distributed throughout francophone countries on six continents. It is active in 119 countries, and represented by regional offices and information centers on campuses and in institutes. The Association receives funding from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), and its headquarters are located at the Université de Montréal, Quebec.
The European Association for International Education (EAIE) is a European centre for expertise, networking and resources in the internationalisation of higher education. It is a non-profit, member-led organisation serving individuals actively involved in the internationalisation of their institutions through training, conferences, research and knowledge acquisition and sharing. The EAIE is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and has approximately 3000 members from over 80 different countries,the majority of which are located in Europe.
The European Society for Engineering Education an organisation for engineering education in Europe. Commonly known as SEFI, an acronym for its French name, Société Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs, it is also known in German as the Europäische Gesellschaft für Ingenieur-Ausbildung. SEFI was founded in Brussels in 1973 and has more than 300 members in 40 countries. It promotes information exchange about current developments in the field of engineering education, between teachers, researchers and students in the various European countries.
ELIA represents some 300.000 students in all art disciplines.
The National Council for Geographic Education (NCGE), chartered in 1915, is a non-profit scientific and educational society in the United States that supports geography education.
The European Music Council (EMC) is a regional group of the International Music Council (IMC) representing Europe. It was established in 1972 as the 'European regional group of the IMC' and was renamed the European Music Council in 1992. The IMC was founded by UNESCO in 1949, and is, today, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which still retains formal relations with UNESCO. Until 2000 the secretariat was based in Aarau, Switzerland, and is now in Bonn, Germany.
The European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN), originally named the European Distance Education Network, was established in 1991. EDEN is an international educational association open to institutions and individuals dealing with e-learning, open education, and distance education. EDEN is a not-for-profit organisation, registered as a limited company under English law.
The FIMCAP, which is short for Fédération Internationale des Mouvements Catholiques d'Action Paroissiale, is an umbrella organization for Catholic youth organizations. Its 31 member organizations are based in 28 countries. The FIMCAP was founded in 1962 and is recognised as an official Catholic organization by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. FIMCAP is also a full member of the European Youth Forum.
Global education is a mental development program that seeks to improve global human development based on the understanding of global dynamics, through the various sectors of human development delivery. In formal education, as a mode of human development delivery, it is integrated into formal educational programs, as an advanced program where global dimensions to local problems are appreciated through interconnectivity. Its first phase began as an undertaking to restructure education and society in the 1960s and 1970s, through the initiatives of educationalists, NGOs and intergovernmental organizations. The program evolves with the internet, and is in its virtual interconnectivity phase, through social media and other global public spheres. This global approach to mental development, seeks to fix the failing curriculum-based global education program that is: stuck in limited subject knowledge, based on theories that have failed the world ;hinged on memorization without visual exposure to knowledge development resources and global culture, limited by access to human development resources. Instead, the program seeks to improve the global mental resources pool through the appreciation of global dynamics and local perspectives on issues. This is through alternative motivations for global human development, and alternative global futures hinged on interconnectivity.
The European University Continuing Education Network, stylized eucen, is a multidisciplinary European association for University-based continued education. It was created in May 1991 and registered in Belgium as a non-governmental, non-profit organization.
The European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) is a European NGO whose purpose is to link and represent European organisations directly involved in adult learning. The main focus is to promote adult learning and access to and participation in non-formal adult education for all, particularly for groups currently under-represented. EAEA aims at influencing EU policies on non-formal adult education and lifelong learning and cooperates with the institutions of the European Union and with international organisations as the Council of Europe, the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) and UNESCO.
The Learning Teacher Network is a European non-profit, member-based education network and association, which performs as a European platform for professional debate in the vanguard of educational progress. The network works closely with UNESCO in Quality Education and the implementation of the Global Action Programme for Education for Sustainable Development (GAP/ESD).
The National Association for Women in Education was an American organization founded in 1916 by Kathryn Sisson Phillips to support female deans of women.
The International Association of Young Geographers (IAYG) is a nonprofit organisation in the field of geographic education. The IAYG serves professors, educators, and university students through programmes and initiatives aimed at young people, students, and early career researchers. In addition to geographic education, the organisation's areas of interest include civic education and youth, peace, and security.