2024 marks the fifth edition of the summer school of the European Federation of Catholic Universities.

Over a hundred bachelor students from 30 member universities will then have participated in this international exchange, reflecting with their peers from Lebanon, the EU and wider Europe, on the cultural, religious and philosophical foundations of the European project as a basis to rethink its future.

The idea for this project was born from the concern that students’ sense of belonging to Europe is more than diffuse. Euroscepticism and amnesia of the history of European integration and the values that forge European identity requires us to clarify what makes the specificity of the European spirit.

To re-boost Europhilia as an antidote against widespread Europhobia, Europeans have to reconsider anew those structural ingredients and conquests that have been the driving pillars of European life, one such pillar being humanism.

The core focus is on identifying the ‘roots and routes’ of the European project and investigating how to valorize them in the contemporary globalized context. This involves a questioning of historical contexts, cultural canon, scientific approach, institution building and citizenship from a wider comparative and international perspective.