Academic Migration, Elite Formation and Modernisation of Nation-States (second part of the 19th century – 1939)
International Conference organised by the research network « Academic migration within and to Europe » and Pasts Inc. Center for Historical Studies, Central European University (Budapest)

8-10 April 2005, Budapest

Joint or individual research carried out by the members of the research network « Academic migration within and towards Europe » (with a particular focus on the period from the mid-19th century to 1939) is concerned with (1) the role of the universities and institutions of higher learning as places of elites’ trans-national sociability and (2) of national, cultural and political identity formation, (3) access to knowledge and conditions and contexts of scientific transfer, (4) policies of scientific research compared on the international level and in relation with the foreign policies of various states, (5) women’s history and gender relations in an international academic context.

One of the main goals of this collaboration is the systematic analysis of the prosopographical data relative to academic migration. A documentary source base dealing with migrant students within and towards Europe is currently being drawn up, adapting the existing databanks and creating new ones. These materials will be put at the disposal of interested scholars and will benefit various research projects, well beyond the themes mentioned above.

Our network consists of scholars coming from the historical home and host countries of migrating students. Up until now, four conferences have been organised – in 2000 and 2001 at the History Institute of the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, in 2002 at Ecole normale supérieure (Paris) and in 2003 at the European Institute of Geneva University. These meetings gave us a chance to discuss common themes and the strategies of joint research, to present the first results of such research projects, and to set out the scientific frame of our network.

The aims of the Budapest Conference are to

1. Offer a systematic overview of the current state of research in the field of the history of academic migrations and highlight the achievements of and the gaps in national historiographies. These observations will allow us to develop new research projects to be led on a joint or parallel basis.
2. Discuss the problems emerging from the existing sources and suggest solutions by elaborating common instruments in terms of concepts and categories.
3. Propose concepts for the development as well as for common and convertible use of the prosopographical databases.
4. Strengthen the existing scientific contacts and attract new colleagues from the countries still absent from our network, in particular from Eastern and Southern Europe.

The Budapest conference will consist of several parts. On the first day, two key-note presentations (Victor Karady, Budapest, and Michael G. Müller, Halle) will deal with the relation between migrant students and the elite formation from the theoretical and methodological viewpoint. The two following days will be dedicated to the state of the research and the main problems encountered in the home (1) and host (2) countries perspective. An evening round-table (3) will discuss the new research projects to be undertaken in the frame of our network. A final session (4) will deal with the methodological questions relative to the use of the prosopographical databases.

We are seeking speakers who specialize in the history of academic emigration and immigration, both from the perspective of the home countries and host countries. Interested scholars are asked to submit an electronic version of their bio-bibliographical information and a paper proposal (750 words / 5’000 characters) written in English, French, German or Russian by e-mail (*.doc; *rtf) to the organisers

Hartmut Rüdiger Peter (peter@geschichte.uni-halle.de),

and/or

Natalia Tikhonov (e-mail address shown below),

by 1 December 2004

In order to operate a fair and coherent choice of the proposals, submitted abstracts should include a brief qualitative overview of the state of research in the field of academic migration in national historiographies, underline the connections between the conference themes and the research interests of the speakers as well as the originality and the relevance of their approach.

Papers, of about 25'000 characters, should be sent to the conference organisers no later than

1 March 2005

These papers must be written as a critical analysis of the state of the subject, of the bibliography and of the current orientations of the research; they should underline the particulars of the sources (archival documents, statistics, periodical press, collections of prosopographical data). Papers should also include a detailed bibliographical appendix. These contributions will appear as working papers on our network website two weeks prior to the conference.

Oral presentations (15 minutes) should be based on the submitted paper, but limited to the particularly relevant problems. A detailed discussion will follow each presentation (15 minutes).

A volume based on the reviewed and completed conference papers will be published. The selection of papers to be included in this collective volume will depend on their form and quality.

Organising committee :

Victor Karady (karadyv@ceu.hu)

Hartmut Rüdiger Peter (contact information provided above)

Natalia Tikhonov (contact information provided below)