MISSION STATEMENT

One of the leaders in creating EHU was the Orthodox Church of Belarus, which aspires to end the domination of official atheistic ideology in education and to develop traditions of Christian humanism as one of the fundamental principles of European culture. Some non-state establishments, private enterprises and famous scholars concerned about the crisis in the traditional system of education, also united to create a new independent model of higher education, open to modern developments in pedagogical thought and culture.

In the field of natural and technical sciences, the Republic of Belarus was a recognized leader in the training of specialists for the entire Soviet Union and many other countries. In the field of the social sciences and humanities, art, economics, and law, however, the situation was and still remains different. In the period of transition from the communist past to a future founded on the values of an open society, our country needs to assimilate the experience of Western civilization in these fields. The creation of the European Humanities University is a response to the challenges of this transitional period, which revealed the crisis of education and cultural values in the country, dramatically poised between the totalitarian past and the democratic future.

The University's founders were the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Culture and Press, the Academy of Sciences, the Minsk city executive committee, the Belarus Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, private companies such as the production and commerce firm ' Resta' , and others including prominent scholars, who were decisive and courageous enough to suggest a new perspective for the development of education and culture. The activity of the university was supported by government establishments and embassies from a number of European countries and from the US, and by various international Foundations, such as the Soros Foundation, the Sabre Foundation, and the Eurasia Foundation. The United States Information Agency, the German Librarian Institute and many other foreign organizations rendered financial support to the university. Professor Anatoly Mikhailov, a famous specialist in philosophy and culture of Germany, the author of acknowledged essays on the history of hermeneutics and the works of Martin Heidegger, was elected the first Rector of the university. He has had extensive experience at the UN and has directed the Department of the History of Philosophy at one of the largest state universities. A. Mikhailov is one of the 67 leading scholars in Belarus elected as life members of the Academy of Sciences of Belarus.

The main goal of the university is the formation of a system of education with standards comparable to the best European and American traditions, which at the same time develops the best native traditions in the humanities and social sciences, theology, art, economics, and law. The university seeks to produce mediators, capable of relating basic values of contemporary Western culture and civilization to the current situation in the former USSR, connecting two realities -- post-Soviet and contemporary Western. In this distinctive context a number of international projects work to unite the intellectual strengths of professors and scholars from Belarus, Western Europe, USA, and Russia.

The European Humanities University has created the first and only Belarusian program of American studies, uniting American educators and a few Americanists from different educational institutions in Belarus into a united team. This team is leading students in a serious study of American English, culture, politics, and economics.

In cooperation with France, a joint Franco-Belarusian department for Political and Administrative sciences was founded. The educational process of the department follows the program of French institutes of political science and is the largest French educational project in Eastern Europe.

The joint French-Belarusian program "Tourism and Heritage", including both research and professional training in the management of cultural resources, is conducted by the Art Department with the support of the Ministry of Tourism of France and the French Association of Tourism.

A tradition of cooperation with Russia was reflected in joint projects with the Russian State Humanities University, the Russian Academy of Sciences and other organizations. Famous Russian scholars give lectures in many fields of the humanities at the European Humanities University. Arts students practice at the Pushkin State Museum of Arts and other largest museums and cultural centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Within the framework of the TEMPUS program an active cooperation in the sphere of law with universities in France and Spain was begun. Increasingly, scholars and professors from Great Britain, Poland, Israel, and other countries are participating too.

All this has allowed the creation of a truly international university in which Belarusian scholars and cultural workers, together with their foreign colleagues, conduct educational, scholarly, and cultural programs.

New and creative pedagogical methods are being adopted at EHU. Qualitatively new courses of lectures, connected with modern conceptions of culture and society, differ absolutely from the routine traditions of many state universities. The new university offers degrees in the humanities, social sciences, and theology, disciplines perverted or neglected by the Soviet regime. For its founders, professors and administrative staff, working to built the university is a labor of love and of commitment to a better future for Belarus.