About the project

Title: "A GLOBAL CAMPUS: UNIVERSITIES, CULTURAL TRANSFERS AND EXPERIENCIES IN THE 20TH CENTURY"

This project aims to analyze the social, cultural, political and diplomatic dimension of university life, taking the space and the notion of campus (real, symbolic, imagined or transferred) as the concrete setting for these developments.

We understand the university campus from a double dimension: as a continent and as a space full of content and meanings. Our approach to this dual object of study, the campuses and the experiences developed in them, combines points of view from different domains. As an interdisciplinary group, we will analyze architectural and urban issues; aesthetic and design-related dimensions; the presence and representation of academic spaces in films; the collaboration and expectations of philanthropists and investors in the development of university cities; the use of university spaces for interprofessional visits, scientific exchanges and the celebration of cultural events and academic diplomacy.

The main objective of this project is to offer a global portrait of the university campuses in all their dimensions and interrelation capacities in order to know about them those aspects that go far beyond the basic functions expected of the university: teaching and research.

Our project focuses on the forms, design, uses and living of the University campuses in spatial and chronological comparison and with a broad outlook. We research the impact and influences of campuses’ forms and styles in the activities and routines of people living and working in there. And we explore these influences in terms of experiences, uses and memories.

The members of our group of research (including research team and work team) comes from different institutions and backgrounds giving us the chance to compare and share investigations launched by diverse and reach groups. We have had at least three frames in which include and share our researches: the Complutense Research Group EXPEhistoria: ideas, knowledge and experiences, the Complutense Seminar on Universities’ History and CIAN-Journal of the History of the Universities. The team comes from these different universities and countries which serve here as partners:

• Spain: Complutense University of Madrid, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Autonomous University of Madrid, and Politechnique University of Madrid.
• Argentina: National University of San Martín, Buenos Aires University, and CONICET.
• Germany: BauHaus Universität Weimar adn Kassel Universität. 
• Austria: Vienna University
• Italy: European University Institute and University of Pavia.
• Portugal: University of Lisbon.

Our research lines includes:

• The international and diplomatic relationships stablished using the campus as stage (national plans, academic strategies and also residences and
  dorms for international students and programs of international visits and exchanges).
• Cultural activities, programs and scientific exchanges (cinephilia, university theater or grants).
• Philanthropy and patronage in the campuses.
• Students organizations located and implemented inside the campuses.
• Students riots and the campuses like stage for political protests.
• Experiences and memories of the campuses studied through letters, images and interviews.
• The campus as its own space, recreated and imagined, in academic exiled.

Project reference: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (PID2020-113106GB-I00)