University of Augsburg (Germany)

The University of Augsburg was founded in 1970. It is one of the new, modern universities in Bavaria, and with approximately 19,000 students it is still of a manageable size. It attracts students from far beyond its immediate catchment area, and at 14% its share of foreign students is larger than at comparable universities.

The University of Augsburg maintains particularly close partnerships with the Universities of Pittsburgh (USA), Osijek (Croatia), Iasi (Romania), Chabarowsk (Russia) and Johannesburg (South Africa). It has cooperation agreements with over forty universities in Europe, Asia, South Africa, North America and Latin America. The number of ERASMUS exchange programmes also continues to grow. There are currently exchange programmes with more than 150 universities throughout Europe. The University of Augsburg offers a wide range of academic programmes in arts, humanities, natural sciences, business and law.

In its research, the University of Augsburg connects local with global perspectives in a network of academic discourses centered on five focus areas: Transnational Studies, Health Sciences, Resource Management, Materials Science and Applied Computer Science. In addition, top-level research is being done in all disciplines represented at the university.

In the German academic context the discipline of “History Didactics” is a fully acknowledged science that investigates the field of historical culture and historical identity in present societies. Therefore the Chair of History Didactics (about 1000 students and 10 staff members) is involved not only in teacher education but rather in various B.A. and M.A. courses in the field of historical culture. The main research topics of the chair of history didactics are

• visual literacy in dealing with culture of history
• global perspectives on national and European History
• comparing popular (non-academic) history magazines in Europe
• teaching and learning history and mediating culture in historical museums and exhibitions.

The chair of history didactics also coordinates and participates in various international and (interdisciplinary) projects:

Coordination of EU projects

• since 2012 EMEE EuroVision. Museums Exhibiting Europe (EU-Culture; 2012-2016)
• since 2012 European popular history magazines – EHISTO: European history crossroads as pathways to intercultural and media education (LLP-Comenius; 2012-2014)

Partnerships in EU projects

• 2007-2009 Europe 14-18. Regards croisés sur la première guerre mondiale / Crossing views on the first World War (coordinator: Institut de Formation Pédagogique IFP, Lille, France)
• 2009-2011 MIH Multicultural Interdisciplinary Handbook: Tools for learning history and geography in a multicultural perspective (coordinator: Universidad de Salamanca, Madrid, Spain)
• 2010-2013 CHE Assessment, tutorial structures and initial teacher education of trainee students in the subjects “Political/Civic Education”, “Social/Cultural Studies”, and “History” in Europe – A comparative study (coordinator: University of Vienna, Austria)
• since 2013 IERS Intercultural education through Religious Studies (coordinator: Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italia)
• since 2013 CoDec Colonisation and Decolonisation in National History Cultures and Memory Politics in European Perspectives (coordinator: University of Siegen, Germany)

Contact

University of Augsburg
Department for History Didactics
Prof. Dr. Susanne Popp
Universitätsstraße 10
86159 Augsburg
Germany

Phone: +49(0)821 598 – 5556
Fax: +49(0)821 598 – 14 5556
Website: https://www.philhist.uni-augsburg.de/lehrstuehle/geschichte/didaktik