European-American University™

The European-American University difference
As a private international university delivering highly progressive, cutting-edge educational programs, European-American University presents a determinedly different institutional viewpoint from traditional academic institutions. Most notably, where other universities are structured to meet the needs of government or the educational establishment first and foremost, European-American University's methodology is student-centered and individualistic, built on the values of a holistic and humanistic philosophy that honors the diversity and potential of the human race. Its founders drew on expertise from both the public and private sectors of education provision, as well as in international business, and developed a distinctively and refreshingly different philosophy of education as an individually-empowering process designed to empower future world citizens.

A contemporary foundation for EAU's philosophy can be found in the United States in 1964, with the beginning of alternative and innovative programs in the elementary and secondary departments at Harvard's School of Education and the Union for Research and Experimentation in Higher Education. These developments led to the University Without Walls project centred on California and to the creation of numerous non-traditional educational institutions, a few of which continue in existence today.

The Society for Humanistic Potential
The University was founded and is directed by the Society for Humanistic Potential (SHP), a religious society of the Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church whose philosophy honors lifelong learning as a key aspect of the holistic development of the individual. Persons of all creeds or none are admitted to the University's programs, which do not require adherence to particular beliefs. SHP is strongly influenced by the philosophical and spiritual work of Carl Jung and Carl R. Rogers, among others.

>>Click here to learn more about SHP

EAU as an international non-governmental organization
EAU is both a global university and an international non-governmental organization. Resolution 288(X) of ECOSOC, passed February 27, 1950, defines an NGO as "any international organization not founded by international treaty". This description applies to EAU, and there are several additional aspects that cause it to fit well into this category. Firstly, EAU is not geographically confined to one specific nation or region, and operates internationally and independent of state or government influence. Secondly, it has a clear mission of advocacy for the non-traditional educational philosophy that it represents, and, through the work of CER in particular (see below), seeks to raise awareness, knowledge and acceptance of the self-regulating private university sector.

EAU and sustainability
A major advantage to EAU's diversified, internet-based mode of operation is its benefits in terms of sustainability and the environment. Educational  institutions that are tied to a campus and substantial offices cannot help but exert a heavy toll on the planet, even when at their most efficient. By contrast, EAU has minimal environmental impact.

History and structure
The European-American University project itself first took shape in 2003, and in subsequent years incorporated several small and now-defunct correspondence institutions. The ensuing years saw the EAU project undergo a considerable process of development and change, culminating in the adoption of the EAU name itself in early 2007 and the formal launch of the new online presence for EAU later that year.
 
European-American University is global in its outlook, utilizing the best of both American and European academic practice (and particularly influenced by the traditions of the British academic system), with a strong commitment to sustainability through technology, to curriculum experimentation and to academic freedom. As a global distance learning institution operating primarily through the technology of the internet, the University's campus is wherever its students may be found worldwide. According to a publication of the American Council on Education, Washington D.C.,

"A few institutions operate without a campus and have many sites similar to off-campus programs; these institutions may consider themselves to be campus-free or a generic university without walls.”

The outlook of many traditional universities reflects an inability to meet market demand outside the school-leaver sector, and the concept that university education is a marketplace of competing institutions (as with any other service industry) has been slow to gain ground within the mainstream. In this atmosphere, small private institutions embracing learning styles such as distance education have flourished because of their greater flexibility, progressiveness and individual focus. The opportunity offered by European-American University is that of putting yourself in the driving seat of your degree program with the University as facilitator and validator rather than a bureaucratic and impeding authority. It is a chance to be part of the next generation of learners, moving beyond artificially-imposed boundaries to a point where learning is recognised wherever and whenever it has taken place. It is above all a chance to revitalize the concept of university education to meet the challenges facing our global society in the coming years.

>>View all offered programs
>>Official EAU blog

Research Centers and Divisions of EAU

Amos Bronson Alcott Center for Educational Research (CER)

The CER publishes articles on relevant matters and conducts consultancy for individuals and organizations in its areas of interest. It has its own page here.

Arnold Harris Mathew Center for the Study of the Independent Sacramental Movement (CSISM)
The University's Arnold Harris Mathew Center for the Study of the Independent Sacramental Movement (CSISM) is the first university center anywhere in the world to be devoted to the study of the independent sacramental movement originating within Catholicism and widely prevalent today. It disseminates rare archive material online, principally photographs and documents, and conducts research into the historic and contemporary independent sacramental movement.

The Independent Sacramental Movement (ISM) embraces many Christian communities, most relatively small, which stand in the Apostolic Succession from the Papacy and/or the Orthodox Churches and have, in the main, developed during the period from the mid-nineteenth-century onwards. These communities range in outlook from arch-conservative to highly liberal and embrace almost all possible shades of Christian belief and practice. Their study is important both in order to establish a historical record for its own sake, and also because the more experimental and evolving of these communities point the way to new means of becoming church, and of fulfilling ministry in the modern world.

Visit the CSISM here.

Libertarian Library Online Project (LLOP)
The University's ongoing Libertarian Library Online Project (LLOP) aims to collect together online resources exploring different aspects of libertarian philosophy in a convenient single-source location, providing a virtual library of libertarianism. As well as providing access to complete texts of such key writers as Henry David Thoreau, Ludwig von Mises and Adam Smith via online libraries, it includes links to libertarian organizations, political parties and to thousands of shorter articles and papers. All resources are free at the point of delivery and fully digitized for easy searching and printing.

Visit LLOP here.

Romantic Discoveries Recordings
Romantic Discoveries Recordings operates as a research center in association with EAU. Since its inception, RDR has researched unknown piano music of the nineteenth-century and brought it to the public by means of a series of première CD recordings that now encompass over one hundred works. Using resources in major reference libraries, musical archives, and obtained via antiquarian dealers and fellow collectors, RDR has been featured in the press in Europe and the U.S. In 2006, RDR issued the first ever recording of several unfinished piano sonatas by Beethoven in performances prepared from facsimiles of his manuscripts, and other releases have included the piano music of Kirchner, Rosenfeld, Sydney Smith, Leybach, Alkan and von Beliczay. The pianist on the recordings and director of the project is John Kersey, who is President of EAU.

Visit RDR here.

The Henselt Library
The University houses the Henselt Library, which is a digital repository of over 2,000 extremely rare scores of nineteenth-century piano music, many of which are unavailable elsewhere. The collection provides illumination of a crucial but still under-researched period of piano music, including many now-obscure composers who were considered important in their time and whose work provides invaluable context for understanding the period and its legacy. All items in the Library's collections are free to download and supplied in common file formats.

Visit the Henselt Library here.

European-American University Press
The University Press is an imprint for research and informed opinion on the chief areas of the University's interest, notably libertarianism, independent, non-traditional and spiritual education, nineteenth-century music and the independent sacramental movement. It publishes books, e-books and printed copies of published articles, using the latest print-on-demand technology. Current titles available in hardcover include works on church and educational history, as well as new editions of key texts in Theosophy.

Visit the University Press here.

Corporate Services Division
The University's Corporate Services Division applies the strengths and expertise of its adjunct faculty and institutional profile to a wide variety of business settings. The available services include high-level consultancy, executive training and development and graduate recruitment.

Visit the Corporate Services Division here.

European-American College
European-American College is the UK subsidiary of the Society for Humanistic Potential educational outreach. It offers certificate and diploma courses for professionals via the formal assessment of prior learning (portfolio + project). EAC does not confer or teach for degrees.

Visit European-American College here.

More about EAU

>>A message from the President
>>Faculty
>>Accreditation
>>Institutions now absorbed into European-American University

Understanding how the University works

>>Who is the University for?
>>An introduction to the University's philosophy
>>The business approach to education
>>An independent viewpoint