What is a campus?

Euro-Mediterranean campuses are multi-disciplinary, international study workshops aimed at serving a specific territory. They involve around fifteen students or young professionals from Europe and Mediterranean countries.

In the past, campuses were organised by the ‘Groupement Européen des Campus’ but are now under the responsibility of the APARE (on themes related to the protection and development of heritage sites) and by its partner association, the CME, “Centre Méditerranéen de l’Environnement” (on themes relating to the environment, biodiversity protection, eco-tourism, and natural hazard prevention).

Campuses began some twenty years ago with the aim of encouraging young volunteers to participate in local sustainable development initiatives. They were based around three simple ideas: learning skills, community service and intercultural adventure.
For further information, see the “Charte des Campus” which was put together in 1998 at the “Université des Campus du Patrimoine” in Veria (Greece).

The Campuses call on volunteers to contribute their expertise and experience. They are both workshops to prepare for professional life and field laboratories for the development of the local host territories.
With the support of specialists and professionals in the field, participants are confronted with a heritage or environment issue, to which they must propose solutions.

A few examples of the achievements of a campus:

• Survey of a territory or site;
• Tourism management plan for a natural site or a feature of tourist interest;
• Educational tools relating to natural hazards: exhibitions, role-playing games, simulations;
• Teaching materials for an eco-museum, a discovery trail;
• Walker’s topographical guide;
• Plans for the installation of an eco-museum;
• Communication tools:  Website, collection of filmed testimonies, exhibition.

Campuses are a unique cross-cultural, interdisciplinary exchange experience.

They target students and young professionals from Europe and the Mediterranean region, bridging numerous disciplines: architecture, art history, local development, environment, tourism, geography, communication, graphics, photography, social sciences, hydraulics, natural hazards, cultural mediation, landscaping, etc.

Campuses are on offer every summer between June and September.

 What do Euro-Mediterranean campuses offer?
 For participants:

• An introduction to a professional work situation with the expectation of a useful, objective result,
• An opportunity for learning to work in a multidisciplinary team,
• An original way of discovering a country and a culture.

For local participants:

• Engineering assistance, with the advantage of a fresh exterior vision,
• The possibility of starting, stimulating or re-launching a local project,
• The opportunity to communicate with the local population on a particular project,
• An open door to Europe and the Mediterranean.

The majority of campuses benefit from various forms of financial support from public funds (Europe, national governments, regional authorities, local authorities) or private foundations.