Pan-European University - History

History

In 2003, a highly praised Slovak political and social figure, JUDr.Ján Čarnogurský, together with a well-known Russian scientist and community activist Vasily Lipiskiy, as well as a Russian entrepreneur Ing. Alexander Somov, have decided to establish an educational facility in Slovakia. A working group was established, which included a former ambassador of the Slovak Republic in Austria, professor Jozef Klimko, PhDr. Emil Pejko and other established academics and practitioners.

Already in 2004 the newly established Bratislavská vysoká škola – the first private Slovak university to provide a degree in law – accepted its first-year students. In 2005 the Faculty of Economics and Business was established.

The Faculty of Mass Media, the third academic division established in 2007, expanded the educational portfolio to the area of studies in mass media. The Faculty of Informatics (2009) was created. The Faculty of Psychology (2011) became the youngest faculty.

Since the year of 2010 the establishment is called Pan-European University. The name is associated with one of the ideologies that played a critical role in the formation of European identity. In 1923, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi (1894-1972) summarized his vision on European integration and described dramatic consequences of failing to unite Europe in his book called Pan-Europa.

Pan-European University does not propagate any political views, yet it is in fact Pan-European with close links to the Paneuropean Union. It brings academics to teach students from all over Western, Central and Eastern Europe. The Council is chaired by Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, who regularly visits Pan-European University to deliver speeches to its students and teachers.