Looking to the Future, The Emergence of a European Network
By the 1960s, Europe was undergoing rapid social and economic change. Urbanisation, shifts in labour and pressure on education systems created a sense of uncertainty about the future. Under George Sluizer (pictured), Secretary General of the European Cultural Foundation from 1962 to 1972, the organisation chose to address this uncertainty directly.
Plan Europe 2000, launched in 1967, brought together around 200 researchers from 15 countries to examine education, work, urbanisation and the environment. The programme created a shared framework for understanding long-term change and translating that understanding into action proposals. As described in the programme brochure, “Europe has no idea where it is going, but it’s going there fast. Anxiety about the future, anxiety about the unknown, is the root of the present crisis in our society. But anxiety can be a creative force, provided we have the courage to analyse its causes lucidly and transform it into tangible proposals for action.”
This work extended to the creation of institutions such as the European Institute of Education in Paris and the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) in Bonn. These organisations connected research with policy and practice, building a network that could respond to Europe’s changing conditions, with figures such as Konrad von Moltke, Director of the IEEP, and Ladislav Čerych, Director of the European Institute of Education, playing key roles in shaping their direction.
Behind this network were people working across disciplines, countries and institutional boundaries to make sense of shared challenges. Researchers, educators and policymakers collaborated across languages and systems, often navigating differences in approach and context. This process of working together was as significant as the outcomes themselves, as it created a shared capacity to think, plan and respond collectively to Europe’s evolving realities.
Image: George Sluizer at a meeting in Toledo, 1968.