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Welcome to the website of ATHENA3!
ATHENA3, the Advanced Thematic Network of Women's Studies in Europe, has brought together more than 100 institutes (please consult section Partners for more information) in the interdisciplinary field of Women's and Gender Studies. The aim has been to unite scholars, teachers, and stakeholders from civil society and public institutions in the field of gender and diversity. The focus of ATHENA3 has been on education in the fields of humanities and social sciences with special attention to European cultures and European Citizenship.

I. ATHENA3 has thematically focused on "Gender, Culture and European Diversity" and "Women, Access and European Citizenship", consolidating expertise in three areas.

II. Curriculum Development and Research on Education: evaluation tools, descriptors of competencies for women's studies, collections of best practices for ICT in gender education, databases for teaching material.

III. Forging links between universities and civil society: databases and collections of material available in women's libraries that serve communities with information and LLL-projects.

During three years (2006-2009) of its activity, ATHENA3 has achieved and surpassed its targets.

Concrete outcomes:
Curriculum development: teaching modules at BA, MA and Doctoral level designed, tested, delivered and integrated in existing and new programmes offered by ATHENA3 Partners: Intensive Programmes, GEMMA, 'Intergender' and 'Gender Graduates'.

Publications: a book series 'Teaching with Gender' devoted to the teaching and learning of Gender Studies (7 volumes published - paper & online), several other books, articles in professional and scholarly journals, an ATHENA-CDrom with articles on the translation of 'gender' in European languages, and 2 volumes in the Series 'The Making of European Women's Studies' mapping the development of Gender Studies in Europe. (please consult section Publications)

Gender Studies Tuning Brochure (crucial tool for a quality assessment in Gender Studies Teaching Programmes): prepared according to the Tuning methodology (Tuning is an EC-sponsored programme for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) and assessment during the Validation Conference, 18 February 2010, Brussels. (please consult section Tuning)

Strengthened Cooperation between academic and social/civil organisation addressing gender, women and diversity achieved in projects, conferences, website and publications where academic scholars, equal opportunity specialists, librarians and documentalists from women's centres met and worked together. The cooperation is exemplified in the founding on September 30, 2009, of ATGENDER, a professional European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation. Over 200 individuals committed their support to this professional association that will bring lasting joint forum of experts in gender. (please consult section Professional Association)

For detailed information on the Working Groups' objectives, activities and results please go to section Working Groups.

In January 2010, the Final Report of ATHENA3 activities was submitted to the European Commission. The Report was accepted and assessed as well structured, comprehensive and transparent. Both the active involvement of partners and the professional management were highly praised. In the newsletter you will find more details and three answers to the question why this positive evaluation is so important.

On February 26, 2010, the ATHENA4- Transversal Impact Application has been submitted to the European Commission. The ATHENA4 - TI is meant to be both a continuation of ATHENA3 and its transposition to another level. The new project: ATHENA4 - Transversal Impact will be directed at broadening the impact of ATHENA3 work via cooperation with new partners in new fields while connecting with other continents, other LLL contexts, other disciplines and generations.

The Commission approval of the ATHENA3 Final Report means that ATHENA3 is officially over. The ATHENA3 website however will remain open and active. It will bring you information about dissemination of ATHENA3 results, the progress in the ATHENA4- Transversal Impact, and the activities of ATGENDER.

Additional Note:
ATHENA3 is the continuation of the activities and results of two-three years cycles of ATHENA (1997-2001) and ATHENA2 (2003-2006) and those undertaken during the dissemination year (2002-2003). The main achievement of these activities has been the growth of the European dimension and institutional development of the new scholarly field of women's studies. European women's studies have developed progressively through the first phase of initiating and mapping a European network of experts, teachers, institutions and activities, a successful dissemination year and a second cycle of expansion. The network has jointly developed modules, teaching materials and programmes, and conducted extensive research and published reports about didactic and educational aspects of the interdisciplinary field.
* The public pages of this website contains information about the activities and results of the ATHENA3 Erasmus Network for all who are interested in cutting edge expertise in gender studies in Europe. ATHENA3- partners may login to have access to organizational information. For any questions and suggestions for this website, please mail to athena.assistant@uu.nl
 
ATHENA Network has been awarded the Erasmus Prize PDF Print E-mail

PRESS RELEASE

ATHENA Advanced Thematic Network in European Women’s Studies receives prestigious ‘European Award for Lifelong Learning’


The European Commission awarded ATHENA, the Advanced Thematic Network in European Women's Studies coordinated by Utrecht University, the prestigious European Award for Lifelong Learning. Since 1997 ATHENA is supported by the European Commission. The European Awards were awarded during the Lifelong Learning Programme Conference in Barcelona on 19th of May 2010. Former coordinator, prof. Rosi Braidotti, and current coordinator, prof. Berteke Waaldijk were present on behalf of ATHENA. They proudly accepted the Erasmus Award. 

Success story

The European Awards for Lifelong Learning recognise the important role of innovative and creative projects and activities in modernising education and training systems in Europe. ATHENA was nominated for an award within the Erasmus programme, the Higher Education part of the European Lifelong Learning Programme. As part of the nomination, ATHENA will be included as an example of best practice in the European Commission's annual brochure on Erasmus success stories. The 2010 brochure will be entitled 'Success Stories in Social Inclusion'.

Erasmus Award

Each year five projects funded under the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission are nominated for the Erasmus Award. The Lifelong Learning Programme finances innovative educational projects in primary education & secondary education (Comenius), higher education (Erasmus), vocational training (Leonardo) and adult education (Gruntvig). In other parts of the Lifelong Learning Programme prizes were awarded.

ATHENA

The Advanced Thematic Network in European Women’s Studies has brought together 112 partners in the interdisciplinary field of Women's and Gender Studies in Europe. Scholars, teachers, and stakeholders from civil society and public institutions work together within ATHENA. Since it started in 1997, this relatively new field of women’s studies has been successful and has had a clear European dimension. Additionally, ATHENA has contributed to a large intake of foreign students to the UU Graduate Gender Programme (GGeP). ATHENA has jointly developed modules, teaching materials and programmes, and conducted extensive research and published reports about didactic and educational aspects of the interdisciplinary field of women’s studies. ATHENA initiated the foundation (in 2009) of the first professional European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation called ATGENDER.
ATHENA is coordinated by prof. Berteke Waaldijk (Academic Coordinator) and the EU Liaison Office of the Faculty of Humanities at Utrecht University.
European Commission press release ‘European awards for education projects in support of social inclusion’: Link 

 
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