The Socrates Project: An “Open Classroom” Experience in Berlin

The vision of The Socrates Project, a collaborative education program of Bard College Berlin (BCB) and the Central European University (CEU) in Vienna and Budapest, was offering “Open Courses for Open Minds”. These were free university-level courses in the humanities and social sciences open to adults in the wider community of Berlin. People who lacked educational opportunities in the past were also explicitly welcomed to join, the central requirement for participation was the motivation to learn and to exchange ideas with others.

Starting in fall 2022, evening courses were taught in English and German, and in spring 2022 also in Turkish and Arabic. Participants met weekly, over the course of three months. All courses were discussion-based and tackled the big questions of life and society in a friendly atmosphere yet with academic rigor. By engaging in conversations on a variety of interconnected topics, anyone who found themselves in a Socrates classroom (the “Open Classroom”) was prompted to keep educating themselves and to deepen their involvement in the cultural and civic lives of their communities. 

Similar to the host institution Bard College Berlin, A Liberal Arts University, Socrates courses were all about interdisciplinary learning. We explored topics in academic disciplines such as history, literature, philosophy, art history, sociology, anthropology, political thought, and academic writing. The small discussion groups led by instructors from Bard College Berlin and other institutions of higher education, such as Freie Universität. The theme that connected the courses across the various languages and disciplines was ‘Freedom and Society’.