The AHS Division was founded in 1994 on principles envisioned at Lesley University (Cambridge, MA) in the area of "expressive therapy."  The teaching methods adopted adhered closely to the American model pursued at Lesley and benefited from an ongoing collaboration in the field.  
In its manner of exploring the ways in which a strong engagement with the arts can serve individual and societal well being, and have a transformative function in socio-political and ecological contexts, it answers in an important way to the ambitions of the liberal arts training in the American academy.  The experiential component and the emphasis on "poietic" practice prompted its founder, Paolo Knill, to connect the Division's project to that of the famous Black Mountain College (North Carolina, USA).

 

EGS offers degree programs, as well as Professional development, for practicing professionals on a Graduate and Post-Graduate level. Its uniquely dynamic academic setting in its campus in Saas-Fee  high up in the Swiss Alps - allows a creative encounter with the foremost practitioners and thinkers in Expressive Arts (Therapy, Education, Coaching, Consulting, Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding) and in Philosophy, Art and Critical Thought (Architecture, Art, Contemporary Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Film, Literary Theory, Literature, Media Studies, Performance Art, Photography, and Video).

The European Graduate School Mission Statment

 

Student Statement of the European Graduate School (EGS)

“In keeping with its cross-disciplinary purpose and its effort to orient its intellectual ambitions
toward concrete worldly engagement, the EGS seeks to build a richly diverse and inclusive global
community of scholars.
Admission to our program is based upon standard academic criteria, but also professional or
personal achievement where appropriate.
We welcome individuals of all ages from a broad range of professional and academic
backgrounds.”

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