Presentation of conclusions and the awarding of certificates marked the ending of the First Summer School of Tolerance, which gathered students from Italy, Germany, Syria, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Lithuania and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.

At the final workshop, the participants – Master’s and PhD students – presented their findings on tolerance and their opinions of the School. Among them was Francesca from Florence, who says that the School was very interesting because the students had the opportunity to hear arguments for tolerance in a country that knows what war looks like.

“I believe that this week I spent here at the Summer School will prove very important for my education and my life in the future. This location, Sarajevo and East Sarajevo, is the best place where one can talk about tolerance,” Francesca says.

Arianna, a young Italian woman, returned to Sarajevo after having spent a year a few years ago, as part of a scholarship program, studying Bosnian language and Islam in the city.

“This School was a very interesting experience for me, and I had an opportunity to listen to various opinions of people of different profiles who come from a number of different countries,” Arianna says, adding that each student should have a similar experience.

Petar Smontara from Zagreb, PhD student of Education at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb, finds that the program of the School was particularly rich, intensive and interdisciplinary.

“In that respect, you have demonstrated an admirable level of openness, cooperation and organizational capabilities and I thank you for that,” Petar said.

He added that the cooperation between the University of East Sarajevo, Bicocca University in Milan and the University of Sarajevo opens a new chapter in the building of uniqueness in difference, where the universities have proved and showed that they are open and ready for different and new relationships.

Professor Dr. Dejan Bokonjić thanked the co-organizers of the School, the Bicocca University in Milan and the University of Sarajevo, as well as other friends of the School and the media for keeping an eye on the work of the School.

Bokonjić thanked the students of the School in particular, saying that they are the ones that will spread the idea of tolerance and their findings from this School in the countries that they come from.

While awarding the certificates, Tatjana Sekulić of the Bicocca University in Milan invited students to tell others about the Summer School, which will next year take place in Milan during the EXPO 2015 event.

The First Summer School “Rethinking the Culture of Tolerance” was organized jointly by the Bicocca University in Milan, University of Sarajevo, and the University of East Sarajevo, which also hosted the School.

The official benefactor of the School was the Embassy of Italy to Bosnia and Herzegovina.