The third day of the Summer School on Tolerance was held at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Sarajevo. The Summer School is organized between September 15 and 21 by the Bicocca University in Milan, University of Sarajevo and the University of East Sarajevo.

The day began with a lecture by Professor Gorazd Andrejč of the Woolf Institute in Cambridge. He talked from his personal perspective about theological and philosophical perspectives of England and Western Europe, and together with the students tried to assess whether the experiences of these countries would be applicable in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially when it comes to interfaith relationships in a multiethnic society.

Professor Andrejč pointed out that the School aims to initiate serious thinking about what tolerance means and what are the new challenges in the use of the term in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the world.

“I really like the fact that people can think about it from very different perspectives. I am not one of those people who would say that the concept of tolerance is a concept of the past. It is very important to think about the ways in which it can be applied in today’s society,” Professor Andrejč emphasized.

He saluted the fact that the Universities of East Sarajevo and Sarajevo, with the support of the Bicocca University in Milan, have organized a School that has gathered highly regarded lecturers from all of Europe.

Institutional preconditions of tolerance in multiethnic societies on the example of the countries of the Western Balkans were presented by Docent Dr. Goran Marković of the Faculty of Law at the University of East Sarajevo. From a legal standpoint, he explained to students how it is possible to secure tolerance in multiethnic societies with an emphasis on the countries of the Western Balkans, where there are big ethnic conflicts and tensions to a greater or lesser degree.

“I tried to analyze the constitutional and legal solutions in order to show some of the ways in which legal acts and the legal system can help achieve a greater degree of tolerance in multiethnic societies. I emphasized the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the students seemed to be particularly interested in that, and it is very interesting that I did not even manage to talk about a part of what I was planning to talk about because the students were very interested in asking questions and stating their own opinions on the matter,” Professor Marković said after the lecture.

His expectations from the Summer School are closer ties between the Universities, advancement of international cooperation with higher education institutions in Europe, and closer connections between the students from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the region and the EU.

The conflict in Ukraine and the desire to help her country restore peace inspired Ielyzaveta Stefanova, PhD studen in Institute of Sorbian Studies in Leipzig (Germany), to take part in the Summer School.

“I wanted to see on the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina how the peace and tolerance were achieved. I will try to apply the experiences from this School in Ukraine and possibly help my country,” Stefanova says.

Jacopo Buongiorno, Master’s student of Law at the Bicocca University in Milan, believes that there is no better example on which to study tolerance than that of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“In this unique city you can see what multiculturalism means and what war can do,” young Jacopo says, adding that he has earned great experience at the Summer School and met young people from all over Europe.

The third day of the Summer School concluded with a guided tour of Sarajevo.

The next day, the fourth of this Summer School, will take place at the University of East Sarajevo Rectorate building. The lecturers will be Docent Dr. Darko Đogo of the University of East Sarajevo, Professor Dr. Ugo Vlaisavljević and Professor Dr. Jasna Bakšić-Muftić of the University of Sarajevo.

The School will conclude on Saturday, September 21, at 12:00 with a closing discussion and the awarding of the certificates.

The official benefactor of the Summer School is the Embassy of the Republic of Italy to Bosnia and Herzegovina.