The Grand Duchy on the Grand Tour: a historical study of student migration in Luxembourg

Abstract

Since Luxembourg became independent in 1839, practically the entire political, economic and intellectual elite of the country has been socialised abroad. It was only in 2003 that the Grand Duchy set up its own university; before then, young Luxembourgers had to study in foreign countries. Over the past 150 years, Luxembourg has thus experienced exceptionally lively student migration. This migration is almost unique in Europe; however, academic research has paid little attention to the consequences of the migration experience of whole student generations on Luxembourgish society. The data presented in this paper demonstrate that migration has opened up chances for participation and access to positions of social power, while at the same time the networks of students became an instrument of social exclusion. Thus, the migration experience over the past 150 years not only led to a strong degree of social–cultural cohesion within the national elite; paradoxically, international student mobility has also had deep effects on the preservation of national identity.

Keywords:

• student migration
• higher education
• elite
• student networks
• student mobility
• social exclusion
• national identity
• history
• Luxembourg

Notes

¹Almost all other small European states can point back to longer university traditions: the roots of the University of Malta go back to the Middle Ages; Iceland’s Háskóli Íslands was founded in 1911 and is not the only university on the island; Andorra has had a national university since 1997 and San Marino since 1985; and the International University in Monaco opened its gates in 1986. Only the University of Liechtenstein is younger than the University of Luxembourg; however, a polytechnic institute has been in existence in the Principality of Liechtenstein since 1961.

²Stephanie Irrgang, Peregrinatio academica: Wanderungen und Karrieren von Gelehrten der Universitäten Rostock, Greifswald, Trier und Mainz im 15. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2002); Pär Eliasson, “Peregrinatio Academica: The Study Tours And University Visits Of Swedish Students Until The Year 1800,” Science Studies 5, no. 2 (1992): 29–42; Jacques Verger, “La Mobilité Etudiante au Moyen Age,” Histoire de l’Education 50 (1991): 65–90; William Courtenay, “Study Abroad: German Students at Bologna, Paris and Oxford in the Fourteenth Century,” in Universities and Schooling in Medieval Society ed. W. Courtenay and J. Miethke (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 7–31.

³Ulrich Teichler, “Europäisierung, Internationalisierung, Globalisierung – quo vadis, Hochschule,” Die Hochschule no. 1 (2003): 19–30.

⁴See for example Anne Rohstock, “Boom oder Krise? Hochschulpolitik in Frankreich und Westdeutschland vor den Herausforderungen der 1960er Jahre.” (forthcoming, 2012)

⁵See Guy Berg, “Mir wëlle bleiwe, wat mir sin”: soziolinguistische und sprachtypologische Betrachtungen zur luxemburgischen Mehrsprachigkeit. (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1993).

⁶Only two articles have dealt in any way with the history of Luxembourg’s students: Henri Koch-Kent, Vu et entendu, vol. 1 und 2. (Luxembourg: Impr. Hermann, 1983–86); André Grosbusch, Les associations estudiantines luxembourgeoises. Histoire de l‘AV et de l‘ASSOSS des origines à la deuxième guerre mondiale. (Luxembourg: Mémoire scientifique (ined.),1985).

⁷Pit Péporté et al., Inventing Luxembourg. Representations of the Past, Space and Language from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century (Leiden/ Boston: Brill, 2010).

⁸Research project Studenten aus Russland an deutschen Hochschulen vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg, http://www2.geschichte.uni-halle.de/russ-stud/forschungsprojekt_halle/projekt.htm

⁹Péporté et al., Inventing Luxembourg; Thomas Lenz and Anne Rohstock, “The Making of the Luxembourger. Histories of Schooling and National Identity in the Grand Duchy,” Encounters on Education, 12, 2011: 61–76.

¹⁰See Catherina Schreiber, Source Criticism Revised: Internet Sources as a Primer for a Modified Source Theory in History (in preparation).

¹¹Archives Nationales Luxembourg (ANLux) IP 357 and IP 358: Universités étrangères: équivalences, logements, admissions, IP 359: Universités étrangères: documentation, correspondance. Statutory agreements were all printed in the Bulletin des l’enseignement supérieur et moyen, cf. approximately no. 7 (1909/10), 10; no. 8 (1911), 18.

¹²For Aachen see Daniel Erpelding, Rull de Waak, 100 Joër AVL, Festschrift. http://www.aachen.lu/index.php/avlhistory/aufsatz/rull_de_waak/; for Lovania see Archives of the Amicale des Anciens de Louvain, Luxembourg: http://www.louvain.lu/archives/archives.htm; for the Walloons see Erpelding, Rull de Waak.

¹³Erpelding, Rull de Waak.

¹⁴André Grosbusch, E Bléck op 100 Joer AV-ALUC, in Livre du Centenaire AV-ALUC, ed. ALUC (Luxembourg: Saint-Paul, 2010), 18–28, in addition to Eckdaten in der hundertjährigen Geschichte des AV-ALUC, ibid., 49–52.

¹⁵cf. Eckdaten in der hundertjährigen Geschichte, 49–51.

¹⁶The founding data has been taken from the associations’ homepages: http://lsse.ls.ohost.de/50-Links/ (Sweden); http://www.slsb.lu/ (Great Britain). The founding data for North America has been taken from Guide du futur étudiant 2010, ed. ACEL (Luxembourg: ACEL, 2010).

¹⁷ACEL membership list, online at: http://www.acel.lu/index.php?&article=membre.all&espace=3&menu=101

¹⁸Announcement regarding the completion of study bourses at the University of Louven. (No. 2537 620 of 1847 1. Abthl.), Luxembourg, 27 February 1847, in Mémorial. Journal Officiel du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Series A No. 21 (1847), 193. Avis. Bourses d’études, Mémorial. Journal Officiel du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Series A No. 40 (1899), 481. These study exchanges could be linked to a specific university or, as in most cases of study bourses from Luxembourgish foundations, limited to studies at a Catholic University: see Avis. Bourses d’études. Mémorial. Journal Officiel du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Series A No.78 (1921), 1305, Avis. Bourses d’études, Mémorial Journal Officiel du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Series A No. 60 (1894), 731.

¹⁹The majority of Luxembourger students studied in Trier, Brussels, Paris, Strasbourg, Cologne, Aachen and Liège. See ACEL (ed.), Guide du futur étudiant 2010.

²⁰See, for example, study bourses (as in footnote 18). See also the numerous programmes offering support in the search for accommodation, such as the Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre, which has been offering free accommodation in Paris since the 1920s, cf. Archives Nationales Luxembourg (ANLUX) IP 361.

²¹Uwe Rohwedder, “Zwischen Selbsthilfe und „politischem Mandat”. Zur Geschichte der verfassten Studentenschaft in Deutschland,” Jahrbuch für Universitätsgeschichte, no. 8 (2005): 235–43; Boris Spix, Abschied vom Elfenbeinturm? Politisches Verhalten Studierender 1957-1967. Berlin und Nordrhein-Westfalen im Vergleich. (Essen: Klartext, 2008).

²²Based on figures taken from Guide du futur étudiant ed. Association des Cercles d’Etudiants Luxembourgeois (ACEL) (Luxembourg: ACEL), vol. 1988, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2010.

²³Thus, for example, François Biltgen, member of the Luxembourg government. cf. François Biltgen Préface du Ministre, Guide du Futur Etudiant, ed. ACEL (Luxembourg: ACEL, 2009), 2f; cf. the statements made by Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, Minister for Employment and EU politician: Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, Préface de Madame la Ministre de la Culture, de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, Guide du Futur Etudiant, ed. ACEL. (Luxembourg: ACEL, 2004), 5.

²⁴For Arcelor see Eva-Maria Simon Luxemburgs Studenten debattieren in Achen, Luxemburger Wort, Oct 8, 2005, http://www.acel.lu/files/presse/wort/20051008-LW.pdf; for domestic companies see http://studentebal.acel.lu/; for an example of affluent parents supporting their studying children see Enactment issued by the Luxembourger Ministry of Education of 24.2.1964, ANLux AE 14278; for alumni associations see: The Association des Anciens Etudiants Luxembourgeois à Karlsruhe. Calls for donations from members are often also made via AAELK homepage, http://www.aelk.lu/index.php?id=5.3

²⁵A. Adam, “Minga mog Di!” in Luxembourger Wort, October 6 2007.

²⁶Letter from the Luxembourg Minister of Education, Jean Dupong, to the director of Akademie Aix-Marseille in Aix-en-Provence of 8.11.1967, ANLUX AE 14278; Letter from the association in Leuven to the Luxembourgish Minister of Education of 20.5.1959, in: ANLux MEN 838; cf. ANLux AE 16859.

²⁷Correspondence from the Amicale des Etudiants Luxembourgeois à Paris of March 23 1965, ANLux MEN 838.

²⁸Up to the twentieth century, many of the study scholarships were bound to a particular religious faith or were only valid for studies at Catholic universities. See footnotes 18 and 20.

²⁹“Letter from Foyer de l’étudiant catholique de Strasbourg to the Luxembourg Minister of Education of 8.12.1961,” in ANLux MEN 838.

³⁰Evaluation of the logo took place via the student association homepages.

³¹Alesontia is the Latin name for the Luxembourgish River Alzette; the name of the student association in Leuven is derived from the Grand Duchy political system (Grand-Ducale).

³²“Aus dem Akademischen Leben,” Luxemburger Wort, July 30, 1935.

³³Which we propose to translate as “luxury citizens”. Here the students punned with the syllable “ lux” (as in LUXembourg and LUXury) and the word “Buerger” (meaning “citizens” as in LuxemBURG).

³⁴Alesontia homepage: http://www.etudiants.lu/alesontia/alesontia-Alesontia.php; Association des Etudiants Luxembourgeois à Lausanne homepage: http://www.aell.lu/club/intro/?PHPSESSID=7lng34ustnffafemeeuno5euu4

³⁵For football matches see: Letter from A.V. d’Letzeburger, Cercle des étudiants Luxembourgeois à Aix-la-Chapelle of 20.09.1963 to the Minister of Education, AnLux MEN 838; for cases of “Heemlaafen,” “Staffellaaf” and “Velosheemrees” see: Leuven (http://www.louvain.lu/historique/historique15.htm) Brussels, (http://www.celb.lu/index.php?site=forum_topic&topic=49), Aachen (http://wiesel.lu/interessen/studentisches/rull-de-waak/), Trier (http://www.16vor.de/index.php/2009/07/11/lauf-nach-luxemburg/) and Karlsruhe (http://www.aelk.lu/velo/)

³⁶On the Whitsun (Pentecost) weekend, what is known as the Echternacher Springprozession (Echternach Procession) is traditionally held in Luxembourg.

³⁷Homepage of the student association in Liège: http://www.lestle.lu/

³⁸Letter from the Karlsruhe association to the Minister of Education of 23.5.1965 ANLux MEN 838; letter from the chairman of the CLEM (Cercle Luxembourgeois des Etudiants de Munich) to Monsieur le Ministre de l’Education National Luxembourg of 6.12.1965, ANLux MEN 838; http://wiesel.lu/interessen/studentisches/rull-de-waak/#toc-kneipen (author’s closing words).

³⁹For example, the student circle in Strasbourg initiated events like a Luxembourgian evening in 1966 in Strasbourg where it proudly presented films about the Luxembourgian national identity like “Erinnerungen einer tausendjährigen Stadt” and “Stahlwerke in einem Park”, s. Ein Luxemburgischer Abend, Almanach Alsacien May 10, 1966, ANLux MEN 838.

⁴⁰See ANLux MEN 838.

⁴¹Letter from the “Les Etudiants Luxembourgeois Zurich” association of 30.6.1965 to Minister of Education Pierre Grégoire, ANLux MEN 838.

⁴²Letter from the Luxembourgish student association in Grenoble to the Luxembourg Minister of Education of 27.1.1964, ANLux AE 14278; letter from the Luxembourg Consul in Strasbourg, Daniel Hamm, to the Luxembourg Foreign Minister on 11.5.1966, ANLux MEN 838; copy of a letter from the Luxembourg Minister of Education to the Rector of the Zurich Polytechnic and its professors, undated (summer 1964), ANLux MEN 838.

⁴³For Mercedes Benz, BASF and Siemens see “Report published by the Amicale des Etudiants Luxembourgeois à Karlsruhe 13.11.1964,” ANLux MEN 838; for Sandoz, Hoffmann-Laroche and CIBA see “Report published by the Amicale des Etudiants Luxembourgeois de l’Université de Strasbourg,” ANLux MEN 838; for Philips and Goodyear see Letter from A. V. d’Letzeburger, Cercle des étudiants Luxembourgeois à Aix-la-Chapelle of 20.09.1963 to the Minister of Education, ANLux MEN 838.

⁴⁴ARBED stands for Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange. See Erpelding, Rull de Waak.

⁴⁵The ANEIL organised the membership of the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience – see ANLux MEN 839. In addition there was a Comité for regular organisation of travel for the Luxembourg engineer students – see “Programme du voyage d’études pir éleves-ingénierus en mines et métallurgie des six pay signataires du Traité de la C.E.C.A.,” ANLux MEN 839.

⁴⁶Gast Mannes, Luxemburgische Avantgarde: zum europäischen Kulturtransfer im Spannungsfeld von Literatur, Politik und Kunst zwischen 1916 und 1922. (Esch: Centre Nationale de Littérature, 2007)

⁴⁷Voix des Jeunes (1917), quoted in Mannes, Luxemburgische Avantgarde, 40.

⁴⁸ibid., 67–86.

⁴⁹Arthur Marwick, The Sixties. Cultural Revolution in Britain, France, Italy, and The United States, 1958-1974 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998); Martin Klimke, Joachim Scharloth (ed.) 1968 in Europe. A History of Protest and Activism, 1956-77 (New York/London: Palgrave, 2008).

⁵⁰For further literary references see Philipp Gassert, Das kurze „1968“ zwischen Geschichtswissenschaft und Erinnerungskultur: Neuere Forschungen zur Protestgeschichte der 1960er-Jahre, H-Soz-u-Kult, April 30, 2010, http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/forum/2010-04-001

⁵¹See Eckdaten in der hundertjährigen Geschichte des AV-ALUC; Motion de solidarité et de sympathie avec les étudiants hongrois, ANLux MEN 839; De Letzeburger Student. International solidarity addresses published in the Bulletin de l’Union Nationale des Etudiants du Luxembourg, see ANLux MEN 839; for similar phenomena in Germany, see Anne Rohstock, Von der «Ordinarienuniversität» zur «Revolutionszentrale». Hochschulreform und Hochschulrevolte in Bayern und Hessen 1957-1976. (München: Oldenbourg, 2010), in particular p. 241ff.

⁵²“Brochure Les Conférences du FEC et des ICS 1961-1962,” Strasbourg, undated (ca. 1962).

⁵³1968 is the year considered symbolic of worldwide youth rebellion.

⁵⁴For the influences of the May uprisings in Paris on Luxembourgian students see “Les Etudiants luxembourgeois aux côtés de leurs camarades parisiens”, 17.5.68. cf. Pierre Mores, Mai 68 im Spiegel der Luxemburger Presse, forum für Politik, Gesellschaft und Kultur in Luxemburg, No. 103 (1998), S. 54; for the influences of the unrests in Brussels see “Letter from the Amicale Brüssel to the Luxembourg Minister of Education of 30.10.1969”, ANLux MEN 838.

⁵⁵See Die integrierte Gesamtschule. Möglichkeit und Schwierigkeit in Luxembourg. Round-table discussion held by the student ALUC, ed. ALUC (Luxembourg: Aluc-Etudiants, 1975)

⁵⁶Journal 18.05.1968, quoted by Pierre Mores, Mai 68 im Spiegel der Luxemburger Presse, S. 54.

⁵⁷See Dix années de mouvement étudiant au Luxembourg 1952-1962: Bilan et perspectives, ed. ACEL (Luxembourg: J. Beffort, 1963); also Annuaire 9: 1912-1962, ed. Assoss (Luxembourg: Linden, 1962).

⁵⁸Luxembourg’s steel industry, namely the steel concern ARBED offered the opportunity for some Luxembourgian students such as Eugène Ruppert to develop their career in the ARBED iron works abroad (Brazil, China). cf. Erpelding, Rull de Waak, Luxembourgish students also took over political functions abroad, for example Paul Reuter, president of AV-ALUC in his student days, who was also Paul-Henri Teitgen’s Head of Cabinet, in addition to his job as professor in Aix-en-Provence and Paris.

⁵⁹jobportal.acel.lu

⁶⁰Such as the Amicale des Anciens Etudiants Luxembourgeois à Karlsruhe, the Amicale des Anciens de Louvain Luxembourg, the LSM-Anciens-Club (Munich), the Heidelberg Alumni Luxembourg ASBL, the GEP Luxembourg a.s.b.l. (Zurich), and also the AACEL, the alumni umbrella association.

⁶¹“Liste des présidantes de l’AV/ALUC,” in ALUC (eds), Livre du Centenaire, 121–25.

⁶²Ibid.

⁶³D. Erpelding, 2007, “Bureauen von der UNEL,” http://wiesel.lu/2007/09/17/bureauen-vun-der-unel-1951-1982/. See for example the biographies of Gaston Thorn, Jean Dondelinger and Raymond Kirsch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Thorn; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Dondelinger; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Kirsch.

⁶⁴See, for example, the biographies of Gaston Thorn, Jean Dondelinger, Henri Metz, Roland Michel, André Lutgen, François Majerus and Jos Ewert.

⁶⁵See Eckdaten in der hundertjährigen Geschichte des AV-ALUC, 49.

⁶⁶The student was Emily Junck. See Daniel Erpelding, Rull de Waak.

⁶⁷See Archives of the Amicale des Anciens de Louvain, Luxembourg, http://www.louvain.lu/archives/archives.htm. Women appear in the group photos for the first time in 1963.

⁶⁸“100 Joer internationale Fraendag,” ed. CID-femmes, http://fraendag.lu/errungenschaften/

⁶⁹“100 Joer internationale Fraendag,” ed. CID-femmes, http://fraendag.lu/errungenschaften/. IFUW.

⁷⁰The first six girls received their diplomas granting them access to European universities in 1916. Statistics taken from the appendix to the anniversary volume of the Lycée de jeunes filles: “Cinquantième Anniversaire de la fondation du Lycée de jeunes filles,” (Luxemburg, 1959).

⁷¹See for example the website of the IFUW, http://www.ifuw.org/, but also the activities organised by the “Femmes Universitaires” in the 1950s and 1970s, for example for handicapped children – for this see G. Mannes, “Alexander Sergejewitsch PUSCHKIN1799-1837. Ein kleines Land und ein großer Dichter Luxemburg und Puschkin,” http://www.cnl.public.lu/publications/catalogues/puschkin/index.html

⁷²Cf. Luxemburger Autorenlexikon, art. Kraus, Louise, http://www.autorenlexikon.lu/page/author/943/2943/DEU/index.html

⁷³For the biography of Rosemarie Kieffer cf. Luxemburger Autorenlexikon, art. Kieffer, Rosemarie, http://www.autorenlexikon.lu/page/author/517/5172/DEU/index.html

⁷⁴Annette Schwall-Lacroix was the first female member of the Luxembourgish State Council, the “Staatsrat” (1975–1999). For her biography cf. Romain Durlet, Porträt einer aussergewöhnlichen Frau - Annette Schwall-Lacroix: Vorkämpferin für Frauenrechte, in: Tageblatt, March 5th 2009, Nr. 54.

⁷⁵Nadine Geisler, “Frauenbewegung in Luxemburg” (unpublished master’s thesis, University of Luxembourg), p. 53f.; Nadine Geisler, Frauenbewegung in Luxembourg. Von ihrer Enstehung bis zur Institutionalisierung, forum für Politik, Gesellschaft und Kultur in Luxemburg, 302 (2010): 7–10.

⁷⁶Letter from the Amicale Grenoble to the Luxembourgish cabinet of 10.12.1966, in: étudiants luxembourgeois à l’étranger, ANLux AE 14278; liste de membres du Cercle Universitaire Luxembourgeois de Grenoble, Année 1963/64, in: étudiants luxembourgeois à l’étranger, ANLux AE 14278.

⁷⁷These are Angelo Proietti (Green Party MP), Massimo Malvetti (Dean of the Facility of Science of the University of Luxembourg), Paolo Mignani (Directeur des Ressources Humaines at Crédit Agricole) and Laura Zuccoli (President of the ASTI foreign association in Luxembourg).

⁷⁸In the Luxembourgish chamber elections in 2009, the proportion of women in Parliament reached 25% for the first time (see “100 Joer internationale Fraendag,” http://fraendag.lu/errungenschaften/); in 2010, the only country with a lower proportion of women in the highest decision-making bodies in stock exchange-listed companies was Malta (2%, against Luxembourg’s 3%). See http://www.mentoring.lu/lang_lu/info_full.php

⁷⁹See Das politische System Luxemburgs. Eine Einführung, ed. Wolfgang Lorig and Mario Hirsch (Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2008).

⁸⁰David Jacobson, Rights Across Borders: Immigration and the Decline of Citizenship (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996); Ruud Koopmans and Paul Statham, “Challenging the Liberal Nation-state? Postnationalism, Multiculturalism, and the Collective Claims Making of Migrants and Ethnic Minorities in Britain and Germany,” American Journal of Sociology 105 (1999): 652–96; Yasemin Soysal, Limits of Citizenship: Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994).

⁸¹Samuel Estreicher, Global Labor Employment Law for Practicing Lawyers (Alphen: Kluwer Law International 2010), 382.

⁸²Saskia Sassen, Guests and Aliens (New York: The New Press, 1999).

⁸³Robin Cohen, Global Diasporas: An Introduction (New York: Routledge, 1997).

⁸⁴Roberto Sala, “Die Nation in der Fremde: Zuwanderer in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und nationale Herkunft aus Italien,” IMIS-Beiträge, 29 (2006): 99–122; Roberto Sala, “Emigrazione italiana e nazione: Riflessioni di metodo sul caso degli italiani in Germania,” Altreitalie, 36–37 (2008): 144–53; Nadine Dolby, Globalisation, Identity, and Nation: Australian and American Undergraduates Abroad. Australian Educational Researcher 32, no. 1: 101–18; Nadine Dolby, “Encountering an American Self: Study Abroad and National Identity,” Comparative Education Review 48, no. 2: 150–73.

⁸⁵Nadine Dolby and Fazal Rizvi, Youth Moves: Identities and Education in Global Perspective (New York: Routledge, 2008).

⁸⁶Fazal Rizvi, “International Education and the Production of Cosmopolitan Identities”, in (eds.), Globalization and Higher Education, eds. Akira Arimoto, Futao Huang and Keiko Yokoyama (Hiroshima: Research Institute for Higher Education, 2005), 77–92, 84.

⁸⁷For a postmodern hierarchy of mobility see Zygmunt Bauman, Tourists and Vagabonds: Heroes and Victims of Postmodernity (Wien: Institut für Höhere Studien, 1996).

⁸⁸For a postmodern hierarchy of mobility see Zygmunt Bauman,Tourists and Vagabonds: Heroes and Victims of Postmodernity (Wien: Institut für Höhere Studien, 1996).