The mission of the European Association for Architectural Education EAAE is to advance the quality of architectural education in Europe and thus of architecture in general. The EAAE is a forum for the generation and dissemination of knowledge and information on all aspects of architectural education and architectural research.

The Annual Conference of EAAE would not be possible without a member school stepping in, taking the responsibility of organizing the event for EAAE, working very closely with the president and the council. To name just the last few: the Politecnico di Milano in 2015, TU Delft in 2016, the Université de Bordeaux in 2017 and the University of Porto in 2018. This year, we are very thankful for the commitment and generous support of the University of Zagreb, whose efforts brought together the representatives of over 130 architecture schools from all over Europe here in the capital of Croatia. We are also proud to be part of the celebrations of the Zagreb School of Architecture’s centennial establishment.

With each of the EAAE annual gathering, as well as with our other formats such as the recently held first EAAE/ACSE Teachers Conference, we reach beyond the geographical boundaries of our individual institutional settings, addressing all educators, researchers and administrators who engage themselves for high quality architectural education. Our goal is to foster an international community of people and of institutions dedicated to the critical and constructive dialogue on all aspects of teaching and researching on architecture. We also connect to architecture professionals in Europe and in the world (Architects Council of Europe ACE, and International Union of Architects UIA), as well as to our peers in North America (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture ACSA, and Architectural Research Centers Consortium ARCC), but also to related academic fields (European League of Institutes of the Arts ELIA).

Personally, I am convinced that a broad and open discussion – not only in academic and professional circles, but also with policymakers of higher education at national and international levels and with representatives of the building industry – is an imperative for the future of the profession as well as for mastering current and future challenges in the design of the built environment. We need ever more architects who are socially responsible and critical citizens – committed to contributing in a meaningful, graceful and sustainable way to solving the problems of the cities and regions. In this conference by addressing issues which are not always on the daily agenda at our schools – but which are nevertheless crucial for our profession and its relevance for society, we will be able to open up perspectives for new projects, developments, commitments and important decisions.

Prof. Dr. Oya Atalay Franck

EAAE President