Gabriel Fragnière is a Swiss university professor and scientific researcher.

Biography

Fragnière graduated in Philosophy at the University of Lausanne. He continued with a postgraduate at the College of Europe

College of Europe

The College of Europe is an independent university institute of postgraduate European studies with the main campus in Bruges, Belgium...

 in Bruges

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

 (1959-1960) and became assistant to the rector and director of studies at the College (1961-1966). He then went to the United States and studied during two years the history of religions (1966-1968). In 1993 he obtained his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

.

Fragnière's career has been entirely devoted to European matters, including domains of education, professional training, university cooperation and social policies. He has been

• editor of the European Journal of Education (previously Paedagogica Europea), 1973-1980.
• founder and first general secretary of the Société Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs, 1973-1980, and of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe, 1976-1980.
• director of the Centre Européen Travail et Société , Maastricht, 1980-1991
• director of the EUROTECNET programme of the European Community.
• founder of Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes (P.I.E), 1985 (taken over by Peter Lang in 1999).
• parttime director of the program Central European University, Prague
  Prague
  Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
  
  , 1991-1993
• rector of the College of Europe in Bruges, 1993-1995
• professor of sociology of religions, at the Centre for social studies, Central European University, Warsaw
  Warsaw
  Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
  
  , 2001-2003
• first chairman of Forum Europe des Cultures, for the defence and promotion of European cultural diversity, 2002-2005. (interim chairman in 2009)
• president of Mémoire d’Europe, association for the assistance of European citizens in order to know better their identity and common history.
• director of three collections at PIE – Peter Lang in Brussels: Philosophie et Politique; Dieux, Hommes et Religions; Europe des cultures.

Publications

• Le royaume de l’homme, Essai sur la religion et la démocratie (Genève, 1973).
• L’éducation créatrice (Bruxelles, Paris, 1975). (translated in English, German, Spanish and Portuguese)
• L’homme et la vie, Biologie contemporaine et éthique (Paris, 1978).
• Formation et condition humaine au XXIe siècle (PIE, 1991) (Translated in Catalan).
• Work and Social Policies in the New Europe, with George Spyropoulos (PIE, 1991).
• L’obligation morale et l’éthique de la prospérité, doctoral thesis. Collection « Philosophie et Politique » N° 2 (PIE, 1993).
• Stefan Zweig… ou espérer l’Europe et en mourir, Portraits d’Européens (PIE, 1993)
• Ramon Llull… ou les premiers jalons d’une Europe tolérante, Portraits d’Européens (PIE, 1974)
• Walter Hallstein… ou une pédagogie politique pour la fédération européenne, Portraits d’européens (PIE, 1995)
• La certitude et l’action. L’intuition est-elle une connaissance transmissible? (PIE, 1998).
• La religion et le pouvoir. La chrétienté, l’Occident et la démocratie (PIE - Peter Lang, Collection : « Dieux, Hommes et religions », N° 6, 2005 & 2006) (Italian translation, La religione e il potere, La cristianità, l’Occidente e la democrazia, Edizioni Dehoniane Bologna » 2008).
• Hendrik Brugmans. Building Europe by educating Europeans (Madariaga Foundation, Brussels, 2006)

To be published:

• Hendrik Brugmans. Building Europe in Bruges by Educating Europeans, in “Memories of an Evolving Europe, N° 3” (PIE - Peter Lang)
• Miroir littéraire d’un Européen, Journal personnel, Tome I: La houle du temps
• Du multiculturalisme à la convivance. Vers une nouvelle culture politique européenne (Coll. Europe des Cultures)