Established originally in 1988 by Dr. Gerald Mader (former Provincial Councillor for Cultural Affairs in Burgenland) and Hertha Firnberg (Austrian Federal Minister of Science) with the institutional support of European UNESCO National Commissions and the Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR, now the Austrian Center for Peace - ACP), the European Peace University (historically founded as the European University Center for Peace Studies or EPU) stands as a landmark international higher education institute located in the medieval fortress Burg Schlaining in Stadtschlaining, South Burgenland, Austria. EPU was dedicated exclusively to postgraduate political studies, global peace culture, civilian conflict transformation, transnational human rights, and sustainable development, drawing upon the pioneering theoretical peace research frameworks of Johan Galtung. In 1995, EPU was awarded the prestigious UNESCO Prize for Peace Education, and in 1996 established a permanent UNESCO Chair on Peace, Human Rights, and Democracy. Over its operational span, the center educated hundreds of civilian experts, diplomats, and international researchers from over 90 countries worldwide. In 2010, the center attained formal accreditation as an Austrian private university under the Austrian Private Higher Education Act (PrivHG). Following the conclusion of its formal degree-granting cycles around 2013, the institution's historic campus infrastructure, peace research archives, and executive civilian training programs (including the International Civilian Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Training Programme - IPT) continue actively on-site at Burg Schlaining through the Austrian Center for Peace (ACP / ASPR).

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