Much was also due to the charismatic figure of Prof.

Much was also due to the charismatic figure of Prof. József Bognár , a great economist and member of the Club of Rome. The very important school of Hungary was present at the Rome conference but became more visible and active in the following years.

Therefore the European Regional Experts Meeting on “Technology of Future and its Social Implication” was organised in Budapest in 1987 and three years later the XI World Conference of the WFSF under the title “Linking Present Decisions to Long-Range Visions” was also successfully organised there at the time of the beginning of the transition period in the European socialist countries. Yugoslavia did not have a group as such, but many people took an interest and worked in futures studies.

Mihailo Markovich was one; for a longer time and at great personal price, Radmila Nakarada was another. The School of Philosophy and Sociology was mostly involved and supported Johan Galtung’ s interesting idea to create an International University Center (IUC) in Dubrovnik in 1975.

Many cutting edge disciplines were taught there since its foundation in 1975, with the initial support of the United Nations University and the contribution in terms of faculty and students of over one hundred universities from all over the world. Both faculty and students came from Western and Eastern European countries; among the courses, there was also a Futures Studies course, the first didactic activity of the WFSF aimed at building the next generation of futures thinkers.

The University was destroyed in 1991 during the war. Although it has been rebuilt, it no longer has a Futures Studies course as such in Dubrovnik, and the Futures Studies Department of the Budapest University of Economic Sciences - headed by Erzsébet Nováky - has continued the tradition since 1999. Courses such as Mediterranean Studies, Women Studies and Jurgen Habermas philosophy and sociology were held in Dubrovnik interacting with the other courses including futures studies courses.

The IUC was an example of international academic freedom rarely found anywhere in the world. In Dubrovnik also the Fourth World Conference in Futures Studies (in 1975) was held with many participants from different countries with limited but sufficient support from UNESCO. The amount of its support would today be considered very low but the conference took place because people wanted to be there and paid their own expenses with dedication and sacrifice.