Exchange with Syddansk Universitet: How does internationalisation work?
How can universities push their internationalisation even further? This question was the focus of an exchange between Syddansk Universitet SDU (University of Southern Denmark) and the University of Bremen. Both universities are members of YERUN, the Young European Research Universities Network. Founded in 1966 in Odense, the capital of the island of Funen, SDU today has a good 30,000 students. The new SDU leadership team came to Bremen on 1 June to exchange ideas on strategies and policies for universities to meet the challenges of globalisation.
At the beginning of the dialogue, the getting-to-know-you phase: here the introductions happened through in-depth presentations from each partner university. Both universities have a similar profile, and the Danish academics were particularly interested in which policy guidelines and processes are being developed at the University of Bremen to better deal with issues such as declining student numbers and competition for international excellence. For two and a half years, the University of Bremen has been a partner in the European alliance YUFE (Young Universities for the Future of Europe), and is working in a network of innovative universities on ideas and concepts for a future European university. Hearing about this experience was inspiring for the Danish delegation, as SDU has also joined a European university alliance. For its part, the Bremen delegation was particularly impressed that sustainability is a top priority at SDU and that all of its guidelines and policies are aligned with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In practical terms, this means, for example, that vegetarian food has become the standard in the university canteen and meat dishes have to be specially ordered. Another example: paper consumption by copiers and printers on the university campus has already been halved.
The exchange between university administrations is to be continued: Prof. Jens Ringsmose, rector of SDU, extended a warm invitation to the rectorate of the University of Bremen for a visit to Syddansk.