International

At the invitation of Professor Eva-Maria Feichtner, Vice-Rector for Internationalisation and Diversity, around 35 members of the University of Bremen and representatives of the Bremen University of Applied Sciences and Jacobs University Bremen met online on 18 March for a round table to coordinate offers of help that have become necessary following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Representatives of the alumni association were also present. The gist: There is a great willingness to help, from immediate aid to the development of long-term offerings. A number of students from Ukraine and Russia who are currently in Bremen urgently need financial support. Donations can be made to XENOS e.V. via bank transfer to IBAN DE53 2905 0101 0010 8187 55.

As of 1 January 2022, Dr Marejke Baethge-Assenkamp is the new head of the International Office (IO) at the University of Bremen. She succeeds Dr. Annette Lang, who moved to the Bremen Senate Chancellery last year as Head of International Relations. In her academic career, Dr Baethge-Assenkamp has engaged intensively with international relations between universities and with international alumni. 

His biography is a bit like that of a child prodigy: top maths, school was a breeze, bachelor's degree in banking and financing in Georgia (of course also tops), the youngest to earn a doctorate in economics (at 24), full professorship at Caucasus University in Tbilisi at 29, 2020 Forbes “30 Under 30 in Science” in Georgia, Best Young Scientist of the Year in his country in 2021 – phew, what a brain. But beware, the man can do other things, too: European U23 contact karate champion, multiple Georgian champion and member of the national team. Whew. But what does Bremen have to do with all that? The university – it was Uni Bremen that gave his career a decisive boost.

Moving to a new city, starting a new phase of life, learning a lot, making new friends, enjoying life. Studying is fun, but it also has to be funded. For international students, the financial burden is typically higher than for local students. Students from non-European countries often have to deposit a guarantee payment of several thousand euros with the German embassy in their home country before entering Germany. And many internationals have to work alongside their studies to keep their heads above water – often in the restaurant industry, in jobs that have disappeared in the pandemic. And now? That's where XENOS comes in, with various offers of assistance.

More than 70 registered participants, excellent speakers from Bremen and India, and exciting discussions – that was our four and a half hour online conference on sustainability on 12 November, organised by the alumni association and its newly founded India chapter. The main themes were sustainable concepts for sanitation, urban mobility and hydrogen as an energy carrier. The focus was on sharing experiences and networking – with very concrete conclusions.

Since 2019, the University of Bremen and Cardiff University in Wales have been linked through a strategic partnership, the Bremen-Cardiff Alliance. On November 4 in the Metropol Theatre, the alliance presented itself in a way that was far from ordinary: with an evening dedicated to music, poetry – and science. 

The University of Bremen and the University of Guelph in Canada have been linked for several years through a strategic partnership that includes both research and student exchanges. In the health sciences, Rebecca Breau became the first doctoral student in a cotutelle programme to successfully defend her thesis in August. The cotutelle process is a binational doctorate supervised by two universities from different countries and recognised as a jointly awarded doctoral degree.

On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the University of Bremen will host this year's YUFE Town Hall in Bremen on 13–14 October 2021. With the YUFE Alliance (Young Universities for the Future of Europe), ten young, research-strong universities and four non-university partners are developing one of the first European Universities. The Town Hall will be the first physical meeting of the Alliance since the beginning of the pandemic.

International exchange that broadens horizons: In June Kurdish students from northeastern Syria and students in Bremen discussed issues of social justice and peaceful coexistence, feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, ecology and community economies, and more — a dialogue that ran out of time but should not stop. "It was simply an overwhelming experience," summed up one Bremen participant enthusiastically. The name of the block seminar, appropriately: ”An Anthropology of the Possible”.

It doesn’t really come as a surprise: the Corona pandemic has dramatically worsened the situation for international students. Suffering the most from the months-long lockdown are the approximately 1,500 students from Africa and Asia. “The pandemic has revealed, as if under a magnifying glass, where the weak points of our society are,” says Dr Jutta Paal, who is responsible for “Incomings” and coordinates the kompass programme at the University of Bremen’s International Office. Through good ideas and initiatives, the International Office has been able to offer immediate assistance and support students as much as possible.

Sustainability & entrepreneurship: these two topics were the subject of a multi-day online workshop for students held at the end of March and beginning of April 2021. Thirty students from the University of Bremen and the University of Cardiff took part in the Bremen-Cardiff Alliance’s first international and interdisciplinary student-focused workshop. The workshop was designed, organised and moderated by colleagues from Cardiff University’s Global Opportunities and Enterprise & Start-up Teams and the University of Bremen’s UniTransfer/BRIDGE group.

How can digitalization in teaching but also in alumni work be developed and accelerated? That was the topic of a two-day workshop hosted by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), the International Office of the University of Bremen, and the alumni association at the end of February. Due to Covid-19, only about 25 participants were allowed to be present in the Nigerian metropolis Lagos; another 15 people, mainly from Germany, joined the exciting exchange online

It is an impressive number: About 700 students from India are members of the regional Indian Students Association with participation of students from all Bremen universities as well as the University of Oldenburg. At the University of Bremen alone, 268 students from India are currently enrolled, the widest student group from a non-EU country. We met two of them. 

The university strengthens its partnership with one of the oldest and best universities in Thailand. The cooperation with Mahidol University in Bangkok is set to be expanded in terms of student exchange, research, support of junior researchers, and the joint efforts to obtain grants. Both universities additionally initiated the ‘Christian Freksa Scholarship’ – in memory of the recently deceased professor from Bremen, who essentially initiated the cooperation and promoted it with firm commitment.

In times of the pandemic, international guests and guest scientists are particularly affected by the limitations on social life as they have often not had the chance of building their own network in Bremen. Together with the health management at the University of Bremen, the Bremen Early Career Researcher Development Center BYRD, and the health insurance company Techniker Krankenkasse, the U Bremen Research Alliance Welcome Center has developed the concept of a network café for international scientists with the thematic focus on motivation and health.

Students from Nigeria are currently one of the biggest groups of students from abroad at the University of Bremen. Over 180 Nigerians are enrolled in mostly English-speaking master’s degrees. This gave cause to the alumni association to sound out how the alumni efforts can be improved in this emerging African country. 

How can refugees gain access to an academic education or pick up their disrupted studies? The United Nations want to achieve that fifteen percent of refugees will be granted access to universities within the next ten years. Currently, only three percent accomplish that goal. A funding program in Bremen raises hope that the situation can improve here.

This year’s DAAD prize for outstanding achievements of international students studying at German universities goes to Sanaz Sadat Afzali from Iran, student of the Communication and Information Technology Master – who is a real allrounder.

How does a European University feel? YUFE Academy is supposed to give a first impression of that in a series of online events by the ten universities involved in this EU project. Main topic this year: European identity and responsibility in a global world. The University of Bremen was prominently involved with a quite critical view on Europe.

What do you do when cooperation activities with partner universities come to an abrupt halt due to the coronavirus? Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, is one of the partner universities with which the University of Bremen has started hosting joint virtual workshops.

Young. Motivated. Inclusive. Jessica Winter – newly elected president of YUFE Alliance’s Student Forum – reflects exactly the alliance’s values. The student from Bremen has been involved in the project since the founding of YUFE (Young Universities for the Future of Europe).

‘Building bridges between Eastern Europe and Bremen’ is the declared goal of the University of Bremen’s new Research Ambassador, Prof. Andrei Yakovlev. Thus, the alumnus and economics professor at the renowned National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow is now one of twelve research alumni of the University of Bremen who promote the university and its research across the globe as ambassadors.

Representatives of the International Office of the University of Bremen normally attend fairs for prospective students once or twice a year and advertise the university by giving presentations at international schools. Or: Groups of prospective students come to Bremen to learn about studying in Bremen right on campus. Yet, little is normal in the time of COVID-19, which is why the International Office, too, had to find new ways of inspiring potential students to attend the University of Bremen.

Dr. Ingrid Rügge, coordinator of the International Graduate School for Dynamics in Logistics, has been traveling to the North of Thailand for a few years in order to support the local universities there in their development of becoming internationally recognized universities.

On the occasion of a trip to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the University of Bremen and the Bremen University of Applied Sciences together embarked on a search for their alumni in Vietnam – and with success.

The idea of Europe is taking shape in one of the first European universities! But what should it look like? What are the priorities - and: how does it influence the region, the economy, society and politics? Close partnership can only succeed with all these actors in dialogue. The University of Bremen therefore invites YUFE, the Young Universities for the Future of Europe, to an open panel discussion on 11 November 2019 at 5 pm.

The President of the University of Bremen, Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter, has been voted president of the YERUN network. “Together we are more visible and can stand up for teaching and research on a European level. Moreover, YERUN is allowing us to strengthen the scientific cooperations within Europe,” said Professor Scholz-Reiter. The network with its 17 members aims to give young universities a voice in Europe.

The public event series ‘Diversity @ Uni Bremen’ this year is dedicated to the topic ‘International Prospects and Challenges.’ Under the slogan ‘Diversity @ Uni Bremen… goes YUFE,’ colleagues of the YUFE alliance will debate visions and challenges of our universities in the framework of a panel discussion on November 27, 2019 between 3:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the Mensa.

It has almost become tradition: In the run-up of the Open Campus event, the University of Bremen again invited their Research Ambassadors from all over the world in order to discuss new developments and strategic projects together with the university rectorate.

The demands on teachers have changed. Unlike thirty years ago, a diverse student body is normality today. When dealing with students (and their parents) from different countries of origin, future teachers need inter- and transcultural competences that allow them to become a teacher who is sensitive to diversity.

Next to the promotion of student and employee mobility within Europe, the Erasmus program each year offers means for cooperation with other universities outside of Europe.

This year will see the appointing of three new Research Ambassadors. A total of ten Research Ambassadors represent the University of Bremen in their respective home countries, promote the research they conducted here, and are contacts for interested researchers and students.

In January 2019, the program of the U Bremen Excellence Chairs launched at the University of Bremen, which fosters and strengthens core scientific areas as well as international cooperation with expert visiting professors.

130 visiting students from European and non-European partner universities began their studies at the University of Bremen this summer semester.

The International Office of the university supported them with settling in in Bremen in a three-week orientation before the semester started.

On March 27, the Members of the Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN) met for their biannual General Assembly in Antwerp. The network, which has been established a few years ago, is in consolidation after an active and vivid development phase.

The universities of Bremen and Cardiff are entering a strategic partnership. It is their goal to promote joint research activities and collaboration in the areas of media and communication sciences, marine sciences, literature, social sciences, and history.

The University of Bremen is connected to seven European universities in the Young Universities for Europe Alliance (YUFE). On February 28, 2019, the proposal was submitted to the European Network Universities, a program initiated by the French president Macron.

The International Office of the University of Bremen supports the network of international student communities with their ‘kompass’ project. There are currently communities from about seventeen different countries. Since 2017, new communities have come up for Ghana and Guinea. Newly established communities traditionally present their home at a ‘culture night,’ hosted by the Protestant Student Community (ESG). Culture nights are of great interest among students – and having 100-150 participants is not uncommon. This was also the case at Culture Night Ghana and Culture Night Guinea this summer semester.