Next step in the cooperation with the Canadian province of Alberta  

Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Educational Science and Faculty of Health Sciences are taking the lead: Their representatives are travelling to the province of Alberta from the 14th to the 19th of September for the first two binational workshops with Canadian partners. They will also be discussing future cooperation plans and the exchange of students and interns between educational institutions in both regions – and cooperation with further faculties and academic institutes.
 
Among the members of Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Educational Science, Professor Dr Oliver Böhm-Kasper and Junior Professor Dr Michaela Vogt are working with Canadian partners at the University of Alberta on German–Canadian comparisons over the topics of diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Among the members of Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Health Sciences, Professor Dr Kerstin Hämel and Professor D. Ralf E. Ulrich are organizing a workshop on challenges in nursing and health care in East Westphalia-Lippe and Alberta together with representatives of the Faculty of Business and Health at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences.

A joint symposium by the representatives of both faculties is working on issues in migration and diversity.

Alongside the academic events, Despina Arnold, the regional manager for cooperations with North America at Bielefeld University, will be exploring further possibilities of cooperating in other subject areas.
 
Bielefeld University, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Paderborn University, and the Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences are moving towards close cooperation with the University of Alberta, MacEwan University, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), and Concordia University of Edmonton in the Canadian Province of Alberta.

The contact between the universities came about in 2014 through a Canadian lecture tour by Professor Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Sagerer, the Rektor of Bielefeld University. In October 2016, Rektor Professor Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Sagerer, Professor Dr Angelika Epple, and Professor Dr Christian Schröder (the latter from Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences) travelled to the province of Alberta to explore potential fields of interest. In February 2017, a Canadian delegation came to Bielefeld University to discuss possible cooperation projects in subject areas. In April 2018, both parties signed a cooperation agreement.