University encourages strategic cooperations

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Bielefeld University sent out invitations to important international partners. Last week, representatives of international strategic partner universities visited the university and the city. The guests met their cooperation partners and held talks on the topic of ‘international networking’. On Friday, they attended an evening event at the Rudolf Oetker Hall.

The guests were representatives of the University of Alberta (Canada), the Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico), the Ōsaka daigaku (Japan), the Università di Bologna (Italy), and the Université Paris Diderot (France). Bielefeld University has cultivated long-term and particularly intensive ties to these partner institutions. They are all renowned institutions that cooperate with Bielefeld University in several fields of research as well as in studies and teaching – for example through double degrees in various study courses. Bielefeld University’s rectorate particularly encourages this strategic cooperation and aims for a sustainable relationship pursuing long-term goals.   

The guests held talks with the Bielefeld professors involved in each specific cooperation. A highlight was the university’s festive event in the Rudolf Oetker Hall. On Saturday the rector, Professor Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Sagerer, and Bielefeld University’s Vice-rector for International Affairs und Diversity Professor Dr Angelika Epple held a round of talks with the international guests on the topic of ‘international networking’. Alongside professors at Bielefeld University and staff from the International Office, Bert Verveld from the Amsterdam University of Arts was invited as an expert. ‘We want to intensify our cooperation and open up new areas of cooperation encompassing the entire institution. Particularly with the University of Guadalajara, we see a number of ways of rapidly extending our cooperation to cover further disciplines,’ is how Professor Dr Angelika Epple summarizes the preliminary results of the talks. International higher education networks play a highly significant role for cross-border cooperation in teaching and research.

Further information on Bielefeld University’s international strategic partners: 
www.uni-bielefeld.de/uni/profil/international/netzwerke/