On October 11, 2023, the Rhineland-Palatinate Future Initiative (ZIRP) was a guest at the renowned East Asia Institute (OAI) of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society as part of the ZIRP Experience Days 2023. Under the motto "Bright minds from all over the world", representatives from politics, science and business discussed international university networks and their importance for attracting high potentials for the labor market and research in Rhineland-Palatinate.
After the welcome address by University President Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller, Ministerial Director Daniel Stich from the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Science and Health provided the political impetus: In view of the geopolitical changes, the world is no longer just looking to the West. It is therefore necessary for science, politics and business to join forces in order to position Rhineland-Palatinate as a location for international students, researchers and specialists alongside the major conurbations. According to Stich, the East Asia Institute is predestined for the placement of this topic.
Prof. Dr. Frank Rövekamp, Director of the university-affiliated East Asia Institute, used the example of Fukushima, Japan, to explain the growth of international partnerships and emphasized their importance for the country: "University networks also provide impetus for companies and politics," said Rövekamp, adding: "I see great potential here that needs to be leveraged." Prof. Dr. Edith Rüger-Muck, Vice President for International Affairs and Communication at the HWG LU, took up the idea and presented two international university alliances in which the HWG LU is significantly involved as examples: "European Innovation Alliance" (EuroInnA), a European university network funded by the DAAD and BMBF, in which the Satakunta University of Applied Sciences in Finland, Tomas Bata University in the Czech Republic, Universidad de Huelva in Spain and Universidade do Algarve in Portugal are involved alongside Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences, and the EU-funded "Sustainable Horizons" project. This alliance, consisting of the Spanish Universidad de Huelva, the Portuguese Universidade do Algarve, the Romanian University of Life Sciences, the Finnish LAB, the Tomas Bata University and the HWG LU, is dedicated to the megatopics of digitalization, health and sustainability. The main task of the HWG LU is to establish an "Entrepreneurship and Employability Support Platform", which aims to increase international competitiveness, innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable employability. In addition, both alliances provide low-threshold offers for key stakeholders and promote the mobility of students, researchers, teaching staff and employees, according to Rüger-Muck. "Particularly in view of the changing geopolitical situation, I think it's important to reflect: What does Europe stand for? What defines us?", explained the Vice President.
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Vollmer, University Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern and Head of the DFKI research department 'Data Science and its Applications' founded in 2021, who previously worked in research and education at the University of Warwick/England and the University of Oxford, then took a comparative look at the topic of international research networks from an English and German perspective.
In the concluding panel discussion, the participants - Prof. Dr. Edith Rüger-Muck, Prof. Dr. Sebastian Vollmer, Prof. Dr. Dorit Schumann, President of Trier University of Applied Sciences and former Vice President of the German-Jordanian University in Amman, Dr. Nicole Bürkle, General Secretary of the FORTHEM Alliance at the University of Mainz, and two young researchers - discussed success factors, scope and limits of international exchange and funding programs, among other things. In addition to a welcoming culture, it is important to keep an eye on the multilingualism and interculturality of education and administration, to keep application processes simple and transparent and to ensure the sustainability of the projects initiated. Companies and authorities also need to be on board in order to attract international students to the Rhineland-Palatinate job market in the medium and long term, according to the consensus.
"There are already many promising approaches in Rhineland-Palatinate and internationally successful university networks. Now we need to further leverage this potential," concluded Heike Arend, Managing Director of ZIRP, summarizing the exciting exchange.
Background information:
Every year, the ZIRP dedicates a multi-day congress to a key topic relating to the future of the country. The 2023 event, entitled ZIRP international: Rhineland-Palatinatein the world, will focus on the international integration of Rhineland-Palatinate in five events.
Further information and the ZIRP event program can be found at www.zirp.de or at www.zirp.de/veranstaltungen/aktuelle-veranstaltungen/impressionen-vom-4-erlebnistag-des-zirp-erlebnis-2023/
