News from the University of Bayreuth’s strategic hubs

Bordeaux

The University of Bayreuth has been strategically expanding its international relations in a targeted manner ever since its establishment. This includes Gateway Offices in Oceania, Asia, and now also in Europe and with a view to Africa. As of July 2020, the University of Bayreuth maintains an office in Bordeaux, and is thus present at a research hub that is expected to play a key role in scientific cooperation with partners in Southern Europe, the Mediterranean region, and North Africa. The opening ceremony with Dr. Arnim Heinemann, Head of the International Office (l.), President Prof. Dr. Stefan Leible (2nd from right) and Vicepresident International Affairs, Prof. Dr. Thomas Scheibel (r.) took place digitally.

Three local universities/ research institutions will act as institutional partners of the office. Bayreuth's International Office coordinates the exchange of researchers and students, fostering existing research alliances and helping to initiate new ones. The new Gateway Office in Bordeaux will help the University of Bayreuth to achieve its goal of being strategically represented in selected hubs around the world. Despite digital communication and contact channels, research and teaching thrive on personal exchange, visibility, and having a reliable local point of contact, all of which can be guaranteed by way of the Gateway Office. The Université de Bordeaux, the Université Bordeaux Montaigne, and the Institut Sciences Po Bordeaux also represent a major cluster of universities that are leaders in the fields covered by the University of Bayreuth's key research priorities: law, economics, chemistry, physics, materials science (especially polymer research), and African studies.

The Gateway Office in Bordeaux is currently an information and contact point to foster the exchange of French, South European, and North African students and lecturers with those in Bayreuth. In addition, it will support and strengthen ongoing cooperation in research and teaching. It will also establish and maintain new ties with local and regional institutions in science and business and become a permanent node in an international network that extends from Southern Europe to the Mediterranean. One of its special responsibility is to support the acquisition and selection of funding and of qualified French, Southern European, and North African students and doctoral researchers for joint study and doctoral programmes with the University of Bayreuth.

The Gateway Offices are also intended to make the Bayreuth campus more international. In this respect, The University of Bayreuth is able to tie in with existing traditions. In particular, the (further) development of joint programmes is now planned: the Franco-German Bachelor of Law (LL.B) (sponsored by the Franco-German University), the double degree 'Development Studies (M.Sc.)', and the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree EIMAS - European Interdisciplinary Master African Studies, offered together with the Université Bordeaux Montaigne and the Universities of Bayreuth and Porto.

Shanghai

The final fact-finding mission of last year in December 2019 took several members of the University of Bayreuth (UBT) to China under the direction of President Prof. Dr. Stefan Leible, with the aim of strengthening cooperation with partner universities in Shanghai and Hangzhou and meeting with the Chinese students on the 70th anniversary of the Shanghai International Studies University (SISU), with which UBT has been collaborating for longer than any other partner in China. The event also included a World University Presidents' Forum. During the World University Presidents' Forum, at which Prof. Leible delivered a programmatic welcome address on the global role and responsibility of innovative and entrepreneurial universities and which was attended by numerous high-ranking Chinese government representatives as well as representatives of international universities, UBT and SISU signed two agreements, which on the one hand confirmed the foundation of a Joint Institute and on the other hand focused on the double bachelor's programme in German and Economics. Much effort was made to ensure that the 70th anniversary of SISU was magnificently staged and celebrated with great dignity, with several high-ranking representatives of the Chinese state government in attendance. The members of the UBT delegation took part in the entire celebration as guests of honour. In addition to the festivities, strategic discussions on academic cooperation took place with representatives of the German Faculty of SISU, the Faculties of Chemistry, Education/Sport, Law, the Business School of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, the Shanghai University of Sport, and the DAAD Information Centre.

Melbourne

In February 2020, this year’s first fact-finding mission took 15 members of the University of Bayreuth to Australia and New Zealand to participate in 31 strategic meetings and workshops in the fields of health economics, business administration/economics, materials and engineering sciences and African studies, bringing together 118 researchers, early-career scholars, and science managers. The members of the UBT delegation, together with their partners, took part in some inspiring meetings and productive workshops in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, and Auckland, where they discussed intensifying and broadening academic cooperation and talked about concrete measures and steps to realize strategic goals - such as joint publications, the exchange and joint supervision of master's and doctoral students, and coordinated applications for international funding. To this end, two joint PhD agreements were signed with the University of Melbourne (UoM) and La Trobe University, two advanced agreements with Swinburne University of Technology and Queensland University of Technology, in addition to similar cooperation agreements with other universities. For example, two joint doctoral students from UBT and UoM were able to officially start their dual doctoral studies. Activities included representatives of the University of Melbourne, Monash University, CSIRO, La Trobe University, Deakin University, Swinburne University of Technology, Queensland University of Technology, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, University of Auckland, Auckland University of Technology, University of Western Australia, and Murdoch University.