Press release: Göttingen University intensifies cooperation with top U.S. universities

Nr. 204/2015 - 11.09.2015

Strategic alliances agreed for selected key research areas

(pug) Moving forward, Göttingen University will collaborate more closely with the world-class University of California (UC) system at 10 campuses in California, USA. The initial aim is to expand cooperation with the UCs Berkeley, San Diego and Davis in the fields of sustainability research, diversity and immigration research and digital transformation. Further cooperation projects in transregional research and energy research are currently in the planning stages.

"With the newly agreed strategic German-American alliance, we will continue to strengthen research in the three selected key research areas at the Göttingen Campus," Professor Hiltraud Casper-Hehne, Göttingen University's Vice President for International Affairs, explained after her visit to the UCs early September. "In the future, we will furthermore be able to offer Göttingen students better opportunities to study abroad at these excellent universities." Among others strategies, organizing joint summer schools with the American partner universities should lead to more study places for German students in the USA.

The University of California is a system of world-class public universities in the state of California and includes more than 238,000 students. The University of Göttingen plans to work with UC Berkeley, one of the world’s leading universities, on diversity and immigration research, in particular, but also in the area of digital transformation research as well. The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen will also play a special role within this scope.

UC Davis is especially renowned worldwide for its sustainability research and environmental sciences. "We are delighted that the first major joint workshop on the agricultural, forestry and economic sciences will already be taking place in June 2016 in Göttingen," says Professor Casper-Hehne. "In addition to others subjects, the workshop will deal with analyses relating to agricultural economics, technology and innovation in the agricultural sector as well as with international agricultural trading. A matching summer school course is to follow."

In the area of digital transformation research and services, UC San Diego leads the world. A workshop with UCSD is also planned for 2016 where questions of research data management, long-term data security and open access will be covered, among others. These are aspects pivotal to developing research information infrastructures at universities around the globe.

For further information, visit the UC website: www.universityofcalifornia.edu.

Contact address:
Professor Hiltraud Casper-Hehne
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Vice-President for International Affairs
Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Phone +49 (0)551 39-13110
E-mail: hiltraud.casper-hehne@zvw.uni-goettingen.de
Website: www.uni-goettingen.de/de/vizepr%C3%A4sidentin-prof-dr-hiltraud-casper-hehne-/110984.html