Press release: EXPERTS: Academic exchange between Europe and Asia

Nr. 202/2010 - 29.10.2010

Göttingen University coordinates new EU project with funding volume of 2.75 million euros

Strengthening cooperation between universities in Europe and in south and south east Asia: this is the aim of a new EU project developed and coordinated by the University of Göttingen. Initially, the focus of the project is on the exchange of academics, students and administrators, while in the longer term the setting up of joint study programmes is planned. The European Union is earmarking funding for the project amounting to 2.75 million euros over a period of four years. Besides the University of Göttingen, 18 cooperation partners in Europe and Asia are involved, including the Göttingen partner universities in Nanjing (China) and Pune (India). The Coimbra Group which unites 38 leading European universities is also integrated into the project as an associated partner. “Promoting the mobility of excellent students is an essential component of the internationalisation strategy of the Georg-August-Universität”, explains University Vice-President Prof. Dr. Hiltraud Casper-Hehne. “Since 2008 we have obtained scholarship grants for Göttingen in the amount of some 1.9 million euros within the EU programme ‘Erasmus Mundus Action 2’. This places us among the European universities with the highest success rate in this programme.”

The EXPERTS project (Exchange by Promoting Quality Education, Research and Training in South and South-East Asia) is expected to make available 126 exchange places: 26 for Bachelor students, 34 for Master students, 25 for PhD candidates and 15 for post-doctoral researchers. In addition, there are to be 26 places for academic administrators, to enable them to extend their knowledge of international higher education management. The main areas targeted for exchange are agricultural and environmental studies, economics, social sciences and engineering. “At the kick-off meeting in Los Banjos in the Philippines, the participants developed and set out application and selection criteria as well as quality assurance and marketing strategies”, says project initiator and coordinator Dr. Uwe Muuss, Director of the Göttingen International staff unit at the University of Göttingen. “The first round of exchanges is planned for autumn 2011.”