Press release: Once again most successful German university in the EU programme

Nr. 161/2013 - 12.09.2013

Göttingen University receives € 6 million for international scholarships

(pug) Göttingen University can offer scholarships to foreign academics, researchers and students totalling around 6 million euros. This is equivalent to 290 scholarships of varying duration. The money is provided by “Action 2“ of the EU’s Erasmus Mundus programme. Within this programme, merged higher education institutions in Europe and other non-European countries can mutually apply for funding to foster exchanges between scholars, researchers and students, but also administrative staff. In the most recent allocation round, the EU selected a total of 57 projects for funding: Göttingen University is coordinating two of these projects and is partnering five others. The EU will provide more than € 6 million to fund the two projects coordinated by Göttingen; the other five projects will receive overall funding of € 15 million.

Since 2009, Göttingen University, as co-ordinator, raised funds totalling nearly € 22.3 million for “Action 2 – Erasmus Mundus Partnerships”. To date, over € 4 million euros have been allocated for around 360 scholarships at the university, including projects Göttingen is partnering. “With the current number of 35 on-going projects, Göttingen University is in the top-ranked group of the European higher education institutions and, at the same time, once again the most successful German higher education institution by far within this programme,“ states Professor Hiltraud Casper-Hehne, Vice President for International Affairs. “The scholarship monies raised aim to flank the research and education co-operations we have with the target countries and institutions incorporated in our internationalisation strategy.“ What is new is that an increasing number of scholarships are offered in many projects as well, thereby also allowing students, academics and scientists from Göttingen to visit the respective partner regions.

The first of the two projects coordinated in Göttingen fosters an academic exchange between Europe and India. On the European side, the Göttingen partners of the U4 Network involved in the NAMASTE project include the Universities Uppsala, Gent and Groningen as well as Oxford. Co-coordinator on the Indian side is the Indian Institute of Science and Technology (IISER) Pune – likewise one of Göttingen University's strategic partners. IISER Pune supports the coordination with the total of twelve partnering institutions on the Indian side, including, among others, the likes of the renowned IISER Calcutta and the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur.

In the second Göttingen project, European universities are working with institutes of higher learning in several Asian countries. Numerous strategic universities partnering Göttingen are involved in the EXPERTS4Asia project, e.g. the University of Nanjing, China. Co-coordinator on the Asian side is the Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia, a long-standing partner with whom Göttingen University maintains a Collaborative Research Centre. New additions include the University of Syiah Kuala in Banda Aceh, which was seriously affected by the devastating tsunami of 2004. Back then, the Universities of Göttingen and Bogor had mutually provided extensive aid to rebuild the destroyed university.

For further information on the Erasmus Mundus Action 2 projects Göttingen University participates in, please visit www.uni-goettingen.de/de/311785.html.

Contact address:
Dr. Tanja Falkowski
Georg August University of Göttingen
The International Office
Von-Siebold-Strasse 2, 37075 Göttingen
Phone +49 551 39-21334
E-Mail: tanja.falkowski@zvw.uni-goettingen.de
Website: www.uni-goettingen.de/de/311055.html