Faces of partnership

Joybrato Mukherjee is promoting the internationalisation of German higher education in not one, but two leadership pos­itions – as President of the glo­bally networked Justus Liebig University in Giessen and as Vice President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). He emphasises the ­importance of “a broad inter­nationalisation” and also says: “More and more countries understand, as we do, that academic excellence can only be achieved through cooperation.”

JOYBRATO MUKHERJEE © Jonas Ratermann
President of Giessen University and Vice President of the DAAD

 

Bénédicte Savoy stands for ­cultural openness and top ­international research. The French art his­torian first visited Berlin as an exchange student while at school. “Exchange and encounter are generally what make us human,” she says. The professor, who also acts as host for ­scholarship holders within the ­Humboldt Foundation network, has plans to “put together a very ­international, young team” for a new project on looted art.

BÉNÉDICTE SAVOY © Stephan Pramme
Art historian at TU Berlin,  Leibniz Award winner in 2016

 

Since 2012 the German-Israeli Programme for Cooper­ation in Vocational Education has had an additional poster child: an exchange for trainees and apprentices. Atar Mandel, a trainee in architecture and ­design, took part in 2015. She spent three weeks in Germany ­together with 17 other young ­Israelis. Their expectations of getting to know new materials and techniques were “more than fulfilled”, says the 28-year-old.

ATAR MANDEL © Anika Büssemeier
Successful participant in the German-Israeli Programme for Co­opera­tion in Vocational Education

 

Bearing responsibility, taking educational opportunities: Leadership for Syria is a DAAD scholarship programme that is funded by the Federal Foreign Office and enables young, highly talented Syrians to complete a course of study in Germany. “The scholarship offers me valuable new prospects,” says Osama Makansi, who is ­studying informatics.

OSAMA MAKANSI © Stefan Maria Rother
Student at the University of Freiburg, scholarship holder in the Leadership for Syria programme

 

International logistics is the world of Misbah Naz. She works at the Pakistani partner company of DB Schenker. Naz was one of the first graduates of the dual vocational training programme organised in the country by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für ­Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). “What I enjoy doing most is reeling in a promising order for my company.”

MISBAH NAZ © Abdul Majeed Goraya
Logistics professional who has completed a dual vocational training programme

 

Operating state-of-the-art technology is perfectly normal for apprentices at Volks­wagen Mexico. Ernesto Reyes (18) can skilfully handle industrial robots. A great deal has changed since VW opened its training academy in Puebla 50 years ago, but the concept of dual training has remained. And it opens up new prospects: “After qualifying I would like to study engineering,” says Reyes.

ERNESTO REYES © Sandra Weiss
Apprentice mechatronic technician, trainee at Volkswagen Mexico in Puebla

 

Approaching others to understand them better: the German-Russian Year of Youth Exchange 2016/2017 ­offers many opportunities for ­that – for example, in the ­German-Russian Youth ­Parliament. ­Michail Kriwopal, former co-chair of the ­parliament, says: “Mutual ­exchange – for instance, in the form of political debates – is highly informative and ­interesting for everybody.”

MICHAIL KRIWOPAL © Stiftung DRJA/Marco Fieber
Journalist, actively involved in German-Russian youth exchange

 

It is hard to imagine that ­Anastasia Gotgelf did not speak a word of German three years ago. Today, the 25-year-old Russian explains with almost no accent how happy she was to be able to begin an English-language Master’s programme in Berlin in 2013. Over 1,300 foreign-language and international degree programmes are offered in Germany. “The range of subjects is huge. And I have a free choice of many of the modules in my Master’s programme – a great advantage.”

ANASTASIA GOTGELF © privat
Master’s student of integrated natural resource management at Humboldt-­Universität zu Berlin

 

If Nguyen Minh Tan were to wish for anything, it would be even more cooperation. ­German-Vietnamese research exchange is a subject very close to the heart of the process ­engin­eer at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. As the initiator and head of the ­Ger­many Alumni Green Group, the former DAAD scholarship holder (TU Dresden) promotes co­opera­tion and academic mobility. “We initiate joint ­projects, arrange internships and ­organise seminars.”

NGUYEN MINH TAN © Jonas Ratermann
Germany Alumni Green Group

 

Things couldn’t have gone better for Tiberiu-Stefan Grindei. The 27-year-old Romanian moved to Germany six years ago and began a dual vocational training programme as a process mechanic. He was able to apply what he learned at vocational school immediately at work. His boss was convinced of his abilities – and took him on after his apprenticeship. Now he has a new ambition: “I would like to continue my education and eventually ­perhaps takes the examinations to become a master craftsman.”

TIBERIU-STEFAN GRINDEI © privat
Process mechanic, employed by Betec Beschichtungstechnik after completing his apprenticeship

 

Practical learning: Cansu Sancaktar liked how students were encouraged to make active contributions at Istanbul Lisesi, which belongs to the PASCH network of German partner schools. She is now studying electrical engineering at the Technical University of Munich and appreciates the open dialogue with academic staff. “Very early on, I developed the wish to begin my engineering studies in Germany because of the good universities and the research infrastructure,” she says. “My expectations have been met.”

CANSU SANCAKTAR © privat
Scholarship holder in the DAAD programme for former students of German schools abroad

 

It is a fresh political start for a country with a difficult past: the end of the military dictatorship in Myanmar has also brought changes for Khin San Yee. The former university rector, who completed her doctorate in Göttingen with support from the German Academic ­Exchange Service (DAAD), was Minister of Education in her country from 2014 to early 2016. “The German education system can be a model for us,” she says.  

KHIN SAN YEE © Stephan Pramme
DAAD alumna and former Minister of Education of Myanmar

 

Shehab Alsaied believes his education has priority. In 2014, when the situation became worse in his native Syria, he fled to Turkey and enrolled to study health sciences in Ankara. He is financing his studies with a DAFI scholarship. This ­UNHCR programme is supported by the Federal Foreign Office and has enabled over 8,000 refugees to study since 1992. “As a result, I can concentrate on my degree,” says Shehab.

SHEHAB ALSAIED © privat
Scholarship holder of the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) in Ankara

 

There are German schools all over the world – from San Francisco to Singapore and from Moscow to Melbourne. While the young American Athena Dunkle lived in Germany, she and her parents came to appreciate the German school system. Now she has returned to the USA, Athena is glad to ­attend the German School in Washington. “I am able to connect to a lot of open-minded, world-traveled individuals here,” says the 16-year-old student. Learning German was not easy, but it has been worthwhile, she adds.

ATHENA DUNKLE © DSW/Beate Mahious
Student at the German School in Washington, DC

 

Young Europe is characterised by students who use the ­Euro­pean Union Erasmus+ ­programme. For a long time now, German universities and colleges have been cultivating many Erasmus partnerships that go beyond the traditional destination countries like Spain, France and the United Kingdom. Law student Jan Rinklake went from the Freie Universität ­Berlin to Lithuania. He says: “Exchange programmes like Erasmus enable many people to gain new perspectives. That is especially important for a Europe in crisis.”

JAN RINKLAKE © privat
Law student, spending an Erasmus semester at Mykolo Romerio Universitetas in Lithuania

 

Although the lessons are very different from at home in China, it didn’t take Minsong He long to find his new school, host parents and new friends in Rostock really cool. The city on the Baltic Sea will be his tem­porary home for eight months. Minsong He is one of many young people who are participating in the German-Chinese Year of School and Youth ­Exchanges 2016. “I would like to study engineering in Germany later,” he says.

MINSONG HE © Ove Arscholl
Participant in the German-­Chinese Year of School and Youth Exchanges