We had a busy morning, dedicated to the internationalisation strategies of German Research Institutions. After receiving information on the German Strategy for the Internationalisation of Education, Science and Research, we heard about the internationalisation activities of the German Research Foundation. The University of Bonn and the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg then demonstrated two very different approaches towards internationalisation.

This was followed by an overview of the European Commission's European Universities Initiative which aims to bring together a new generation of creative Europeans and to boost cooperation between institutions, their students and staff. The German Academic Exchange Service supports the German higher education institutions with an accompanying national programme in the pilot phase.

Luckily, a Latvian/German tandem among our ERA Fellows are members of the FORTHEM alliance, which is part of the pilot phase of the European Universities Initiative. Their goal is to establish a new and innovative network which builds upon existing binational and trinational agreements between the participating universities.

In the afternoon, we enjoyed lively group discussions between the Fellows and their hosts on the topic of internationalisation. The group identified challenges and worked out potential approaches and ideas.

All photos: © Bjanka Bethe / DLR Projektträger