Internationalization
The international network of the University of Cologne is wide-reaching and well-established, and comprises 20 university-level and about 200 faculty-level partnerships, each based on cooperation agreements.
Currently, about 12% of the University’s students and 6% of its professors come from abroad. UoC’s international profile is complemented by a large number of international visiting scholars funded, e.g., by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the German Academic Exchange Service.
Welcome!
In the last few years, UoC has made concerted efforts to step up its internationalization process. Since 2005, the Rectorate has been responsible for coordinating an integrated and unified approach towards increasing internationalization. As part of this new policy, the International Office and the UoC Welcome Centre for international staff and guests were both expanded significantly. Worthy of particular note: the Welcome Centre was awarded 4th place in a 2008 federal competition.
UoC has also been actively consolidating and expanding its international networks with selected partners, e.g. the Universities of Berkeley, British Columbia, Fudan and Keio, and is playing a leading role in the foundation of the German-Turkish University in Istanbul. UoC has also made great strides in Asia – a region of strategic importance for regional studies and megacities research. For example, UoC is currently setting up the Cologne Centre for Chinese Studies, a forum for Chinese guest academics. Moreover, UoC coordinates the China-NRW University Alliance, has recently opened offices in Beijing and Delhi, and has also established new cooperation agreements with leading universities in China, India and Japan.
Striving for Mobility and Internationality to Meet the Future
UoC has so far established a host of strategic international networks, and is now merging all these activities into an extensive international programme. A prime item on this agenda is the ten-point plan for the internationalization of studies, with the long-range goal of fostering the international mobility of all students.
