Universität zu Köln 

Think global - act international: Summer Schools Asien

Challenge
Globalization impacts our everyday working life, but also our personal ways of living and our political and cultural customs. Young people need extensive knowledge and manifold skills to be able to move easily in international circles.

Thanks to cooperation agreements with partner universities, tuition fees are seldom demanded for summer schools. Nevertheless, the attendees themselves must pay for the entire trip and the cost of living at the school location. As a result, desired study visits abroad often fail for lack of financial means.


Aim
Asia is an interesting region not only for economic and cultural reasons. By organizing summer schools there, we seek to enhance the internationality as well as the socio-cultural and professional qualifications of our Cologne students. Asia summer schools aim to improve our students’ language skills, provide them with country-specific knowledge and heighten their cultural sensitivity for the region. Students gain first-hand insight into the country’s culture and tradition, and can discuss topical issues with the people living there.

Measure

1.    China Summer School
Every year in August, the University of Cologne organizes month-long summer schools at various universities in China (e.g. the University of Political Science and Law in Beijing). Students from all disciplines are thus given the opportunity to acquaint themselves with Chinese culture at the diverse locations. The core summer school programme is a four-week language course. If they wish, participants can subsequently complete an internship.

2.    India Summer School
Every year in August, the University of Cologne organizes a month-long summer school in Pondicherry. In addition to learning about India’s culture, students there get to know the Dravidian language Tamil, which beside Sanskrit is the second classical language of India.

Financial Requirement
To enable a student to participate in a one-month summer school, a sum of about 2,500 euros is needed. The University of Cologne wants to support at least 20 students per year under one of the two summer school programmes in China or India. To that end, financial resources of approximately 50,000 euros are required. We would be happy to put together an individual funding package for you.

Help to prepare students for the globalized world by sponsoring them in one of the following ways:

Create an endowment on behalf of the summer schools:
In this way, the sum of your contribution remains intact and only its interest earnings and dividends flow into the summer schools. Establishing an endowment is an option if your money is to have a lasting effect over generations. Contribute 25,000 euros, for example, and permit at least one student a year to attend a summer school.

Of course, you can also back Cologne University’s summer schools with a donation. For example:

Donate up to 5,000 euros and make it possible for students to participate in a summer school programme.

Donate between 5,000 and 10,000 euros and allow two to four students to take part in one of the programmes.

Donate over 10,000 euros and give more than four students the chance to attend a summer school.