Internationalization at the University of Cologne
Internationalization in studies, teaching and research as well as in campus management is central to the strategic development of the University of Cologne. International experience guarantees students a significant head start in national and global employment markets, is most often an essential requirement for academic careers, and fosters research performance and visibility.
In the years to come, teaching and research are to be coordinated to an even greater extent than in the past. UoC thereby regards all aspects of internationalization as a means of exchange, including both the targeted sending abroad of students and instructors as well as the admission of international students and researchers. Campus management, too, has come under a programme in support of staff mobility. Its individual areas nevertheless require partially differing measures and priorities, and hence are featured separately (where necessary).
UoC’s long-range goal is to be recognized and in demand as a university that generally awards degrees contingent on international experience. It is vital here that the necessary structures be erected on a step-by-step basis in order to do justice to the logistic challenges attending such an aspiration on the part of one of Germany’s largest universities. The concurrent aims are to reconfigure degree course schemes, to embed UoC in an even more tightly knit international network of universities, and thus to create a basic structure of programmes accessible to UoC students abroad while advancing internationalization at home.
The pertinent plans have been laid out in a 10-point agenda for the internationalization of study and research; the ultimate objective is for students to attain so-called internationalization points in 50 per cent of all degrees by 2018. In any case, the incorporation of internationalization points in degree course schemes, the organization of summer schools abroad, as well as arrangements for international internships seem appropriate measures to that end. Credits are to be granted not only for study periods abroad but also for achievements such as language courses and intercultural training.
The 10-point agenda comprises the following sub-steps:
Internationalization of Research
The strategy for the internationalization of research – unlike the strategy for the internationalization of studies and teaching – is less broad, aiming rather to foster especially close collaboration in regional priority areas and with particular foreign universities. The following two models are to be established:
1) Strategic research partnerships are to be promoted particularly in the core profile areas.
2) Preferred partnerships will be launched with a limited number of universities (approx. 15) which, on the one hand, have research and action profiles that promise to generate synergies with UoC activities and which, on the other, have been classified as excellent universities in their respective regional settings. Such partnerships are to transcend customary alliances and embrace a wide array of research, study and teaching measures as well as campus management initiatives.
Expansion of the International Network and Internationalization of Studies
3) Revision of all curricula to include internationalization options and, where appropriate, to establish
internationalization points as required achievements
4) Extension of the International Office and the International Relations Centres (ZIBs)
5) Construction of a comprehensive summer school system
6) Broadening of the English-language course offer
7) Development of double degree programmes/ reinforcement of existing schemes
UoC boasts a variety of highly successful programmes in this sphere, some of which have been in operation for a long time (particularly the joint agenda with Sorbonne University that celebrated its 20th anniversary in April 2010). The new German-Turkish master’s degree course in law in collaboration with Bilgi University, Istanbul, honoured its first graduate class in November 2011; a cooperation treaty with Kemerburgaz University, Istanbul for a joint BA-programme was signed in April 2012. Additional promising dual arrangements are in progress and are to be expedited purposefully.
8) Enhancement of professional international marketing
9) Expansion of international partnerships to increase studies abroad
10) Further improvement of study offers for international students
UoC regards the provision of high-quality advice and support to incoming exchange students a prime feature of internationalized study and teaching. Under the heading “Studienstart International”, the University of Cologne is the first higher education institution in Germany to have launched a university-wide start-of-studies programme on behalf of international newcomers to undergraduate courses. Studienstart International makes it easier for new entrants to embark on course work by rendering efficient support and guidance, along with appropriate options for their swift integration in the university and its specialized divisions.
General Internationalization Measures for Teaching and Research
(1) Extension of the foreign offices
Along with the China office of the China-NRW University Alliance, i.e. UoC’s office in Beijing, and the India office in Delhi, a US branch office was established in New York in October 2010. These offices are closely affiliated with the University’s International Office.
(2) Ambassadors
UoC focuses on specific geographic regions, which as a rule also correspond to priority areas of research conducted by Cologne’s professors. These regions/ states are to be represented by so-called UoC ambassadors nominated by the University and awarded sufficient budgetary funds to cultivate and multiply research contacts.
(3) International Faculty
A further aim is to use the internationalization-of-studies infrastructure for research ventures. Strengthening foreign contacts and exchange programmes on the basis of international networks will moreover serve to attract additional International Faculty and doctoral students from abroad; graduate schools are particularly well-suited for this purpose. The inclusion of doctorands in the university-wide Albertus Magnus Graduate School (AMGSC) will unfold positive effects here.
