Internationalisation of Teaching and Learning
Giving teaching an international dimension plays an important part in the overall strategy of internationalisation at the University of Göttingen, which offers a wide range of international degree programmes as well as joint and/or double degree-programmes.
This international outlook to the courses and degrees on offer is not solely intended to promote the recruitment of international students, but also to create sustainable internationalisation “at home”. Therefore, as part of its international profile, the University of Göttingen cultivates and promotes not only English language skills, the targeted recruitment of foreign students, support services designed to meet the special needs of international and German students on international degree programmes but also – alongside University-wide international alumni activities – degree-specific alumni activities on selected programmes.
The vast majority of international study programmes is held completely or largely in the English language, in order to simplify access for international students and introduce German students to the experience of working consistently in English, the international language of science. At the same time, Göttingen also offers international Master degree programmes in German, designed for international students with suitable language skills. Targeted recruitment – especially on heavily research-oriented degree programmes such as those of the Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB) – is ensured by an international application and selection procedure. Finally, international degree programmes usually have their own coordinators.
Further expansion of international degree programmes is also promoted by institutional measures. This is supported by the post of International Curriculum Development at Student and Academic Services, which assists and advises the faculties to plan and arrange contracts for international cooperation programmes of study, in particular for joint or double degrees, and the management of double doctorates with the inter- national Cotutelle-de-Thèse procedure.
The study content offered on international degree programmes is either developed jointly for the new degree programme or adapted to the needs of the students of the foreign partner universities in close professional consultation. These degree programmes have a global orientation and therefore a special demand for support, as well as to meet the technical needs of internationally mobile students. Therefore, employability and the needs of the international jobs market as well are issues of great relevance on international degree programmes, and are already considered at the planning stage. Preparation for working internationally and the demands of the global jobs market rely above all in the realisation stage on suitable work placements, training in key competencies and the provision of graduate associations through the Alumni Network or degree-specific networks.
Students and graduates are expected to have broad international knowledge and transcultural skills, regardless whether they have studied abroad. In order to offer all students, including those who for all kinds of reasons cannot or do not wish to study abroad the opportunity to develop or increase these skills and abilities and gain experience of international learning, the University of Göttingen endeavours to strengthen internationalisation of its curricula locally.
Therefore the faculties are helped to develop (further) the courses and degrees they offer
- on which students can develop a critical awareness of local and global questions in relation to their subject and increase their knowledge of transnational issues,
- which take account of the increasingly diverse student cohorts, as well as the diverse national and cultural backgrounds of teaching staff,
- which enable students to communicate and act successfully and empathetically in transcultural environments, and motivate them to make active and enriching contact with representatives of other cultures.
Appropriate measures to internationalise the curricula must be carefully attuned to the relevant academic tradition and the context of the discipline. Therefore both the development of international study programmes and the internationalisation of curricula take place in close cooperation with the deans of studies, the Internationalisation representative, degree programme coordinators and above all the teaching staff and students on the degree programmes. In accordance with the Mission Statement for Teaching and Learning, the focus is on the interlinking of internationalisation, digitalisation and diversity-orientation to promote research-oriented teaching. For example, (digital) teaching/learning materials that integrate a global perspective are developed, based on the respective qualification and learning goals. What are known as ‘Joint Classrooms’ – collaborative formats for virtual international exchanges of knowledge – enable students direct contact with teaching staff and students from partner universities, including from the European university network ENLIGHT.
The ENLIGHT university consortium, funded by the European Union since December 2020, is one of the strategic networks of special importance to the continuing internationalisation of the University of Göttingen. Building on the longstanding and successful partnership of the U4 Society network, the University of Göttingen now forms a network of nine renowned partners, the European universities of Groningen, Uppsala, Tartu, Bordeaux, Bratislava, and the University of the Basque Country, all partners who are strong in research, together endeavouring to reshape higher education internationally. Characterised by the promotion of sustainability, global engagement and quality of life based on equitable distribution, the cooperation focuses in particular on five global challenges that can only be resolved internationally: climate change, health and welfare, social inequality, the digital revolution as well as energy and the circular economy.
ENLIGHT aims to create the conditions for an integrated European Higher Education Area in which students and employees enjoy freedom of movement and which increases the international scope of all participating partners. With the aid of shared resources and quality assurance structures, the network is developing teaching and learning formats that promote virtual and physical mobility, at the same time as forms of blended mobility, in which physical meetings either precede or accompany virtual learning experiences. The spectrum ranges from easy-access teaching and learning formats through short-term programmes such as summer or winter school and the inclusion of local stakeholders in Living Labs, through to joint degree programmes. What all these have in common is that they draw on the broad expertise of all nine partners both interdisciplinarily and internationally. Students and teaching staff work on the five focal themes of the network from a problem-based perspective (challenge-based learning).
In Göttingen ENLIGHT’s network activities are coordinated, supported and guided by Student and Academic Services and Göttingen International.