The Hochschule Niederrhein (HSNR) has acquired funding for the third time in the "HAW.International" funding line of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Around 500,000 euros will be available for internationalization in the "ConnActGlobal" project until the end of 2025. The approval comes just in time: "ThinkGlobal" - a project that focuses on internationalization, the development of a strategic partner network and the intercultural skills of students - expired at the end of last year.

In the new "ConnActGlobal" project, these measures are now to be expanded. "We are very pleased that we can seamlessly build on the 'ThinkGlobal' project and take the university a step further in the area of internationalization," says project manager and internationalization officer Prof. Dr. Marion Halfmann.

Specifically, the mobility of lecturers is to be sponsored, for example through more programs for guest lecturers. The HSNR also wants to work even more closely with selected partner universities. For example, joint summer schools are being planned: the HSNR and the US University of North Carolina at Charlotte, for example, want to ensure that exchange students not only take part in classes at the respective university, but can also gain practical experience in companies in the region.

Cooperation with the Universitatea Politehnica Timișoara in Romania is also to be further expanded with a summer school to enable students and lecturers to spend a short period abroad.

There will be a digital hackathon with The Hague University of Applied Sciences THUAS in The Hague, Netherlands, to bring students and lecturers even closer together.

To round off the "ConnActGlobal" project, the university app will receive a digital, multilingual feature to reduce language barriers for foreign guests.

"The renewed funding is a great success. We look forward to working with all members of the university on the path to internationalization in the coming years. In this way, we are laying the foundations for a successful future," says University President Dr. Thomas Grünewald.

With the "HAW.International" programme, the DAAD sponsors innovative projects that contribute to the expansion of internationalization at universities of applied sciences. Students are to be prepared for the globalized job market, the universities of applied sciences are to be made more visible internationally and the practical emphasis / orientation of the education model is to be made better known internationally.