Study in California for six months? The Hochschule Niederrhein (HSNR) is now making that possible: With San Francisco State University (SFSU), where nearly 30,000 people study, it has brought a strong partner on board. University President Dr. Thomas Grünewald and his U.S. colleague Lynn Mahoney signed a cooperation agreement to promote stays abroad in the Lower Rhine region as well as in northern California.
HSNR students from all ten faculties will be able to study at San Francisco State University for one semester starting this fall. In addition, it will be possible to work in the U.S. for a few months immediately following the end of the semester, for example to conduct research in a company as part of their bachelor's or master's thesis. "The university there has many practical contacts that can help find an internship," says Professor Dr. Marion Halfmann. The representative for internationalization of the presidium at HSNR had established the contact with the American university at a trade fair.
The cooperation has many advantages for the students from the Lower Rhine: the costly tuition fees in the U.S. are significantly reduced, the university helps with VISA matters and provides housing. Incidentally, there are no limits on how many students are allowed to go to the U.S. or come to the university from there. "And for those who don't want to spend a whole semester, they can go there for summer school," says Halfmann, who teaches business administration, marketing and sales at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics. Only time will tell whether the close cooperation will also encompass other areas such as research.
The cooperation with San Francisco is another building block for HSNR to become even more international. The goal of increasingly attracting new partners outside the EU is gaining momentum. Plans are already being made for exchanges with universities in Cancún, Mexico, and Cape Town, South Africa.
Halfmann is pleased about the new cooperation - especially since interest in staying abroad is generally increasing again noticeably after the Corona pandemic. Last year, more than twice as many students and lecturers from the Hochschule Niederrhein went abroad as in 2019/20.
