The Hochschule Niederrhein has successfully attended a call for proposals by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The projects "ThinkGlobal" and "Edu4SmartTex" are being funded with a total of 1.5 million euros as part of the "HAW.International" sponsor line. "This is a great success for our efforts to make The Hochschule Niederrhein more international," says University President Dr. Thomas Grünewald.
In the "Edu4SmartTex" project, The Hochschule Niederrhein will work with its partner universities in Boras (Sweden), Hasselt (Belgium) and Bandung (Indonesia) to develop a double degree Bachelor's program in the field of Smart Textiles / Textile Electronics. The DAAD has approved a sum of one million euros for this purpose. "We are delighted to be able to pool our teaching expertise in the field of smart textiles internationally with the help of DAAD funding. This will enable us to use important synergies with other universities to train students in a future economically relevant and interdisciplinary field of application," says Professor Anne Schwarz-Pfeiffer from the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology, who submitted this outline together with her colleague Professor Ekaterina Nannen from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Around half a million euros will go towards the "ThinkGlobal" project, which aims to internationalize the university. The financial resources will be used to improve the institutional and structural framework conditions and expand networks with foreign partners. Students will also benefit from the implementation. For example, there will be more courses in the area of intercultural skills.
"This extensive funding from the DAAD is helping to bring The Hochschule Niederrhein a long way forward in the area of internationalization," says Professor Marion Halfmann, Internationalization Officer at The Hochschule Niederrhein.
With the "HAW.International" programme, the DAAD sponsors innovative projects that contribute to the expansion of internationalization at universities of applied sciences. In this year's third funding round, 30 new projects at 27 universities of applied sciences were selected to receive around 21 million euros in funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research until 2025.
