Internationality is one of the key profile features of Hochschule Bremen (HSB): almost 19 per cent of our 9,000-strong student body have an international background. The majority of the 70 or so degree courses include English-language training and stays abroad. In the EU-funded STARS EU alliance, HSB is collaborating with its eight European partners to create a European University. In the area of further education, its International Graduate Centre (IGC) is the address of choice for young professionals from all over the world. To provide these students with the best possible entry into the German labour market, HSB is now to receive funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the framework of its so-called FIT programme, which promotes international talent for entry into studies and the labour market.
The programme is designed to enable German universities to support international students throughout their entire stay with tailor-made offers to help them achieve their educational goal – as well as to subsequently take up employment in Germany. In total, the DAAD supports around 100 universities all over Germany in the area of capacity building for international students. HSB will receive a total of around 900,000 euros. The funding, which will start on 1 April 2024, is over a four-year period.
"As part of the DAAD project, we are planning a package of courses, advisory services and networking activities at HSB," says Prof. Dr Konrad Wolf, HSB President. "These include language training, the teaching of core skills for studying at a German university, but also early support in developing professional goals and strategies for their realisation." Some of the measures focus specifically on the group of international students enrolled in STEM subjects and in healthcare and nursing degree courses.
Over the past few years, HSB has established several internationally attractive and practice-oriented degree courses in the field of health care and nursing care – providing international students with intensive support and preparing them for the requirements of their professions at an early stage, with the overarching aim of helping to meet the demand for skilled personnel in these two areas. HSB also trains a particularly high proportion of international students in the STEM subjects.
Within the framework of the project, HSB will also co-operate with the University of Bremen, which is likewise to receive DAAD funding. Existing links with the regional economy are to be bundled and strengthened. There will be regular meetings to coordinate activities and plan joint activities – for example, joint visits to regional networking events.
Another cooperation partner is HERE Ahead Academy, which is supported by the state of Bremen and the universities in Bremen. The academy offers a wide range of German courses and other preparatory measures to prepare forced migrants and prospective international students for university, thus making an important contribution to the DAAD project.
