Erasmus+ strengthens international cooperation at the University of Jena

To facilitate international experiences, exchange knowledge and connect institutions of higher education across borders: for this, Friedrich Schiller University Jena is receiving around 1.8 million euros in the current round of Erasmus+ funding. This is the highest amount of funding the University has been awarded under the relevant Erasmus+ programmes over the past ten years.

»Erasmus+ boosts the mobility of researchers and students, whilst also fostering existing collaborations and opening up new partnerships in Europe and worldwide«, says Dr Claudia Hillinger, Head of the International Office at the University of Jena. At the same time, Erasmus+ contributes to the advancement of excellence: »International experience, the exchange of knowledge and collaboration with strong partner institutions strengthen research and teaching and provide new impetus for joint projects.«

New perspectives worldwide

With the current funding round, the University of Jena is once again expanding its international Erasmus+ network. For the first time, the Caribbean is being added, with Cuba as a partner country. Other approved partner regions include Asia and the Pacific, the USA and Canada, the Western Balkans, the Southern Mediterranean and the Eastern Neighbourhood. These include, for example, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and the Caucasus region.

For students at Jena, a stay abroad enhances their international and personal skills and, consequently, their employability. Conversely, international students and researchers can get to know the University of Jena and the local research community—and thus be attracted to study and conduct research in Jena in the long term.

Erasmus+ connects Kharkiv and Jena

A recent example illustrates how funding leads to concrete collaboration: at the end of August, a delegation from V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, comprising five academics and ten students, were able to take part in the EMIMEP Summer School at the Abbe Center of Photonics at the University of Jena. The summer school focused on microwave electronics and Photonics. Both subject areas link the University of Jena with its European partners in the international master’s degree programme EMIMEP—the »European Master for Industry in Microwave Electronics and Photonics«. Institutions of higher education from France, Italy, Spain and Germany are involved in the Erasmus Mundus degree programme. The funding facilitated personal exchanges and strengthened an existing partnership.

»International cooperation does not arise solely on paper, but through personal encounters. Erasmus+ creates precisely these opportunities—and thereby strengthens Jena as an open and internationally networked centre of science«, says Irene Weinzierl, coordinator of the EMIMEP international master’s degree programme at the University of Jena. The exchange is also of great significance for the Ukrainian side. Prof. Volodymir Tuz, Professor of Theoretical Radiophysics at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University and head of the delegation, sees the partnership with Jena as offering important prospects for the future. »Our partnership and friendship with our Erasmus+ partners opens up important opportunities to further deepen our collaboration with Jena in both research and education,« says Tuz.

The Summer School is not intended to be the end point of this collaboration. Both universities are working to further deepen their cooperation in research and innovation. The focus is particularly on Physics, photonics and quantum technologies.

Erasmus+ thus does more than simply facilitate international mobility. The programme forges links between people and institutions, from which long-term collaborations in study, research and innovation can emerge.