The Chair of Transport System Planning workshop series has been held since 2014, alternating locations between Moscow and Weimar and with students from both Germany and Russia. Student teams from Urbanistik, Architectural Management and Umweltingenieurwissenschaften look across disciplines for sustainable solutions to urban development and future-oriented infrastructure. »The cooperation, exchange of experience and the joint search for solutions help broaden the horizons and expand the knowledge of students from both countries. The learn and expand upon international approaches while at the same time taking national specificities into account«, explains project coordinator Raimo Harder. »Cultural immersion and exchanging different perspectives both strengthens students’ intercultural competence and lays the foundation for developing internationally competitive ideas«, he adds. In the future the Think Tank will also explore cities’ resilience in pandemics and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Building bridges in German-Russian Higher Education Cooperation

Together with 24 other projects, Harder’s Think Tank impressed at the national »Brücken für die deutsch-russische Hochschul- und Wissenschaftszusammenarbeit« competition, which was launched on the occasion of the 2018-2020 German-Russian theme. The award ceremony will take place during the closing events supported by the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergej Lavrov, and the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, Heiko Maas.

124 universities and research institutions participated in the categories of »Cooperation Between Universities«, »Top-Level Research«, »Innovation« and »Young Researchers«. Projects were submitted from nearly every discipline. In addition to well-known German research funding organisations, a number of German universities and young researchers along with their Russian partners took part. 

Dynamic Cooperation for Over 50 Years

The cooperation programme with the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering is one of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar's oldest. The agreement was first signed on 21 April 1967 and has been regularly renewed since then. The partnership with MGSU aims to develop joint research projects, globalise engineering studies and doctoral qualifications, and to develop the international graduate labour market qualifications. This includes a bilateral exchange between scientists, doctoral candidates and students as well as the joint organisation of workshops, conferences, and guest lectures in the fields of civil engineering, computer sciences, management and transport infrastructure. 

Further information can be found on this year’s website: https://wissenschaftspartner.de/
as well as on the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar's International Office website: www.uni-weimar.de/international