04.11.2022

Autumn School in Wuppertal

History of the UEM: In the "Museum auf der Hardt", the doctoral students learned about the background and emergence of the communion of churches. Foto by: Andar Parlindungan, UEM

Participants and docents of this years Autumn School in Wuppertal. Foto by: Andar Parlindungan, UEM

"Transcultural Networks": This was the topic of the Autumn School 2022 at the Ruhr-University Bochum. 13 participants from Asia, Africa and Latin America met in October in Bochum to exchange ideas on their doctoral projects and to receive further training on global learning in ecumenical perspective for adults. The UEM, the Ruhr-University Bochum and the University of Bamberg jointly organized the training.

The Autumn School included several lectures, among them by Prof. Dr. C. Jahnel (Bochum) on "Decolonize the Curriculum!". Bochum lecturer Dr. P. Chakkarath gave a presentation on "Stability and fragility of networks from a cultural psychology perspective." and Prof. Dr. W. Jütte (Bielefeld) gave a talk on "Network Theory for Coperation and Acedemic Research."

During a visit to Wuppertal, the participants learned about the history and present of the UEM: For the history, they visited the "Museum auf der Hardt" with Christian Fröse, archivist at the VEM Archive and Museum Foundation. For the present, Angelika Veddeler, Head of Regional Service in the Germany Department of the UEM, and Andar Parlindungan, Head of Training & Empowerment, spoke about the current challenges of internationalization. On the topic of "Development of Global Learning and Religious Networks in and after the Pandemic Crisis," there was a plenary discussion at the end.

The Autumn School:

Since 2019, the UEM has been supporting three scholarship holders* from Africa, Asia and Germany to research aspects around the topic of education and intercultural theology in their own context as part of their doctoral theses. During this time, the three doctoral students are supervised by two professors from the Ruhr University Bochum and the University of Bamberg. In addition, the students will have the opportunity to exchange ideas about their academic projects.

The aim of the Autumn School is to attract qualified international students and/or young academics and to provide professional training in current research areas as well as professional and cultural exchange. It also aims to provide an insight into German teaching and research practice or, in the case of art and music colleges, into new artistic developments for international participants. Furthermore, the Autumn School aims at facilitating the positioning of German universities on the international education market, e.g. with the integration into the university's own internationalization strategy.

Here you can find our press release (german).