TH Wildau's "European Neighbours Initiative"
Brief Description
The European Neighbours Initiative is an informal alliance of 6 European higher education institutions committed to European values and the importance of sharing knowledge and experience between like-minded institutions. Inspired by the EU's European Higher Education Initiative, ENI is an informal group convinced that together, in an "alliance of equals", it is stronger than alone. The European idea is more endangered than originally thought. Therefore, it is crucial that ENI members, as neighbors in the heart of Europe, do everything in their power to bring European students and staff together and support each other in the upcoming challenges they face.
Although the number of members of the European Neighbors Initiative will necessarily remain manageable, TH Wildau remains open to new members, especially from neighboring countries not yet represented in the network. Please contact Dr. Jeffrey Wolf to express your institution's interest in joining.
Background
In a speech at the Sorbonne in September 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed the creation of a series of leading cross-border European universities, with at least 20 completed by 2024.
Inspired by this call, TH Wildau President Prof. Dr. Ulrike Tippe, with the support of the International Office, began to develop a more informal version of the European University idea that would focus on deepening partnerships between universities in the countries surrounding Germany - a 'European Neighbors Initiative'.
The idea became more concrete in mid-2020, when an initial list of potential partners was drawn up. Existing, long-standing and active relationships with universities in neighboring countries formed the starting point in the selection of universities.
In consultation with existing and potential partners in late 2020 and early 2021, TH Wildau formulated the European Neighborhood Initiative and asked six other institutions to join. The initiative officially began in the summer of 2021 with a series of "Kick-Off Meetings. In October 2022, the first consortium meeting took place at the TH Wildau, the second was organized at the Jean Monnet University in France. In April 2024, a “Blended Intensive Program” on the topic of “How does a factory work?” was held at the Poznan University of Technology, in which students and lecturers from several ENI partner universities took part.
The European Neighbors Initiative is of great relevance for the internationalisation of TH Wildau. Among other things, it enables Wildau to increase the mobility of its students and staff, to apply for and implement a greater variety of joint international research projects, and to develop an interdisciplinary digital infrastructure, as well as to test other ideas of collaboration.
Annual Consortium Meetings
OverviewOpen areaClose area
ENI members meet annually at alternating locations at the various partner institutions. Each year, the ENI partners decide on a core theme that will be the focus of the meeting, as well as the host university for that year. In addition to representatives from member universities, keynote speakers are sometimes invited to present at the meeting in order to foster discussion.
2024Open areaClose area
In April 2024, a “Blended Intensive Program” on the topic “How does a factory work?” was carried out. will be held at the Poznan University of Technology, in which students and teachers from several ENI partner universities took part.
2023Open areaClose area
2nd Annual ENI Consortium Meeting (2023)
The second annual consortium meeting of the European Neighbors Initiative (ENI) took place on May 15 and 16, 2023 on the campuses of Université Jean Monnet, IUT-Roanne (Roanne, France) and IUT-Saint-Étienne (Saint-Étienne, France). The agenda included topics such as online collaboration, summer schools/staff weeks, academic collaborations, blended intensive programs and the ENI framework. The participants discussed possibilities of virtual cooperation between the partner institutions. In addition, plans for joint summer schools and staff weeks were discussed to promote academic exchange. Another focus was on the development of blended intensive programmes and the design of the ENI framework for future cooperation.
2022Open areaClose area
Inaugural ENI Consortium Meeting at TH Wildau (2022)
The first consortium meeting of the European Neighbors Initiative (ENI) took place on October 27 and 28, 2022 on the campus of the TH Wildau in Wildau, about 35 km southeast of Berlin. The meeting was dedicated to the role and responsibility of universities in times of international conflict. On the first day, there was a registration and a welcome dinner, while the second day included a programmatic speech, discussions in working groups and a campus tour. Each of the ENI partner institutions could send up to three participants.
Projects and Events
TH Wildau Sustainable Mobility Academy (2023-2024)Open areaClose area
TH Wildau has been awarded funding by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) to establish the TH Wildau Sustainable Mobility Academy. The project begins on 1 January 2023 and finishes on 31 December 2024 (2 years). TH Wildau was one of only 11 institutions in Germany to be awarded funding through the DAAD’s HAW.International funding programme (2023-2024).
The 2023 Sustainable Mobility Summer Academy (04 - 15 September) will be held on the TH Wildau campus as one of the project's first big initiatives.
Partners from the European Neighbours both supported and contributed to the project application and will be an integral part of the Academy's success. They form the foundation for the external partnerships that will be deepened during the course of the project.
CLIL4ALL Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership (2022-2025)Open areaClose area
The teaching of a second language in higher education institutions in the European Union has grown in importance in recent years. This development includes an approach known as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). In the CLIL4ALL project, which is funded by the European Union with 400,000 EUR, TH Wildau together with the University of Córdoba (Spain), HAN University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands), Saint-Étienne University (France) and Karelia University of Applied Sciences (Finland) will facilitate the exchange of teachers and students, create scientific contributions to CLIL at European higher education institutions, strengthen CLIL practice and deepen its CLIL strategy in cooperation with its partners. The project offers the opportunity to compare different achievements in raising academic standards, especially in relation to internationalisation, inclusion and digitalisation. The exchange of experiences, research on CLIL and the joint development of teaching materials will be promoted and sustainably established with the project.
Double Degree in European Business Management with VIVES UniversityOpen areaClose area
Based on the long-standing, particularly successful cooperation with the Vives University of Applied Sciences in Kortrijk (Belgium), a double degree programme in the Bachelor's degree programme European Business Management will be established. The aim is to create an attractive offer for students of TH Wildau and Vives University of Applied Sciences from the winter semester 2023-2024, enabling students of both institutions to obtain a Bachelor's degree from the partner university after successfully completing an exchange year. The technical coordination between the partners is already well advanced and both partners intend to contractually establish the project in the summer semester of 2023.
First ResultsOpen areaClose area
The kick-off meetings were documented in detail so that findings and observations could be shared not only with the meeting participants but also with all members of the ENI consortium.
A document with the results of each kick-off meeting was then distributed to all ENI members.
Kick-Off MeetingsOpen areaClose area
In summer 2021, a series of (virtual) bilateral kick-off meetings took place between TH Wildau and each of the other 6 members of the European Neighbours Initiative.
Members of the university management, international office staff and interested faculty met to discuss the purpose of the initiative and possibilities for promising future cooperation.
These meetings marked the official start of the European Neighbours Initiative.
Latest News
Next ENI Coordinator's MeetingOpen areaClose area
The ENI Coordinators will meet virtually on Friday 23 June.
2nd ENI Consortium Meeting has EndedOpen areaClose area
The 2nd Annual ENI Consortium meeting was held successfully at Université Jean Monnet in France in May 2023.
Current ENI members include:
- HAN University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands)
- Poznań University of Technology (Poland)
- Technical University of Liberec ( Czech Republic)
- Technische Hochschule Wildau (Germany)
- Universitè Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne (France)
- VIVES University of Applied Sciences (Belgium)