GSSC Seminar Series
13 May 2025
International academic exchange: A discussion on sustainability
Gerda Kuiper (University of Cologne)
12:00-13:00
International academic exchange is core business for the members of the Global South Studies Centre. It is also of increasing importance for the standing of our university and for the acquisition of funding, with Germany being highly active in the field of “science diplomacy”. At the same time, such international cooperations often depend completely on third-party funding that only runs for a limited number of years. Working within a “project logic” such exchanges run the risk of failing to achieve long-lasting effects and can at the same time come with considerable monetary, ecological and/or social costs.
How can international academic exchange become more sustainable, in a broad sense of the word: long-living; environmentally-friendly; and social, with all partners involved reaping benefits? This question has been discussed in the past months between the chair of Prof. Michaela Pelican (Rector’s Representative for International Affairs) and the office of Prof. Kirk Junker, the Vice-Rector for Sustainability at the University of Cologne. Especially in a context of shrinking budgets and a nascent global climate crisis, the purposes and forms of implementation of international academic exchange should be reconsidered.
This seminar will briefly introduce the topic and will discuss the example of the DAAD Global Climate and Environment Center AFAS, a cooperation between two African and two German universities. After that, the floor will be open for a discussion about your experiences with developing and maintaining international cooperation.