Scotland and Rhineland-Palatinate deepen HE collaboration

The German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (RLP) and Scotland are seeking to intensify collaboration in education, culture, higher education and research, and have signed a corresponding declaration of intent.

The aim of the agreement is to expand research cooperation, facilitate language learning and intercultural dialogue, strengthen collaboration in education and teacher training and promote exchange between artists, schoolchildren, trainees, students and academics. Further developments are to evolve around the Scotland Hub at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).

Located in the RLP capital of Mainz, JGU already established a Scotland focus in 1981, and it maintains official partnerships with seven Scottish universities. Planned cooperation is to focus particularly on teacher training, while in research, collaboration is in progress in a range of disciplines, particularly in the humanities, law and physics.

JGU’s Scotland Hub acts as a platform for Scottish culture in Germany, based on which outside lecturer Sigrid Rieuwerts was appointed last year as the university’s ‘Scotland Commissioner’.

Initiatives she launched include the ‘GET-SET-GO’ programme for student teachers, which sends German educational trainees from JGU and the University of Koblenz-Landau, also in RLP, to Scottish schools as language assistants for one semester.

“The existing GET-SET-GO programme is an excellent example of mutually beneficial cooperation,” says JGU President Georg Krausch. “The students at the participating schools in Scotland benefit from German lessons supported by young, dedicated native speakers, while our students gain valuable experience abroad and in teaching.

“They convey the German language, history and culture in a lively and authentic way and thus paint a modern picture of Germany, which in the best-case scenario can motivate Scottish pupils to participate in a school exchange or study programme in Germany.”

Scottish Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science Richard Lochhead, who signed the declaration, said: “I very much welcome this agreement, which will support intercultural exchange and help us to continue higher education and research cooperation with Rhineland-Palatinate despite the challenges of Brexit,” referring to the UK’s exit from the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme.

“I am also delighted that the German Academic Exchange Service has selected Mainz University’s cooperation with Scotland as a model project for the internationalisation of teacher education.”

Konrad Wolf, RLP minister for science, further education and culture, said: “Education, academia and culture all thrive on exchange. They are successful when people exchange ideas, discuss positions and learn from each other. I am therefore very pleased that we will be expanding our existing partnerships.

“Exchange and cooperation with Scotland make our universities even more attractive. We can open up perspectives here in research and teaching for our students and academics, and also for our artists.”

John Swinney, deputy first minister of Scotland and cabinet secretary for education and skills, said: “We look forward to working closely with Rhineland-Palatinate to develop a programme of cultural events and support the cultural outreach work of the Scotland Hub at the University of Mainz.”

Talks on intensifying relationships between the two states commenced in July 2019, and organisational and content-related issues were discussed in subsequent meetings. In November 2019, Denis Alt, state secretary at the RLP Ministry of Science, Further Education and Culture, paid a first official visit to Scotland. The new declaration was scheduled for signature in Mainz, although this was done in a virtual event online.

Michael Gardner E-mail: michael.gardner@uw-news.com