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The Fulbright newsletter from Germany!
December 2006

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- Fulbright Program Announcements
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- Higher Education News from Europe
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Board news

On November 6, 2006 the Commission convened in Berlin for its 200th Board meeting. In the evening this anniversary was celebrated with a dinner at the German Federal Foreign Office with German and American Board members, Fulbright grantees and alumni and friends and sponsors of the Fulbright Program in Germany.

Peter Claussen, Cultural Attaché at the U.S.-Embassy in Berlin, joined the Board of the Commission in July 2006, replacing Richard Aker.

In October 2006, the State Secretary for Science, Research and Culture of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Dr. Valentin Gramlich became a member of the Fulbright Board, representing the Kultusministerkonferenz (Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Laender in the Federal Republic - KMK). He replaced former State Secretary Wolfgang Boehm.

Kim Marie Sonn left the U.S.-Embassy in Berlin. She is being replaced by Ruth Anne Stevens, Second Secretary for Cultural Affairs, who joined the Board in October 2006.

Staff news

Kerstin Klopp-Koch, Special Programs Assistant, gave birth to her second son, Joshua. Hakan Tosuner who joined the Secretariat in August, is replacing Kerstin during her maternity leave.

Also, congratulations to Ines Horbert, Assistant in the American Program Unit, on the birth of her daughter, Zara Swelam. During her maternity leave Ines is being replaced by Inga Poetzl who joined the Secretariat in September.

Program news

Full and Partial Grants for German Students
Since August/September 2006, 220 German university and Fachhochschule students in the full/partial and travel grant categories have been enrolled at their U.S. host universities. They report that they enjoy their intensive and challenging academic programs and the close contact with their professors and advisors.

Congratulations to Henrike Gaenss for having been awarded the first prize in the 2006 International Education Student Essay Contest. Henrike is a student from the Hochschule fuer Kunst und Design in Halle, and during the academic year 2006-2007 is pursuing architectural studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. With her U.S. friend Jessica Emmit Henrike co-authored the award-winning paper on “Conflict and Resolution”.

Fulbright grantee Joachim Junghanss was asked by the Institute of International Education to support this year’s annual event at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Manhattan with a musical performance. Joachim Junghanss graduated from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig and is currently pursuing his Master of Music in Jazz Piano at the Manhattan School of Music.

In October 2006, the final selection interviews took place in the full/partial grant categories for German Fachhochschule and university students. 126 students have been nominated to participate in the program 2007-2008. The placements at U.S. host universities are underway.

The Program Year 2006/07 for Americans
About 260 American Grantees from all academic walks of life (professors, journalists, graduate students, teaching assistants, high school teachers) have arrived since August in Germany, participated in various orientation meetings and have settled and started their project work all over Germany. They account for the important core programs of the German-American Fulbright Commission and stand for the quality and reputation of the program.

Diversity Initiative
Additional funding from the U.S. Department of State and a donation of the Association of Friends and Sponsors, including the Fulbright Alumni Association, has enabled the Fulbright Commission in 2006 to sponsor 20 students with immigrant background from Germany to participate in 6-week summer institutes at several U.S. universities. Read more...

Deans Program
n October 2006, the Fulbright Commission premiered “University Reforms in Germany”, a program on innovative European developments in Germany´s higher education landscape. It was directed at senior representatives from leading U.S. universities. Read more ...

Educational Experts
From September 25 – 29, 2006, fifteen German university leaders and decision-makers at higher education ministries in the German Laender traveled to California for a five-day higher education management seminar. Read more ...

2006 Seminar for U.S. Administrators in International Education
The 2006 Fulbright Seminar for U.S. Administrators in International Education took place in Germany from October 8 through 25 for 23 representatives from U.S. higher education institutions.
Read more ...

High School Principal Program 2006
For the first time the Commission welcomed fifteen leading American school administrators, representing the great diversity of American secondary schools to a special intensive program from October 28 to November 4. Read more ...

Berlin Capital Program
From December 3 to December 10 a group of twenty Young American Journalists convened in Berlin to participate in a new Fulbright program. The journalists were introduced to relevant institutions in Berlin from the media, political, economic and cultural areas and learned firsthand how the capital city functions, how the different networks communicate, and how the press and media play a role in shaping public opinion. Most of the participants have never been to Germany before.
The program has been made possible by a special contribution from the German Federal Foreign Office (Division of Public Diplomacy).

 

Announcement of Travel-only Grants 2007-2008
For the academic year 2007-2008, 110 travel-only grants will be made available for German students of Fachhochschulen and universities who wish to enrol as full-time students at a U.S. university. The application deadline is January 22, 2007.
Read more ...

Announcement of American Studies Grant Opportunities 2007
For German scholars working areas related to the U.S., the Fulbright Commission offers the American Studies Fellowship 2007 and the American Studies Institute 2007 on “American Values”. The application deadline for each program is January 31, 2007.
Read more ...

2007 Seminar for U.S. Administrators in International Education
The 2007 Fulbright Seminar for U.S. Administrators in International Education will take place from October 27 through November 10, 2007. In addition to higher education administrators in international education/exchanges and career service professionals, the Commission also invites applications from university administrators in the area of alumni affairs and fundraising. Application deadline is February 1, 2007. Read more ...

 

 

Outreach Conference: "Germany's Changing School Populations"
About 60 Fulbright Grantees (teaching assistants, teachers, journalists) and Alumni (Young Leaders, teachers) and high school principals met in Cologne for a three-day conference to take a comparative look at the school systems and integration efforts in the United States and in Germany. Read more ...

Thanksgiving 2006
For the first time, the Fulbright Commission, the Checkpoint Charlie Foundation and the Government of Berlin invited to a special Thanksgiving event at the Rote Rathaus. More than 300 former program participants of the inviting institutions and current American Fulbrighters and many prominent friends and sponsors of the programs followed the invitation and shared a happy Thanksgiving. Read more ...

General Meeting of the Association of Friends and Sponsors
The Association of Friends and Sponsors of the Fulbright Program held its general meeting on Thursday, November 23rd in Berlin, where Dr. Juergen Simon was elected as the new president.
Read more...

Fulbright Alumni Association: Welcome Meeting 2006 in Frankfurt
On the last weekend in October, 120 Fulbrighters - German returnees, American grantees and Fulbright Alumni members - met in Frankfurt for the Welcome Meeting 2006, organized by the Fulbright Alumni Association of Germany. The motto of the meeting was "Frankfurt am Main - A global village. The world was guest among friends." Read more ...

 

The German “Initiative for Excellence”
Germany: celebrations, tears and hot debates over “winners” of the first round of the Excellence Initiative. Read more ...

Spitzenförderung in Deutschland
Im Jahr 2007 plant das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung 182,5 Millionen Euro für die Spitzenförderung von Hochschulen und Forschungsnetzwerken auszugeben.
Mehr lesen...

Einigung im Hochschulpakt 2020 erreicht
Bei der Ausgestaltung des Hochschulpaktes 2020 haben die Wissenschaftsminister von Bund und Ländern einen Durchbruch erreicht. Im Bereich Lehre wird der Bund bis 2010 insgesamt 565 Millionen Euro zur Verfügung stellen. Mehr lesen...

Tuition Fee Reform in Germany
The introduction of tuition fees has brought about a long-term debate in Germany. While the majority of political actors and institutional decision makers wanted tuition fees in the higher education sector, the various stakeholder groups failed to agree on who should gain access to the extra revenue and thus blocked the policy decision. Read more ...

“go out! studieren weltweit“
Das Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) und der Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD) starten gemeinsam eine Kampagne, um die internationale Mobilität deutscher Studierender zu fördern. Mehr lesen ...

Deutschland verliert in der Hochschulausbildung den Anschluss
Deutsche Bildungspolitiker fürchten den Tag, an dem die OECD ihren jährlichen Bildungsvergleich vorstellt. Regelmäßig legt die Studie den Finger in eine offene Wunde. In diesem Jahr fiel die Kritik besonders hart aus. Mehr lesen ...

Allgemein gebildet
Wenn es nach dem aktuellen Ranking der Uni Schanghai geht, das regelmäßig die Forschungsstärke von Hochschulen weltweit misst, ist es auf den ersten Blick um die deutschen Unis nicht gut bestellt. Auf den ersten 20 Plätzen drängen sich 17 U.S.-Universitäten. Erst auf Platz 51 taucht die erste deutsche auf: die Uni München.
Mehr lesen ...

Absolventenzahlen
Zahl der Bachelor- und Masterabschlüsse ist im vergangenen Jahr deutlich gestiegen. Mehr lesen ...

Zahl der deutschen Studierenden im Ausland steigt weiter
Immer mehr Deutsche studieren im Ausland. Nach Angaben des Statistischen Bundesamtes waren 2004 rund 69.000 Deutsche an ausländischen Hochschulen eingeschrieben. Mehr lesen ...

 

 

DFG President Moves to Brussels
A proposal was submitted by the German-American Fulbright Commission, REAC and the University of Kentucky to the EU-U.S. Atlantis program to support six transatlantic seminars together with other European partners in several countries in Europe and in the U.S. Read more ...

OECD's Education at a Glance 2006: Key Findings
The European Commission has just released the online version of the ACA study “Perceptions of European higher education in third countries”. The study, completed in December 2005, aims to establish if and how it would be possible to market European higher education, and to identify the key messages and possible delivery mechanisms for a “European higher education brand”. Read more…

European Institute of Technology
The beautiful city of Bergen was the setting of the ACA 2006 conference “Destination Europe? Players, goals and strategies in enhancing the attractiveness of European universities”, which ended on 20th June with a lot of positive feedback from over 200 participants. ACA organised the conference in cooperation with its Norwegian member SIU. Read more...

Bologna News: Ministerial Meeting 2009 to be Held in Benelux
The paper "From Bergen to London. The EU Contribution" has been released by the European Commission. It deals with the EU contribution to the Bologna process. Read more...

EU-Parlament: Zu wenig Ausgaben für Forschung
The "Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on further European cooperation in quality assurance in higher education", was adopted by the Council of Ministers.
Mehr lesen ...

ACA Annual Conference 2007 in Berlin
The German-American Fulbright Commission and the DAAD will be co-organising the Annual Conference of the Academic Co-operation Association (ACA) in Berlin. The topic of the conference is “The Many Faces of Internationalisation”. Read more ...

 

IIE Open Doors 2006 Release
Newest data indicate that the transatlantic student flow is gaining momentum again: more German study in the USA, and the number of U.S. students going to Germany is up by almost 9%.
Read more ...

CGS Survey: International Graduate Admissions Up 12%
The Council of Graduate Schools just released the results of a recent survey on international admissions to U.S. graduate schools. The survey found that offers of admission to international students by U.S. graduate schools increased 12% from 2005 to 2006.
Read more...

International Rebound
The graduate student population in the years ahead is likely to increase in size — and to have many more Asian engineers.
Read more...

Universities Branch Out
From their student bodies to their research practices, universities are becoming more global. Read more ...

 Deutscher Wissenschaftsnachwuchs tagte in Boston
Welche Perspektiven bietet der Forschungsstandort Deutschland dem wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs? Diese Frage stand im Zentrum der bisher größten Tagung für deutsche Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler in Nordamerika. Das Rahmenthema "Neue Chancen in Deutschland und Europa" brachte vom 8. bis 10. September 2006 über 320 Teilnehmer in Boston zusammen. Der Veranstalter ist GAIN, eine gemeinsame Initiative der Wissenschaftsorganisationen, in Zusammenarbeit mit der German Scholars Organization.
Mehr lesen ...

Ins Leere gelobt
In Boston werben Politiker für den deutschen Hochschulaustausch, doch viele junge Forscher bleiben skeptisch. Mehr lesen ...

 Forschen in der Fremde
Wie junge deutsche Ökonominnen an Eliteuniversitäten in Amerika Karriere machen. Mehr lesen ...

International Fulbright Science and Technology Award
Department of State announced recipients of new International Fulbright Science and Technology Award. Read more ...

Karen Hughes on Mission to Change Views Abroad - and at Home
A year into post, Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen Hughes, says State Department must reshape efforts. Read more ...

 

Study, Research and Every Day Life in Germany
Useful information for international students wanting to study or research in Germany as well as everyday student life in Germany have been collected by the DAAD and the Deutsche Studentenwerk.

International Higher Education Clearinghouse
There is a new International Higher Education Clearinghouse now available to administrators and scholars. Funded by the Ford Foundation and in partnership with Boston College's Center for International Higher Education, ACE, IIE, and NAFSA, this clearinghouse is designed to be a portal to resources on the web with links covering a range of information including Bologna and the GATS, international student mobility, policy trends worldwide regarding international education and so on. Read more ...