New partnership initiated with university in Atlanta

In future, students at the University of Siegen will have the opportunity to go to Georgia State University in Atlanta (US state of Georgia) for an exchange year or a semester. If everything goes according to plan, student teachers could also spend three months at schools in Atlanta and take courses at Georgia State University at the same time. Representatives from both universities have now signed a letter of intent for mutual cooperation. Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein (North American Literature and Cultural Studies) and Khan-Duc Kuttig (English Language Practice) from the Siegen English Department brought the letter of intent signed by Rector Prof. Dr. Stefanie Reese to Atlanta as part of a delegation trip.

"I am very grateful that Prof. Reese, as Rector, supported the initiative and signed it on behalf of the University of Siegen. There is still a long way to go before students from Siegen can actually study in Atlanta - but a first step has been taken with the letter of intent," says Prof. Stein. Prof. Dr. Carrie Manning, Vice Rector for International Initiatives, signed on behalf of Georgia State University. The declaration was initiated by the "Atlanta Global Studies Center", which includes Georgia State University with more than 30,000 students as well as the Georgia Institute of Technology, a technical university with over 20,000 students.

With the letter of intent, the universities declare that they will work together over the next few years, establish research collaborations and bring students from Siegen and Atlanta together in joint virtual courses.

In addition to signing the letter of intent, the aim of the Siegen delegation's visit to Atlanta was to get to know their colleagues there personally and to hold talks with representatives of the Department of Education in the state of Georgia and the German Consul General there, Melanie Moltmann. The guests from Siegen also took part in this year's Atlanta Global Studies Symposium. The trip, sponsored by the Comenius program of the University of Siegen, also included a visit to Perimeter College, a two-year college affiliated with Georgia State University. Special thanks to Dr. Ethan Trinh, Associate Director of the Atlanta Global Studies Center and Khanh-Duc Kuttig for planning and preparing the trip.

The University of Siegen has maintained a partnership with the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma for many years. There is also a research cooperation with Norfolk State University in Virginia. The partnership now being sought with Georgia State University is intended to further expand contacts in the USA.

Prof. Dr. Daniel Stein also talks about his experiences during the delegation trip and the difficult situation of American universities under the Trump administration in the latest episode of our science podcast Spark!