TIGRIS Project
From February 19th to 21st 2019, the University of Göttingen hosted two workshops as part of the Erasmus+ TIGRIS Project.
The TIGRIS Project is a capacity-building project in the field of higher education, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme with 956.000 €, and is being coordinated by the University of Göttingen. The project aims to support the modernisation of universities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq through strengthening management structures and services for international relations, and building advanced strategic policies related to internationalisation in education, research, mobility and services. TIGRIS also contributes to the internationalisation of higher education by facilitating the recognition of studies and implementation of the Bologna system in Kurdistan Region.
Since the kick-off meeting in November 2017, this was the second time the University of Göttingen had the chance to welcome delegations from Kurdish and fellow European partners in Göttingen, this time gathering close to 50 representatives from Kurdish and European partner institutions at the University’s “Historical Observatory”.
In a joint ceremony, the events were kicked-off by Prof. Dr. Hiltraud Casper-Hehne, Vice President for International Affairs, Dr. Uwe Muuss, Head of Göttingen International, and Jakob Hedderich, Coordinator of the TIGRIS Project, warmly welcoming the partners to Göttingen.
Two workshops were held in parallel: The first workshop focused on the development of internationalisation strategies, international mobility and research cooperation and comprised training sessions from Dr. Uwe Brandenburg (Global Impact Institute, Prague), Regine van Groningen (University of Groningen, Netherlands) and Roger Janssens (KU Leuven, Belgium).
A dedicated team of experts from the University of Göttingen lead by Dr. Tanja Reiffenrath conducted the second workshop focussing on curricular reforms for internationalisation and the international classroom, thereby offering comprehensive insights into the internationalisation of curricula while also introducing Kurdish partners to future concepts such as virtual mobility.
The workshop also provided TIGRIS partner Charmo University with the opportunity to present on the development work done to implement ECTS and the Bologna system in Kurdistan Region of Iraq proving the great strides Kurdish partners make in reforming Kurdish higher education. The workshops closed with a joint Project Management Meeting, in which a timeline for the second project year was developed and adopted.
In the wake of the workshops, Dr. Uwe Muuss held a meeting with Mr. Zana Kareem, Director of the Göttingen Information Office at the Kurdistan Institution for Strategic Studies and Scientific Research (KISSR), the leading research institution in Kurdistan Region of Iraq and regional co-coordinator of the TIGRIS Project. The Information Office was established in April 2018 by means of the Kurdish Ministry for Higher Education and Research and provides information and advice to Kurdish students, researchers and academics in Kurdistan Region of Iraq interested in the University of Göttingen. Likewise, the Information Office also offers support to members of the University of Göttingen interested in the region.
For further information on TIGRIS, please visit our website.
Contact:
Jakob Hedderich
Göttingen International/The International Office
E-Mail: jakob.hedderich@zvw.uni-goettingen.de