Podcast Explores What the Excellence Strategy Has Achieved for German Universities
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- Higher Education Policy

Few people have been observing Germany’s academic landscape for as long and as closely as Dr. Jan-Martin Wiarda. He spent eight years as editor in the education department at ZEIT magazine, three years as head of communications at the Helmholtz Association, and since 2015 he has worked as a freelance journalist and blogger covering topics related to education, science, and research. In this new episode of “Think.Try.Transform.”, he shares his insights—explaining, for instance, what the Excellence Strategy has actually achieved for German universities or how reviewers evaluate a university’s proposal. He also reveals which advantages TU Dortmund University and Ruhr University Bochum might be able to leverage in this competition from his point of view.
About the Podcast
The podcast “Think. Try. Transform.” showcases major ideas behind the joint application of Ruhr University Bochum and TU Dortmund University as university consortium of excellence and discusses them with those who know best: Rectors, researchers, founders and advisors. Hosted by Sven-Daniel Gettys, each episode covers topics such as clusters of excellence, support for doctoral candidates, and start-up activities. Under the lead of Ruhr University Bochum, new episodes are released monthly—accompanying the application phase until the announcement on October 2. During summer there will be a special episode featuring audience questions addressed to both rectors; submissions can be sent anytime via email to: hochschulkommunikation@ruhr-uni-bochum.de. Most of the episodes are in German.


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