Freie Universitaet Berlin: Internationalization of Graduate Education

The initiative of BUA’s cross-cutting theme of “Internationalization” enables doctoral candidates to undertake binational and cross-border doctoral studies at one of BUA’s partner institutions and the University of Melbourne. Graduates will receive a doctoral degree from both institutions. Working with supervisors at both institutions and spending a year at the partner university, doctoral candidates will benefit from a variety of academic resources at two renowned universities and expand their international networks.

“Notwithstanding the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, the University of Melbourne is committed to strengthening its research ties with the Berlin University Alliance,” says Professor Justin Zobel, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Graduate and International Research) at the University of Melbourne. “Our joint seed fund has aided the development of collaborative activity across varied fields of research. The new joint PhD agreement further strengthens these projects, in areas from cognitive training to urban biodiversity, enabling the joint supervision and training of outstanding graduate researchers. This agreement is a long-term commitment to foster ongoing growth of our partnership by elevating existing collaborations and facilitating new relationships.”

Within the framework of the strategic partnership of the Berlin University Alliance and the University of Melbourne, joint research projects have already been funded through targeted calls for proposals. The spectrum of interdisciplinary collaborations ranges from the life sciences to STEM subjects to the humanities and social sciences.

“For the BUA partner institutions, the framework agreement represents an important step for the future design of the collaboration with the University of Melbourne, which will be elaborated further in the coming months. The project not only corresponds to BUA’s objective of actively promoting young talent at all levels, but will also have interesting synergy effects for dealing with the ‘Grand Challenges,’ the global challenges of our time. Together with the University of Melbourne, we are well on the way to further developing our partnership in a sustainable manner,” says Professor Dr. Peter Frensch, coordinator of the Executive Board of the Berlin University Alliance.