Looking toward a shared future
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and the University of Technology Nuremberg (UTN) met in Erlangen to discuss topics on regional higher education. FAU welcomed a delegation from UTN at Freyeslebenstraße 1 in Erlangen, where the FAU University Administration is headquartered. The universities discussed numerous topics, including the current student situation in the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region and potential teaching collaborations. At the same time, representatives from FAU and UTN reviewed ongoing collaborations.
“We have been working closely with UTN for many years,” emphasizes FAU President Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger. “This includes support for UTN’s teaching activities from FAU lecturers as well as collaborations in the area of computing facilities.”
Indeed, forward-looking projects are already connecting the IT infrastructures at both universities. With the groundbreaking ceremony for the Erlangen National High-Performance Computing Center (NHR@FAU), the Bavarian state government recently laid the foundation for a center of competence and innovation for the northern Bavarian academic region. Both universities will benefit from the newly created computing capacity in Erlangen, particularly in artificial intelligence research. Additionally, the Erlangen Regional Computing Center (RRZE), as FAU’s IT service provider, supports other higher education institutions and universities in Northern Bavaria including UTN.
Prof. Dr. Michael Huth, Founding President of UTN acknowledges how UTN benefits from the support of the Erlangen Regional Computing Center. The national high-performance computing center is “of enormous importance to us as a designated AI university. We will collaborate strategically to further develop the computing center over the next decade and pool our resources.”
Harnessing collaboration potential
Beyond existing collaborations, Prof. Dr. Hornegger sees further potential for synergies between the universities: “One area is teaching, where we must ensure permeability between the two universities for our students. And the second is research. There, I see great opportunities to submit research proposals and compete together in the international research landscape.” Prof. Dr. Huth adds: “I see great potential in working together on topics like AI competence, this benefits all students at FAU and UTN.”
Referring to the meeting between the two universities, Huth stated that in this dynamic higher education landscape, the focus is also on strategic positioning and pursuing independent development. However, the universities should also collaborate fairly and with a forward-looking approach to increase the impact of the individual institutions as a whole. And in this respect, the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region is in a very strong starting position in Germany.”