Internationalisation – preparation
Internationalisation at home
All staff – whether they are lecturers, researchers, administrative staff or hospital staff – can take part in a range of training programmes that enable them to develop their intercultural skills at home. It is not always necessary to travel abroad to gain international skills. There are various professional development programmes on offer. For example, language courses are offered by FAU’s Language Centre, adult education centres (Volkshochschulen), the Institut Français in Erlangen, etc.
FAU staff often find themselves in international and intercultural settings. All employees – in research, administration and technology – have regular contact with international clientele. Intercultural skills are particularly important in these situations. A range of professional development opportunities give employees the chance to expand their skills and gain new insights and experiences.
Various professional development courses enable them to learn more about how to act in intercultural contexts. These include English language courses for University Administration staff, a targeted training course on giving presentations in English, a seminar on intercultural skills, and a course on writing and publishing academic articles in English.
The Internationale DAAD-Akademie (iDA) offers a professional development programme that focuses on topics related to internationalisation at universities in Germany and abroad. Internationalisation is a goal that universities can only implement successfully when people on all levels work together. This applies to executive board members, researchers, students and management.
The people who are most skilled at working in an international environment can usually be found in the international office. However, which structures and processes are required for a university to become truly international, which strategies work and how other countries work towards internationalisation are topics that are relevant to all members of universities. In light of this, iDA has designed its programme to meet the needs of specific target groups. Nevertheless, with the exception of the events for executive board members, all courses are open to anyone with an interest in them.
The programme consists of three main areas in which the DAAD has particularly strong expertise:
- Seminars on regional skills provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the education system, higher education and research, and other aspects that are relevant for collaboration in selected countries and regions. If the seminars are held abroad they include a programme of visits.
- Seminars on professionalisation of internationalisation are aimed primarily at staff in international offices and in administration. They provide participants with an overview of new and traditional exchange programmes, enable them to develop their advisory skills, explain the wider context of individual aspects of their work and teach them intercultural skills.
- On behalf of GATE-Germany, the iDA runs seminars on topics related to international higher education marketing. These include workshops on designing websites, print media and other forms of communication, as well as seminars in which participants share knowledge on how to position their universities internationally.
The current programme and further information are available at www.daad-akademie.de (German). FAU is a member of GATE-Germany. This means that FAU members pay the reduced fee for these seminars. If you are interested in participating in a seminar, you must discuss this with your supervisor at FAU to determine which institutional or administrative funds can be used to cover the costs (participation fee, travel and accommodation).
On behalf of the Bavarian government, the School of General Administration at the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration and Legal Affairs in Bavaria (German) offers seminars on customer service, administrative management, and modernisation and reform in administration for staff from all areas of administration. The seminar on intercultural skills and the courses on European integration and law on foreign nationals are of particular interest.
Bayerische Verwaltungsschule (German) also offers subject-specific and general professional development seminars for administrative employees at various locations, such as a seminar on intercultural communication.
Information on applying for seminars offered by both of these institutions and possible funding is available from Ms Melek Aydin at P5.
You must discuss all professional development measures with your supervisor. It cannot be guaranteed that you will be granted time off to attend these events.