Wissenschaft weltoffen - The Blog

The central aim of the Wissenschaft weltoffen blog is to promote the exchange between university research and university practice in the field of internationalisation and academic mobility. To this end, we conduct short interviews with relevant researchers and representatives from university practice and publish own articles and guest contributions. Please note that the views expressed in the interviews and guest articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the DAAD or the DZHW.

Source: private

“We find a correlation between the role of anti-pluralist parties and declining academic freedom”

Dr Angelo Vito Panaro is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Political Science at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg. He is involved in the “Academic Freedom Index” (AFI) research project which measures and compares academic freedom worldwide once a year. In this interview, he explains how the negative trend in Germany’s AFI values is to be understood, why there are so much more countries with declining than increasing AFI values and what can be learned from the developments in Argentina, Poland and the United States.

“Despite the uncertainty, young people generally aspire to study and live in Ukraine”

Anuja Desai is a Senior Soft Power Analyst at the British Council. She oversees the British Council’s commissioned research on soft power in relation to development, peace, and security. In this interview, we talk to her about the concerns, needs and hopes of young people…

Source: Alistair MacDonald

“Germany is one of the most trusted countries in the G20”

Every two years for over a decade, the British Council has conducted the Global Perceptions Survey, a worldwide survey of young people of university age. They are asked not only about their image of the United Kingdom, but also about their image of many other countries, including Germany. To mark this year's survey, Alistair MacDonald, Senior Policy Analyst and Project Officer at the British Council, explains the objectives and methodology behind the survey project, what the key findings of the last survey were, what he expects from this year's survey and how Germany's ratings have developed over the last two rounds of the survey.

Source: DZHW

“International academic mobility is continuing to develop positively despite the multiple global crises”

The new edition of Wissenschaft weltoffen was published last week. For two decades, Dr Ulrich Heublein from the German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW) was one of the main authors of the publication, which is jointly published by the DAAD and the DZHW. In our interview, he talks about its key findings and explains the content and function of the new chapter on structural aspects of internationalisation. He also takes a look back at the last 20 years of university internationalisation and ventures a look ahead to the next 20 years.

Source: Johannes Haushofer

“Research shows that migration also has positive effects in the countries of origin”

Johannes Haushofer is a development economist and Professor of Economics at the National University of Singapore and Stockholm University. One of his main research interests is the reduction of poverty in the Global South. At the same time, he is also active as a practitioner in this field: in 2021, he founded the organisation Malengo, which enables school graduates from low-income countries to study in Europe. The impact of their support is being scientifically analysed by an independent research team. In this interview, Johannes Haushofer explains how he came to investigate the effects of educational migration, how exactly the Malengo project works and which research questions are at the centre of the investigation into its impact.

Source: Jenna Mittelmeier

“Small experiences within daily living collectively create really powerful cultural learning opportunities”

Dr. Jenna Mittelmeier is a researcher and lecturer in International Education at the Institute of Education at the University of Manchester. Together with other researchers, she just published the latest edition of the “DAAD Research Brief”. It contains the findings of a qualitative interview study on the everyday experiences of international students in Germany and their significance for students' intercultural learning. In the interview, she explains the specific and innovative approach of the study, summarises the most important findings of the study and explains what recommendations she believes can be made for university practice on this basis.

Source: Eric Lichtenscheid

“Our methodology is very similar to that used for election forecasts”

This winter semester, the DAAD once again conducted a Snapshot Survey on the number of international students in Germany, in which 170 universities from all over Germany took part. Based on this feedback, the DAAD is forecasting a new all-time high in student numbers. In our interview, DAAD expert Dr Jan Kercher explains why the DAAD has been conducting the annual Snapshot Surveys since 2020, how the forecast of student numbers is compiled and which findings from this year’s survey are particularly noteworthy in his view.

Source: Roopa Desai Trilokekar

“International students are actively pursued by several countries as “ideal” immigrants”

Roopa Desai Trilokekar is an associate professor at York University in Toronto, Canada. In this role, she heads the international research project "International students are "ideal" immigrants: A critical discourse analysis of study-migration pathways in Canada, Australia and Germany", in which a total of ten researchers from Canada, Australia and Germany are involved. In the interview, she explains what prompted the research project, what she sees as the key findings of the analyses to date and what conclusions can be drawn from this for higher education policy and practice.

Source: Jenna Mittelmeier

“A lot of research about international students wasn’t very good”

Dr. Jenna Mittelmeier is a researcher and lecturer in International Education at the Institute of Education at the University of Manchester. Together with other researchers, she recently launched the website "Research with International Students", which will be followed by an anthology and conference of the same name at the end of 2023. In the interview, she explains what prompted these projects, which topics are in focus and what she sees as the biggest challenges and research gaps in research with and about international students.

Source: Meena Jayadeva

“For many prospective students it was very important to hear the firsthand experiences of other students in Germany”

Dr Sazana Jayadeva is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge in the UK. In a recently published analysis, she examines the question of what influence Indian influencers in social media such as Facebook and YouTube have on the decisions of prospective Indian students in favour of Germany as a possible host country. In the interview, she explains what prompted this research question, what the key findings of her study are and what conclusions she believes can be drawn from this for university practice.