The University of Greifswald is partner in the European University Alliance “KreativEU The Knowledge and Creativity European University”. The EU-funded alliance officially commenced work on 1 January 2025.
"We are delighted to be welcoming representatives from all the university management teams of our KreativEU Alliance to Greifswald. It makes it possible for us to present the University of Greifswald as an attractive location for research and studies and to convince members from the partner institutions of our potential for cooperation and periods of research and study,” says Pro-Rector Dorthe G. A. Hartmann.
The representatives from the university management teams and project coordinators from the participating universities will be welcomed on Wednesday morning by representatives of the Rectorate and the International Office in the university’s Aula, which will also host the first strategic meeting. Following a tour of the university and the town in the afternoon, there will be an informational meeting with the University of Greifswald’s associated partners in the Pomeranian State Museum. The associated partners in the KreativEU project include the University and Hanseatic town of Greifswald, the District of Vorpommern-Greifswald, the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute of Advanced Studies), Nordischer Klang e.V., as well as the student initiatives GreiMUN e.V. and GrIStuF e.V.
Rector Prof. Dr. Katharina Riedel and the Lord Mayor of Greifswald Dr. Stefan Fassbinder will officially welcome the participants at the informational event in the museum. Three associated partners will present their collaborative contributions to KreativEU: Dr. Ruth Slenczka from the Pomeranian State Museum will explain how the museum and the State Monument Preservation Department of the State Office for Culture and Monuments jointly develop teaching formats, excursions and internships and introduce students e.g. to the concept of cultural landscapes as historical teaching and learning locations. Representatives from the Ukrainian Catholic University of Lviv will also outline the challenges faced by Ukrainian universities as a result of the geopolitical situation and how they are meeting them with digital teaching and learning formats and international collaboration. The day will draw to an end with an organ recital performed by Prof. Frank Dittmer in the St. Nicolai cathedral. Bettina Martin, Minister of Science, Culture, Federal and European Affairs in the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has confirmed she will attend the concert and the subsequent evening dinner.
On Thursday morning, the participants will discuss the university alliance’s key topics “cultural heritage” and “ecocultural identity” together with representatives from the University of Greifswald. Hosted by the Academic Manager of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Baltic Sea Region Research (IFZO), Dr. Alexander Drost, the participants shall first develop definitions for these terms. The Viking Gold project and the Research Centre for Manors in the Baltic Sea Region, as well as the digital mapping of natural and cultural resources, and the research into historical and innovative practices in the cultivation of peatlands shall serve as best practice examples for the understanding of cultural heritage and ecocultural identity, and overcoming the segregation of culture and nature. As the University of Greifswald is coordinating the KreativEU work package Education with the Valahia University in Targovişte, these workshops will finish with the first insights into how these key topics will be addressed in teaching and curricula.
On Thursday afternoon, following one further strategic meeting of the project coordinators, the University of Greifswald will present its University Computer Centre, the Institute of Data Science and the Digital Education Department at the Centre for Academic and Digital Skills. These facilities will prove to be important driving forces for the teaching that will take place largely online and for the establishment of a virtual Centre for Excellence in Digital Education and AI, and a Career Centre. A visit to the Eldena Abbey Ruins is planned for the evening.
The consortium meeting will be concluded on Friday with a cultural and historical excursion to Stralsund. The visit will centre around a tour of the German Oceanographic Museum, which epitomises the key topic “ecocultural identity” on its premises and the issues that it addresses in its exhibitions. In this museum, the participants will be shown how regional cultural and natural heritage are linked to the both diverse, but also endangered ecology, and they will find out more about the location, the exhibition and the exhibition design.
Further information
KreativEU – Knowledge & Creativity European University (University of Greifswald)
kreativEU (project page)
European university alliances [de] (Information from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD))
Information provided by the European Union
Contact at the University of Greifswald
Dorthe G. A. Hartmann, M.A.
Pro-Rector for Teaching, Teacher Training and Internationalisation
Domstr. 11, 17489 Greifswald
prorektorin-lehreuni-greifswaldde