Studying abroad offers students unique opportunities for academic enrichment, career development, language learning, cultural immersion, and personal growth. This blog post explores what we believe are the top five reasons why studying abroad is a game changer for our students!
Rethinking research partnerships with universities on the African continent
Three visionaries are changing how the University of Bern collaborates with partner universities in Africa. They are doing so with two prestigious Clusters of Research Excellence. In this interview, Hugues Abriel, Vice-Rector of Research, Thomas Breu, Director of CDE, and Carmen Faso, Co-Director of MCID reflect on the challenges and opportunities of creating equitable research partnerships.
The University of Bern offers a program for refugees with an academic background to guide them towards admission as fully enrolled students. Ann-Seline Fankhauser, project leader of Compass-UniBE, and her colleague Solvej Sörensen explain why this programme complements the open lecture hall and what lessons were learned from the preparation year for Ukrainian school leavers.
This semester we welcomed more exchange students than ever before. A record number of 219 attendees joined our introduction events, organised by UniBE International. They benefited from an improved welcome offer. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the team at UniBE International turned the challenges of the pandemic into a project to improve the student experience by leveraging technology and introducing modular events.
The preparation year allows school leavers who had to flee the war in Ukraine to prepare them for their university studies. The year is packed with language courses and introductory classes to study methods, transferable skills and much more. Martina Carolus, head of exchange programmes, and Jana Müller, project manager of the preparation year, explain how the preparation year differs from other ways how the University of Bern is helping Ukrainian refugees.
At the beginning of July, the executive board of the University of Bern welcomed a leadership delegation from several universities in Israel. The aim of their visit was to discuss topics at the interface between research and management.
Universities face common cross-border challenges, such as climate change and disruptive technologies. Read more “Israeli academic leadership delegation visits Bern”
At the time of writing, Russia’s war on Ukraine has been going on for three months. The blatant aggression on 24 February 2022 against a sovereign country was experienced as a shock, described by many as a turning point in history. Initially, the war was also expected to be short, and a Russian victory seemed a foregone conclusion: when President Zelensky gave his first stirring speeches, their poignancy was reinforced by the fact that a dead man was speaking to us on behalf of a doomed nation, or so we (in western Europe) thought.
A group of dedicated volunteers established the Ukrainian Society at the University of Bern. What does it stand for, what are their plans and how can others join them? UniBE International spoke to two of its founding members: Oksana Iamshanova, postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and Ruslan Hlushchuk, lecturer at the Institute of Anatomy.
The University of Bern is launching a new funding scheme to finance research stays for PhD students based in Africa. Every year, six students studying at a member university of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) will come to Bern to join a research team and receive tutoring for approximately six months.
On 4 November 2021, the ambassador of South Africa to Switzerland, Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele, is holding a guest lecture on contemporary South Africa. Students and staff at the University of Bern are invited to attend. Registration in advance is required. Please get in touch with Annie Cottier.