Double Degree – Joint DegreeStrategic (and practical) considerations

Barbara Hasenmüller – University of Bremen

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General Facts

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University of Bremen

• founded in October 1971

• guiding principles: modernisation and restructuring of academic self-

government and administration interdisciplinary research and teaching

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Students

• 22.123 students in total

• thereof 3.340 (15%) international students

Agenda

• academic excellence

• interdisciplinary cooperation

• research and teaching of practical relevance and social responsibility

• internationalization

• gender equity

• environmental sustainability

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Academic Structure

Faculty of physics and electrical engineering

Faculty of geo sciences

Faculty of culturalstudies

Faculty of languages and literary studies

Faculty of human and healthsciences

Faculty of educational sciences

Faculty of social sciences

Faculty of productionengineering

Faculty of mathematics / computer science

Faculty of business studies and economics

Faculty of lawFaculty of biology /chemistry

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BA / MA- Structure

• U of Bremen has been the forerunner in introducing BA and MA structure in Germany

• Many international (English taught) MA courses have been introduced over the last 7 years, especially in the Natural Sciences

International Degree Programs• ISATEC- International Studies in

Aquatic Tropical Ecology (M.Sc.)

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (M.Sc.)

• MARMIC –Marine Microbiology (M.Sc./PhD)

• Environmental Physics (M.Sc.)

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International Degree Programmes• Communication and Information

Technology (M.Sc.)

• Digital Media (M.Sc.)

• Information and Automation Engineering (M.Sc.)

• Environmental and Marine Geoscience (M.Sc.)

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International Degree Programmes

• Comparative and European Law/Hanse Law School (B.A.)

• Integrated European Studies (B.A.)

• Social Policy Research (M.A.)

• Global Governance and Social Theory (M.A.)

• European Labour Studies (M.A.)

• Business Studies (M.A.)

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Perspectives of international cooperation

•exchange on postgraduate levelin research + teaching

•development of joint degree programs

with international partners

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Rationale for internationalisation• Excellence

• Offer excellent education for our students

attract excellent students

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Academic programmes

• Students exchange programme (Sokrates)

• Internationalised Curricula

• International BA and MA Courses

• Joint and double degree programs

• Faculty mobility programs

• PhD Programs and Graduate Schools

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From Exchange programmes to double/ joint degrees

• Exchange Programmes with credit transfer;

easiest approach;

• Double Degree / Joint Degree

More overall involvement of the institution needed

Difference: Double Degree – Joint Degree

• Double Degree: Students receive two certificates from each participating university

• Joint Degree: Both universities award one certificate

What does it mean for the institution?

• Big organisational effort

close co-operation with partner universit(ies) on all levels

participation of teaching and administrative staff

development of a common curriculum

more involvement of teaching staff

more money!!!

Double / Joint Degree Programms at the University of Bremen

• Double Degree Programme in Economics with Università degli Studi di Trento

• Joint Degree: Master of European Labour Studies

• Double Degree in Marine Sciences with University of Bremen, University of Kiel and the Ocean University, Qingdao, China

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To Be Developped:

• Double Degree programme in Marine Geoscience with University of Waikato, New Zealand

• Joint Ph D programmes

Double Degree in Economics with University of Trento in Italy

• Developed before the introduction of BA / MA degrees; based on traditional Italian and German system

problems:

language

Difficult to find students with sufficient knowledge of Italian and German!

Joint Degree: Master of European Labour Studies

• One – Year Master programme

• Network of 12 European universities

• Students have the opportunity to go abroad for one semester to one of the 11 partner universities

• Degree awarded: Master Degree of the University of Bremen + Certificate of the Network „Master Européen en Science du Travail“

• One of 11 selected examples of good practice by the EUA (joint master project)

Master of European Labour Studies

• First semester: teaching language: German

• Second semester: teaching language: English

In order to receive incoming students

• With their application for the master course, students indicate in which partner university they want to study

• Financial support: Sokrates /Erasmus programme, (DAAD)-Free Mover programme

Organisational Challenges

• Good coordination: regular meetings of the partner universities

• Fine tuning of curricula

Double Degree: Master in Marine Science

• Development of project is funded by the BMBF and the Chinese Ministry for Education for a period of 3 years

• The development includes the setting up of summer schools held alternatively in China and Germany

MA Marine Science

The following (2 year-) English taught Master Courses are involved:

• Marine Geosciences

• Environmental Physics

• Aquatic Tropical Ecologoy

• Marine Biology

MA Marine Science

• Exchange of 20 students each way for 1 academic year

• Organisational challenges:

tuning of curricular

definition of admission requirements (language + content)

selection of students

linguistic and cultural preparation

MA Marine Science

• Financial Implications:

• One full-time coordinator at the University of Bremen

• Money for mobility of students and staff

Conclusion

• Double Degrees /Joint Degrees are wanted!

• They are important for the internationalisation of the institution

• They attract excellent students and are thus important for marketing issues

• But: they are cost – intensive

the institution has to strategically decide in what areas and fields double/joint degrees should be implemented