20 Indian exchange students visit Media University Cologne

Media University distinguishes itself as a university of applied and interdisciplinary studies, where the fostering of international and intercultural experiences is of major importance. This claim is reinforced by pertinent curricular subjects and modules in Cologne, as well as by the M.A. programs taught in English at the Media University campus in Berlin. This success of intercultural intergration is evident by the steadily rising number of international students and cooperation partners in Europe and throughout the world.

Two delegations of Media University students and staff were sent to India last year, to further support this intercultural exchange, and to develop our network in the second most populated country on earth. Strong bonds were established, esp. with the ‘Centre of Management Studies’ at Jain University in Bangalore, and for the first time a comprehensive summer school project was designed, which started last week. These twenty aforementioned bachelor and master students, led by Professor Sankaran Madhavan, arrived in Cologne well prepared and very eager to start the program. In the upcoming four weeks, our Indian guests will attend a tailor-made series of lectures, organized by Prof. Dr. Hektor Haarkötter, and workshops, led by Media University-lecturers Hans Hausmann and Heinz Hoppe. The primary focus of the summer school will be on journalistic video production, which is supplemented by visits to broadcasting and publishing companies, such as WDR and DuMont in Cologne – and it will end with highly anticipated excursions to Amsterdam and Berlin. During their stay in Germany, our guests from India will be accompanied by Media University students/alumni, Bennet Maraun and Julia van den Woldenberg.

In the introductory meeting on Friday, Prof. Sankaran Madhavan gave an insightful and moving speech, in which he stressed the breathtaking speed of change in his country and the invaluable importance of technology and media, esp. when it comes to preparing young generations for their life in a globalized world. Since this basic fact plays a prominent, even eponymous role in our curricula, Jain University is especially interested in strengthening its contacts and collaborations with Media University, and more joint-programs are currently being planned for the near future.

As a special gift, to watch over and sanctify our further cooperation, our guests from Jain presented two wooden buddha statues to the rector of Media University, Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Schulz, and to the Media University student/alumni guides, Bennet Maraun and Julia van den Woldenberg. To reciprocate this visit from India, Media University plans to send a group of its students to Bangalore next year (applications to participate in the exchange program should be addressed to our research assistant, Ms. Johanna Wergen: j.wergen[at]hmkw.de