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New doctoral students at the SDG Graduate School: Education for Sustainability!
On May 16, 2025, the University of Hildesheim welcomes new doctoral students from the SDG Graduate School to promote sustainability in West Africa.
New doctoral students at the SDG Graduate School: Education for Sustainability!
On Friday, May 16, 2025, a celebratory event to welcome 11 doctoral students, who are part of the third year of the SDG Graduate School Performing Sustainability, took place in the Timotheuskirche of the Center for World Music at the University of Hildesheim. Cultures and Development in West Africa. These doctoral students, coming from the universities of Cape Coast in Ghana and Maiduguri in Nigeria, will stay in Hildesheim for three months to deepen their research on the connection between local cultural expressions and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The event was made possible with support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The focus of the program is on the études model Cotutelle-de-thèse, which enables doctoral students to complete a double degree program with degrees from the University of Hildesheim and the respective home university. The participants' disciplines are diverse and range from music and theater studies to economics, philosophy and translation.
Further education and interdisciplinarity
Lea Frauenknecht, research associate at the Institute for Cultural Policy and coordinator of the SDG Graduate School, explains the concept behind this unique program. It combines writing time with content and methodological input as well as academic and non-academic training opportunities such as workshops on topics such as mental health and scientific publishing.
The DAAD launched the SDG Graduate Schools program in 2016 to support universities in the Global South in establishing SDG Graduate Schools. The aim is to train specialists and lecturers who deal with development-related problems. The program has now developed into an important component of international education initiatives.
Sustainability and global partnerships
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by the United Nations in 2015, address key issues such as social equality, environmental protection and economic development. Key areas also include SDG 4, which emphasizes the importance of quality education and equal opportunities. Education is a central element in successfully implementing the other SDGs.
Overall, the SDG Graduate Schools program aims to offer a higher quality of education in development-related postgraduate courses. The DAAD provides various instruments for this purpose and promotes partnerships between German and international universities in order to ensure sustainable further development after the funding phase has ended.
The President of the University of Hildesheim, Prof. Dr. May-Britt Kallenrode, and the Vice President for International Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Prof. Dr. Bettina Kluge, emphasized in their speeches the importance of interdisciplinary dialogues and strategic partnerships between universities, which are essential for overcoming global challenges. These collaborations are of enormous importance not only for the participants personally, but also for the scientific community as a whole.
In this sense, the SDG Graduate School makes a decisive contribution to the training of young West African scientists and to the promotion of sustainable scientific exchange at the international level.