Oldenburg's University shines at the GAIN conference in Boston!

Oldenburg's University shines at the GAIN conference in Boston!

The University of Oldenburg presented its research alliances and career prospects at the annual conference of the German Academic International Network (GAIN) in Boston. The event, which took place August 29-31, attracted over 600 participants from the United States and Germany. The Northwest Alliance, a strategic alliance between the University of Bremen and the University of Oldenburg, was prominently represented here, together with the U Bremen Research Alliance.

The Northwest Alliance plans to begin its research work on January 1, 2026 with four clusters of excellence. The main areas of focus include marine research, hearing and animal navigation research and space research. These areas reflect the Alliance's goal of combining excellent research with social responsibility and developing innovative solutions to regional and global challenges.

Representatives from universities and workshops

The university management was led by Prof. Dr. Katharina Al-Shamery from the University of Oldenburg and Prof. Dr. Michal Kucera from the University of Bremen represented. Both took part in a workshop on the topic of “Career paths in university alliances in the changing science system”. Discussants like Prof. Dr. Frank Ziegele from the CHE Center for University Development and Dr. Christina Reinhardt from the Ruhr University Bochum and Dr. Simone Schwanitz from the Max Planck Society expanded the debate to include new career paths and forms in interorganizational cooperation structures.

The Northwest Alliance is not only a merger of the two universities, but also an initiative that includes around 580 professorships and 34,000 students. Around 6,400 employees and 2,700 doctoral students are working together to develop the Lower Saxony and Bremen region into a coordinated research and transfer area. The Hanseatic Science College has served as a link between the universities for over 25 years.

International connections and European higher education strategies

The Northwest Alliance sees itself as part of the international community and maintains a partnership in particular with the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands. On January 31, 2025, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg at the Bremen state representation in Berlin. This is a further step towards strengthening cooperation at the international level and promoting exchange within the European university alliances.

There are currently 65 such alliances, involving over 570 universities from 35 countries. Germany is participating with 67 universities, which represents the highest number of participants. As part of the EU Commission's European Higher Education Strategy, the goal is to create 60 university alliances with 500 participating universities by mid-2024. A particular focus is on the development of a common European university campus, flexible learning opportunities and new mobility formats for students.

In summary, the annual conference in Boston not only shows the active role of the University of Oldenburg and the Northwest Alliance in the international higher education landscape, but also the commitment of German universities within the framework of the European University Alliances. Initiatives such as the Community of Practice of University Alliances supported by the EU Commission can help strengthen the higher education sector and develop innovative solutions.

Further information about the Northwest Alliance is available on the website Northwest Alliance to find. For European higher education developments, it is best to follow the relevant initiatives of the DAAD as well as the current reports from UOL.de.