Intercultural Week brings OpenEU Partners to Hagen

Guests from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Bifröst University, the Open University of Cyprus (OUC), and the Universidade Aberta joined colleagues from FernUni for a joint intercultural training session.

The one-and-a-half-day workshop, conducted in English, offered practical exercises, fascinating insights into different cultural perspectives, and plenty of opportunities for discussion, networking, and collaborative learning. The focus was on integration and the various perspectives on it, as well as on personal experiences with being a foreigner and mobility during one’s studies. No prior knowledge was required — rather, the emphasis was on openness and a shared focus on the European Higher Education Area.

In addition to the training, face-to-face interactions were particularly important. Many of the participants already collaborate regularly on OpenEU projects, but until now have mainly known each other through virtual meetings. There was also a reunion among colleagues who had met during a Staff Week. Intercultural Week provided an opportunity to deepen connections, build new networks, and establish international collaboration on a personal level.

For Nimal Nithiyanantham from the Student Advising Office of the Faculty of Law, this exchange was a key reason for participating. “Given my immigrant background, I was very interested in the lecturers’ insights on the topic of intercultural exchange,” he says, explaining his motivation. “I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to get to know colleagues from Germany and abroad in person and to make connections beyond my own work context.”

Another highlight was the joint excursion to Dortmund. The guests explored the former industrial region and gained insights into structural change in the Ruhr region: in the bustling area around Phoenix Lake on the former Hoesch site and at the Dortmunder U, the former brewery that is now a museum.

Nimal Nithiyanantham also gained new professional perspectives: “I found the discussion of how intercultural situations arise and how to address them sensitively and constructively in a professional context particularly valuable.” He hopes to apply these insights in the future when interacting with international students at FernUniversität.

The week highlighted how important personal exchange is for successful international cooperation—and how vibrantly European collaboration is now being practiced at the FernUniversität.