Ruhr Fellows say goodbye
The Initiativkreis Ruhr and the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr made it possible for 14 students from the American universities Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania to become acquainted with the Ruhr Area as a business and research location in June and July. At the end of their fellowship programme in July, all Ruhr Fellows met up again and came to the conclusion: They want to promote living and working in the Ruhr Area in their home country.
By way of the Ruhr Fellowship Programme, the Initiativkreis Ruhr and the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr brought talented American students of Engineering and Natural Sciences to the Ruhr Area for the second time and familiarised them with both the region and its universities and commercial enterprises. The aim of the programme is to improve the image of the Ruhr Metropolis and make it attractive to talented young people from outside Germany so that they acquire an interest in living and working in the region. Contacts which were gained as a result of the student exchange shall be used for long-term collaborations between the Ruhr Area and the participating American universities. For this purpose, the 14 Ruhr Fellows will be involved in the alumni programme of the UAMR ConRuhr office in New York after their return to the United States to represent the Ruhr Area in North America as a location of science and business.
Academic and practical
The Ruhr Fellowship Programme was split into two phases: In the first four weeks the students visited a summer school. The UAMR organised the academic programme under the direction of Ruhr-Universität Bochum. This way, the students had the opportunity to get to know the three UAMR universities, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, the University of Duisburg-Essen and TU Dortmund University. In the second half of the programme the students completed a one month-long internship with supporters of the Initiativkreis Ruhr. The companies providing the internships this year were BP Europa, Deutsche Bank, Evonik, Hochtief, ista International, RAG, Siemens, SMS, Trimet Aluminium and Vaillant. The extensive programme also included presenting the Ruhr Area to the fellows as an attractive living environment: This was achieved by way of numerous excursions and visits to cultural institutions. In addition to this, the students also learnt their first German phrases in a German course offered by the Department of German as a Foreign Language.