DAAD Bilateral SDG Graduate Schools: Global Partnerships in Higher Education

The DAAD SDG Graduate Schools, joint as SDG GS Alliance, aim to provide the infrastructure for fostering cooperative efforts among German higher education institutions and their counterparts in Latin America, Africa and Asia. They resonate with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are formulated as joint objectives for the world community and cover a broad range of topics and social issues. Their ultimate goal is the generation of well-being and peaceful and inclusive societies while at the same time preserving our planet.

Achieving the SDGs wants to require a series of multidimensional transformations which must be based in systematic knowledge. Therefore, they are not just engaging in fundamental research and the generation of robust basic knowledge that can contribute to higher ecological, social and economic sustainability. They also train young people who want to be the future decision-makers and practitioners in different sectors (government, business, non-profit etc.) so they can promote the sustainable well-being of their societies.

In the seven DAAD SDG Graduate Schools, University of Cooperative Education in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and their Diversity reflects the multifaceted character of the 2030 Agenda. They engage in capacity building through developing and teaching programs related to different SDGs in the natural and social sciences. They also promote academic internationalization and interdisciplinarity: Frequent exchanges among partners (at all stages of development) enable researchers and students to view global challenges from different regional perspectives and modes of knowledge production and identify interdependencies and cases for comparison between the different world regions. They also put into practice the Agenda 2030 mandate to overcome scientific and political boundaries and approach challenges for sustainable development from to integrated perspective. In order to disseminate their findings, all SDG Graduate Schools have established ties with other epistemic communities and engage with important stakeholders from politics, the economic sector, and civil society. Funding for the DAAD SDG Graduate Schools is provided by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ.

Learn more about the seven DAAD SDG Graduate Schools:

CLIFOOD - German-Ethiopian SDG-Graduate School "Climate Change Effects on Food Security"

The German-Ethiopian SDG-Graduate School entitled 'Climate Change Effects on Food Security' (CLIFOOD) aims at empowering young academics of HEIs on the African continent focusing on SDGs 1 (no poverty), 2 (zero hunger), 3 (good health and well-being), 13 (climate action), 15 (life on land) and 17 (partnerships for the goals).

CLIFOOD was not established by the Food Security Center, University of Hohenheim in Germany and Hawassa University in Ethiopia.

trAndeS – Postgraduate Program on Sustainable Development and Social Inequalities in the Andean Region

trAndeS is a structured research and training program conducted by the project partners Freie Universität Berlin and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) in Lima.

trAndeS focuses on the multidimensional social inequalities of the Andean region and their impact on the opportunities for the realization of the SDGs.

Performing Sustainability. Cultures and Development in West-Africa

The interdisciplinary Graduate School ‘Performing Sustainability’ is a collaborative training network for graduate students operated by the University of Hildesheim (Germany), the University of Maiduguri (Nigeria) and the University of Cape Coast (Ghana).

The initiative focuses on innovative research that brings together approaches from performance, arts and culture to bear on sustainable development as defined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A specific focus lies on issues of peace and conflict resolution.

RoHan – Rostock Hanoi DAAD SDG Graduate school - Catalysis as Key towards Sustainable Resource Management

The RoHan DAAD SDG Graduate school is a cooperation between the University of Rostock together with the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis in Rostock and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology and Vietnam National University – University of Science in Hanoi, Vietnam. It enables the development and establishment of catalysis technologies and processes through the training of qualified Vietnamese scientists able to assume leadership positions in both industry and academia.

Yaoundé-Bielefeld Bilateral Graduate School Natural Products with Antiparasite and Antibacterial Activity (YaBiNaPA)

The Yaoundé-Bielefeld Bilateral Graduate School Natural Products with Antiparasite and Antibacterial Activity (YaBiNaPA) is a collaborative project between Bielefeld University (Germany) and the University of Yaoundé 1 (Cameroon).

 

Wits-TUB Urban Lab Programs

 

The Wits-TUB Urban Lab program is a partnership agreement between the Habitat Unit at the Technical University of Berlin (TUB) and the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA) on the sub-Saharan African continent.

DSSP - Doctoral Studies Support Program on Environmental Peace Building and Development in Colombia

DSSP is a training and research program developed and operated by the University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL), Institute for Environmental Studies (IDEA). The program focuses on territorial rights, land use, access to and the extraction of natural resources that are deeply entrenched with diverse forms of violence, reproducing structural inequalities and conflicts.