22 students from 14 countries are currently guests for the winter university at the Fulda University of Applied Sciences. On Tuesday she was named Lord Mayor Dr. Heiko Wingenfeld (CDU) welcome.
Fulda – In his function as “Lord Mayor of the City of Fulda“ the mayor welcomed the participants in English and gave an overview of Fulda’s history from the founding of the monastery by the English missionary Boniface (“Fulda was very international from the start.”) to the fall of the wall in 1989 and the current situation in the middle of Germany and Europe. He not only wished the participants an exciting time in the city and many instructive explorations throughout the country, but also that the students may make many friends.
Fulda: 22 participants in the winter university come from 14 countries
With a wink, Wingenfeld gave a special welcome to students from Argentina, the country of the soccer world champions. One of them is Victoria Cristina Fernandez. “I won a scholarship from my university, the University of Buenos Aires,” reports the 21-year-old. This isn’t her first time in Germany, but her visit to Fulda is a first. “I am very happy to be here, I hope to see a lot of the country,” she reports.
For three weeks, she and the other students take part in the Winter University program at the Fulda University of Applied Sciences. Tuesday was the second day for the participants. “Three seminars take place in the morning, of which the participants attend one. The topics are sustainability, intercultural competence and German culture and history,” Natalia Asparrin Ureta lists.
The 26-year-old is one of the six tutors who accompany the participants and provide them with help and advice. Ureta herself comes from Peru and is studying at the university. “A German language course takes place in the afternoon,” she adds to the program, which is rounded off by excursions to Point Alpha, Weimar, Wolfsburg or Berlin. But workshops or game evenings are also part of it: “The participants should be able to get to know each other and make friends.” After all, they are staying in the same hotel for the three weeks.
The fall of the Wall brought Fulda to the center of Germany and was a gift from history.
Cynthia Chalupa is one of the teachers who will be teaching the students. She is a lecturer at West Virginia University, a partner university in Fulda in the eastern United States. “Otherwise I always come to the summer university with students,” she says – since 2007. This time, together with another teacher, she will bring the participants closer to German literature, art and culture.
The participants in the winter university come from all continents: among them is a married couple from Afghanistan who are working on a research project in Fulda. Participants also come from Australia, South Korea and South Africa. Six participants from the USA alone are taking part in the program, from the state of Wisconsin in the middle west of the country. (Read here: DAAD award winner Pika Plaznik Čanč establishes an international network at the university)
Elvis Ng’andwe came from Tanzania. The 40-year-old is in Fulda for the second time – in July 2022 he was already a guest in the baroque city. “I read about the website of Fulda’s German Academic Exchange Service,” he reports. A professor at his college, the University of Iringa, then told him about the college’s programs. Ng’andwe deals with political science there – one of his main topics is migration research. “I hope to be able to improve my language skills here in Germany,” he says.
From Iringa and Buenos Aires to Fulda: students welcomed in the city palace
Kateryna Boniakevych was also recommended to attend the winter university. The 19-year-old studied food technology in her hometown of Odessa in the Ukraine and would like to continue her studies at Fulda University – “similar to an exchange program,” she explains. Representatives of the university initially suggested that she take part in the winter university. Ten months ago she fled Ukraine with her mother and grandmother.
The family members are among the more than 1,000 refugees who the city of Fulda took in after the Russian war of aggression. Mayor Wingenfeld gave this number on Tuesday at the reception. “Precisely because we were confronted with the Cold War in Fulda up to 1989 due to the proximity to the border, we had hoped so much for lasting peace,” emphasized the Lord Mayor and explained the importance of an international event like this for the tenth time Winter University taking place is: “The best prerequisite for peace is international understanding.”