During the second week of May, right around graduation, you could hear a lot of German spoken around campus: UConn was celebrating the 30-year partnership between the states of Baden-Württemberg and Connecticut with a week-long, expertly curated set of events that included an honorary doctorate for Minister Bauer, visits to local and regional sights, company visits and meetings with current and future partners in higher education and business.

The Baden-Württemberg – Connecticut Partnership was brought into being in 1989 as the result of a legislative partnership between the state of Connecticut and the state of Baden-Württemberg. For more than 30 years, this partnership has grown beyond student exchange to include faculty mobility and research collaborations that affirm the value of intellectual freedom, educational excellence and international cooperation in the fields of technology, business, law and human rights. For more information, visit: https://bwgermany.uconn.edu/.

Importantly, the delegation included many of UConn’s partner institutions of higher education within that state in Germany, and plans to expand the partnership are under way. The Consul General of Germany, Nicole Menzenbach, also emphasized the following:

“The global community is facing complex challenges. How do we prevent the next pandemic? How do we address climate change, the most pressing issue of our time? How do we effectively regulate new technologies? We can’t solve these issues or problems unilaterally. The United States and Europe, the world’s two largest blocs of advanced democracies, have the capacity and the creativity to take a leading role in addressing common challenges. In order to do this effectively, we need to foster even closer cooperation. The partnership between Baden-Württemberg and Connecticut serves as a best-practice example.”

The visit was superbly organized by the Office of Global Affairs, and a full description of the week of events is available in the May 20th issue of UConn Today.