Student Exchange
You obviously have a lot of contact to col- leagues in the US. What are the challenges of these transatlantic collaborations? Do you sometimes have to overcome intercul- tural hurdles? Bettina Wiedmann: I think all collaborations face occasional conflicts and challenges. Conflicts are not a bad thing per se; first and foremost, they’re occasioned by different interests. Add cul - tural idiosyncrasies to the mix and you just need a bit more time to resolve the conflict. It’s really interesting, even amusing, when both sides undergo intercultural training and then try it out on their partners. US-Americans sudden- ly communicate with German directness, or the Germans start talking about the weather… Even- tually, they meet again somewhere in the middle and look for a solution that suits them both. Ultimately, collaborations with US partner organi- zations are like transatlantic student exchanges. Once people get to know each other personally and meet as equals, they can resolve any conflicts and find ways to reconcile their respective interests. And this is exactly what we want to foster with our work.
In the last few years, the US has undergone a lot of changes, including some domestic challenges. Do you notice any of this in your work or in your collabora- tion with US-American partner organizations? Rüdiger Muermann: The domestic challenges in the US haven’t had a major impact on collaboration with our partner organizations, but they have indeed led to some interesting experiences for our exchange students. In 2020, for example, we sent one of our students, who was very interested in politics, to Texas. He was there on one of our scholarships so was required to write progress re- ports, which he did in a very interesting way. For exam- ple, he wrote about the US elections from his perspective as a German exchange student in Texas. His experiences gave him a new outlook and taught him the importance of student exchanges.
Bettina Wiedmann is Managing Director of Experiment and Rüdiger Muermann is a member of the manage- ment team of Partnership International. Both organiza- tions are members of AJA (Arbeitskreis gemeinnütziger Jugendaustausch).
Web: experiment-ev.de partnership.de
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