Amman- 31 October 2022
The GJU network speaker meeting takes place every four years at GJU. The 12th and 13th of October 2022 marked the return of the event after the Covid 19 pandemic, with the aim of giving all network speakers from the seven GJU networks a chance to meet and exchange interdisciplinary ideas and discuss challenges that affect all networks equally. Each GJU network was represented by at least one of its network speakers, in total thirteen of the GJU network speakers travelled to Jordan for the event. The deans of the different schools at GJU joined the meeting, along with the Exchange Coordinators and department heads. Prof. Dr. Reiner Finkeldey, GJU´s Vice President for International Affairs, represented the German Dimension at GJU throughout the meeting along with Dr. Monica Heitz form the Project Office at HS Magdeburg-Stendal.
On the first day of the meeting, the participants had the opportunity to participate in the 1st GJU Sustainable Development Symposium, hosted by the School of Natural Resources, after which GJU President Prof. Ala’aldeen Al-Halhouli officially opened the network speaker event. Various presentations were held such as an introduction to TNE funding 2023 and the funding period 2024 to 2028 and an overview of the network activities since 2017, including best practise examples presented by all networks, and the envisioned improvements of the network strategies and structures were presented. Various workshops took place in order for the participants to support together in optimizing and re-defining the functionalities and structures of the networks.
During the first workshop phase, the participants focused on the contents of the network agenda and on how the GJU core topics could still be integrated more successfully into the network meetings.
The topic "research clusters" in particular was heavily discussed, as well as the TNE German Jordanian Discourse Series and its integration into the networks. Furthermore, an increased integration of industry in the networks was mentioned, the idea was amongst others to link the network meetings to career days at the partner universities in order to create slots for company partners and internship providers during the network meetings.
The options of joint modules, joint programs and joint online- teaching were also discussed, followed by topic of acquisition of new partners for the networks, another issue affecting all GJU networks.
A second workshop on the structure of the networks and network meetings took place on the second day of the meeting, focusing on responsibilities and division of tasks between the different entities involved in a successful network. This second workshop also included talks on a digital platform for each network, which in the future will make communication between the network members easier and will assist in closer contact with more opportunity for exchange and collaboration in the future.
After two days of intense discussions, the network speakers had the opportunity to visit Mount Nebo and enjoy the views from the GJU water tower before returning to their respective partner institutions in Germany.
