Amman- 4 October 2021
This year’s network meeting of the School of Management and Logistics (SMLS) was able to take place in person again after one year of online meetings due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The event was held at the House of Logistics and Management (HOLM) in Frankfurt am Main and took place from 23rd to 24th of September 2021. GJU’s vice president Prof. Dr. Ralf Rosskopf joined the meeting together with SMLS’ exchange coordinators Dr. Luai Abu-Rajab, Dr. Serena Sandri and Dr. Rana Sabri as well as GJU associate professors Dr. Ismail Abushaikha and Dr. Bassam Maali and network coordinator Iris Wildfeuer.
The different German partner universities such as TH Lübeck, HS Würzburg-Schweinfurt, HS Aalen, FH Bielefeld, HS Fulda and DHBW Mannheim were represented and Dr. Rudy Lohmann and Dr. Alexander Steinmetz, the network heads were also present. Ms. Julia Kölbel from the GJU Project Office in Magdeburg joined the network as well.
After a welcome address by Mr. Sasche Barthel, the HOLM representative, Prof. Dr. Ralf Rosskopf opened the meeting with updates that GJU had undergone throughout the pandemic, including changes in digitalization and the new German Language Concept. He then spoke about the progress of the German Accreditation for a decision is hoped for by 2022. This was followed by presentations on updates in each of the departments by the exchange coordinators. For the department of International Accounting the new study track „Forensic Accounting“ was presented and collaboration was discussed.
Following the updates and presentations were discussions about dual studies and its aim of creating a bridge between industry and academia with employability being the main focus. The German partners weighed in with their suggestions and experience for accreditation on dual study programs.
The creation of a new research cluster was also proposed with the two-fold idea of increasing visibility of research projects at GJU while including the German dimension through the creation of joint research teams.
Two joint projects were presented, one was an update on the JOINOLOG project, a collaboration between GJU and HS Fulda, started in 1918, with the idea of creating an umbrella association for logistics in Jordan. Afterwards Ms. Julia Hansch from DHBW Manheim presented the ongoing Study Group Mobility project “The logistics industry in Turmoil: how will Covid-19 impact the logistics industry in Germany and Jordan?” for which the German students were about to travel to Jordan in the week after the network meeting to start working together with GJU students.
After an alumni report by former GJU student Hazar Alhasan a general discussion was held between the members of the network on industry trends especially regarding digitalization. The future of the industry was further discussed in terms of expansion of the network. Furthermore, Mr. Ralf Härting from HS Aalen was voted unanimously as new German vice head of SMLS network.