Establishing strategic partnerships

TH Köln has set itself the goal of using its international (university) collaborations to build its profile more effectively. In order to achieve this, both a greater differentiation of partnership types and a consolidation of activities within the individual collaborations are necessary. On top of that, overarching organizational development principles such as transformative scientific practice should be explicitly integrated in the thematic and methodological design of partnerships.

With the establishment of strategic university partnerships, TH Köln associates the expectation that

• sustainable, person-independent and far-reaching cooperation and infrastructures will develop across all performance dimensions,
• communication and cooperation at all levels will take place routinely and with knowledge of the respective organizational characteristics,
• a high degree of shared experience and best practices will crystallize in the diversity and density of activities,
• international competitiveness, visibility and reputation of the two universities are increased and expanded opportunities for joint projects and mobility programs arise,
• the partnership is characterized by a similar understanding of the role of universities in solving global challenges and the necessary interlinking of teaching, research and transfer

With objective IV.4 of the internationalization strategy of TH Köln, the following foundation was defined for strategic partnerships: "The foundation for strategic partnerships will be a "3x3x3" system, i.e. they will encompass at least three disciplines [...], members of at least three internal stakeholder groups, and at least three types of activities (teaching, research, knowledge transfer, governance)".

To explore strategic partnerships, Connecting Dots initially involves projects initiated by members of TH Köln and colleagues at one of the potential strategic partner universities. These projects serve to broaden collaboration with the partner, explore and stimulate interest in this university within TH Köln, and gather additional experience in the partnership. These individual projects essentially follow the same framework as the projects in the "Climate Change Adaptation" network initiative:

1. Virtual initiation: The recruitment of suitable contact person at the partner university and the conception of a joint project are carried out independently and in a virtual space. After the application is selected for funding, the project idea is further refined in virtual meetings and the on-site phase is prepared.

2. On-site workshops at the partner university: The collaboration will then be continued and deepened in a short in-presence phase at the partner university.

3. Virtual work phase: In the subsequent virtual phase, the results of the in-person meeting will be reviewed and further developed. This module includes joint online meetings with staff from the research departments and international offices of both partner universities to explore and initiate possible third-party funding options for continued collaboration.

4. Evaluation and signing of MOUs: After the completion of all on-site phases of the collaborative projects, the participants will complete a standardized evaluation form at the end of 2026 to assess the current collaboration with potential strategic partners and the potential for expansion. The project results, evaluations, plans from discussions with the research departments and international offices, as well as further developments regarding this specific partnership, will then form the basis for discussion at the joint conference of the executive board and deans of TH Köln. Based on this, a decision will be made as to which partners a strategic partnership should be initiated with. Conesquently, discussions between the executive boards of TH Köln and the partner will be continued and intensified. In parallel, a specific cooperation agreement will be drafted and agreed upon with the partners. This agreement will be ceremoniously signed in 2027 during a visit by members of the executive board, accompanied by a dean and a member of the Department of International Affairs.