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About the Project

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has developed a funding program named “Lehramt.International”, which promotes the internationalisation of teacher education programs in Germany. Project “LiMa – Lehramt international in Marburg” (LiMa – international teacher education in Marburg) has been approved for a four-year funding (2021-2024). It is organised by the Center for Teacher Education, the Department of Biology, the Department of Geography and the Department of Education (EGL, the obligatory pedagogical part of the study program) and supported by the university's International Office. LiMa aims to develop better opportunities for international student exchange and promotes activities of internationalisation@home, e. g. by joint courses or lectures. Therefore, the project represents an important part in the university's internationalisation strategy, which aims to intensify student exchange by implementing structured curricula into the study programs and to reach a higher level of of intercultural competencies for staff and students.

  • Increasing student mobility

    Currently about 2.200 students are enrolled in the study program for teacher education at the University of Marburg. LiMa encourages future teachers to gain international experience in preparation for classrooms with a diverse socio-economic, cultural and linguistic background.

    Structured exchange programs and specialised student counseling have been developed to increase student mobility and enhance the students' intercultural competencies. To this end, mobility has been anchored in the study and examination regulations. This creates opportunities to acquire international perspectives in an otherwise predominantly nationally oriented degree program in teacher education at Philipps-University Marburg. The most suitable measures were determined through a survey on obstacles to mobility and have been continuously discussed with the international partner universities and implemented as part of exchange programs. Based on this, structured exchange programs were developed with degree-specific counseling, preparatory and support offers. Simultaneously, more opportunities for internships abroad are being provided in a continuously growing network of partner schools.

  • Enhancing intercultural learning at home

    The development of extracurricular and curricular events involving the project partners, e.g. through virtual joint teaching, is intended to give students an insight into international perspectives during their studies at their respective home universities. It gives them the opportunity to exchange ideas with teacher training students from other countries and gain experience in working together. An overview of the events held so far in the project can be found here. 

    An international summer school with students and lecturers from the partner universities offered the opportunity to discuss and work on a topic of teacher training from different perspectives together on site.

Publications:

  • Recommendations to increase student exchange based on a survey on obstacles to mobility conducted among teacher education students at the University of Marburg

    You can find the report here (in German).

  • "Think glocal - act glocal! Internationalisation and sustainability in university teacher training - A workshop report from the BuKo 2023 conference" (Original title: "Glokal denken - glokal handeln! Internationalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit in der universitären Lehrkräftebildung - Ein Werkstattbericht des Workshops auf dem BuKo 2023")

    Zina Maria Morbach, Inga Steinbach, Ruth Maria Mell & Wiebke Nierste

    Abstract
    Die Sicherung von Nachhaltigkeit in der Internationalisierung von Lehramtsstudiengängen stellt Universitäten vor zahlreiche Herausforderungen: so ist zwischen der Wichtigkeit persönlicher internationaler Begegnungen und der Reduktion des institutionellen ökologischen Fußabdrucks zu vermitteln, Lernerfahrungen zahlreicher Beteiligter sind nachhaltig zu sichern und institutionelle Kooperationen mit einer dauerhaften Perspektive zu etablieren. Der in Kooperation von Lehramt.International-Projekten aus Gießen, Marburg und Darmstadt angebotene Workshop hat im Rückgriff auf Praxiserfahrungen ausgewählte projektrelevante Facetten des Zusammenhangs von Internationalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit aufgegriffen. Es geht darum, Nachhaltigkeit im Sinne einer auf die breite Internationalisierung der Lehrkräftebildung zugespitzten Differenzierung inhaltlicher, institutioneller und zukunftsorientierter Faktoren zu verstehen. Im Workshop wurde im Anschluss an einen kurzen Input zur thematischen Einordnung Raum für den Erfahrungsaustausch und die Entwicklung weiterführender Perspektiven unter folgenden Schwerpunkten angeboten: 1) Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung als Gegenstand im inter-nationalen Setting, 2) Nachhaltigkeit und virtual/blended/short-term mobility, 3) Nachhaltige Internationalisierungsstrategien in der Lehrkräftebildung, 4) Nachhaltige Sicherung von (transkulturellen) Lernerfahrungen.

    Citation:
    „Glokal denken – Glokal handeln! Internationalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit in der universitären Lehrkräftebildung – Ein Werkstattbericht des Workshops auf dem BuKo 2023“ in Wegmarken für eine zeitgemäße Lehrkräftebildung; Martin Jungwirth, Julia Haarmann, Nina Harsch, Felicitas Haupts, Johanna Marks, Yvonne Noltensmeier (Hrsg.), 2024.
    https://doi.org/10.37626/GA9783959872843.0.12

  • "International and sustainable?! Digital pathways to building international cooperation in teacher education from a management perspective" 

    Zina Morbach, Inga Steinbach, Sophie Bludau, Sven Page, Annette Huppert

    Abstract
    In the following article, a good practice example of building international cooperation in teacher education while considering different aspects of sustainability will be discussed, using the experience of project LiMa – Lehramt international in Marburg. The focus of this article is on the management aspect of relationship building and lessons learned in this project. In addition, benefits for students will be reported. Project LiMa aims to provide teacher education students in its pilot subjects biology, geography and education sciences with opportunities for international and intercultural exchange, so that they may increase their intercultural competencies in preparation for culturally diverse classrooms. The four-year project funded by the DAAD established strong partnerships with four universities in Poland, Portugal, Romania and Serbia, using an intentional combination of virtual and in-person measures. The article will first describe the relationship between sustainability and internationalization, considering potential goal conflicts. It will then investigate the advantages and disadvantages of a virtual kickoff event and explore opportunities of how virtual formats can be used for international relationship building on the level of staff and lecturers. Finally, the article will address teaching for sustainable development as an important transversal topic for international cooperation in the context of teacher education.

    Citation:
    „International and sustainable?! Digital pathways to building international cooperation in teacher education“ in (Virtual) Internationalization of Teacher Education – Theories, Concepts and Practical Approaches to Construct a Future-oriented Education of Teachers; Brück-Hübner, A., Müller, U. B. & Seifert, A. (Eds.), 2024. 

Contributions to conferences and meetings:

  • 2022: Panel ‘Digital Internationalisation of Teacher Education in Higher Education’ at the DICE conference at TU Braunschweig.
  • 2023: Input 'LiMa and IMPACCT' at  the ‘(International) Teaching and learning in higher education’ NIDIT Exchange and Networking Event (hybrid) organized by JLU Gießen; in cooperation with Dr. Wiebke Nierste.
  • 2023: Workshop: ‘Establishing digital components in international (teacher training) degree programmes’ at the DAAD conference 'Designing resilient international cooperation' in Berlin; in cooperation with IDEAS, University of Jena.
  • 2023: Workshop: ‘Think glocal - act glocal! Internationalisation and sustainability in university teacher training’ at the  16. Federal Congress of the Centres for Teacher Education and Professional Schools of Education (BuKo) in Münster; in cooperation with IMPACCT, University of Gießen, and PraxisPro, Technical University Darmstadt.
  • 2024: Workshop: ‘From Utopia to Reality: Internationalised Practical School Studies’ at the conference of the Federal Working Group of Practical School Studies (BaSS) in Hamburg; in cooperation with IMPACCT, University of Gießen, and PraxisPro, Technical University Darmstadt. 
  • 2024: Input: "Hessen goes international: The Lehramt.international Hesse-Network" at the PraxisPro closing conference "Quo vadis internationalization?" in Darmstadt. 

Project Results: