Founded in 1413, the University of St Andrews is the oldest university in Scotland and one of the most renowned educational institutions in the world. In fact, St Andrews even surpassed the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in the recently published "The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022".
St Andrews and the University of Bonn have enjoyed a strategic partnership since 2018 and have been “sister universities” since as long ago as 1911. The delegation’s visit to Bonn will also see the bilateral Strategic Board convene for its annual meeting this week. This will lay the foundations for the next phase of their cooperation, which will include exchanges for students, researchers and administrative staff. The two universities work closely together on research and training early-career researchers, such as via joint doctoral examination procedures and jointly funded research projects.
The Universities of Bonn and St Andrews also enjoy particularly close links through their “German and Comparative Literature” joint degree program. This sees students spend a year in Bonn and a year in St Andrews, ultimately graduating with a dual degree (Master of Arts, Bonn and Master of Letters, St Andrews). Exchange schemes also enable Bonn students of other subjects to benefit from the outstanding study environment that St Andrews offers.
Sally Mapstone is St Andrews’ “Principal and Vice-Chancellor,” which is roughly equivalent to a rector in the German university system. The Scottish delegation also includes Mapstone’s deputies Prof. Brad MacKay (International Strategy and External Relations), Prof. Tom Brown (Research and Innovation) and Prof. Frank Müller (Learning and Teaching), accompanied by managers from the university’s central administration. The University of Bonn is being represented by Rector Prof. Michael Hoch, Vice Rectors Prof. Birgit Ulrike Münch, Prof. Klaus Sandmann and Prof. Andreas Zimmer, and Provost Holger Gottschalk.
Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch says: “St Andrews is one of the most outstanding universities in the world. We’re extremely proud of this partnership, which has endured since 1911 and which we expanded into a strategic partnership in 2018. It’s been one of the most fundamental pillars of our internationalization strategy ever since. This visit, coming as it is at a very challenging time for Europe and the whole world, is a significant and unique expression of the close cooperation between our two universities on all levels. I’m supremely confident that, going forward, we will make this partnership between St Andrews and Bonn even stronger and more robust, both academically and institutionally.”
Principal and Vice-Chancellor Mapstone also strikes a positive tone about her visit: “St Andrews’ partnership with the University of Bonn is one of our most important international relationships. Our visit this week is a key milestone in the strategic collaboration between our two universities and marks another step in our commitment to a continual exchange of people and ideas between our institutions and between Scotland and Europe. Our University Strategy is founded on the unshakable truth that St Andrews has always been outward looking, and European, and we will go on being so.”