Education for Sustainable Development

If international cooperation is to foster a future that is worth living for, it must make sustainable development its guiding principle. Education, knowledge transfer, networking: these are the pillars of sustainable development. Indispensable to this effort are impulses from all parts of society, combined with the harmonisation of theory and practice.

With its university-level initiative Between Lecture Hall and Project Work, GTZ has since 2001 been contributing to the ongoing transfer of knowledge between institutions of higher learning and practical development work. In recognition of this effort, UNESCO has honoured Between Lecture Hall and Project Work by awarding it the title of “Official Project of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014”.

Between Lecture Hall and Project Work seeks to form an interface between the theory and practice of sustainable development. It would like to link the results of academic research with the demands of practical work on the ground everywhere in the world. At the same time, it seeks to network more completely the work of German universities and polytechnics with international cooperation in developing countries.

This interdisciplinary approach can introduce to the practice of international cooperation worthwhile synergies and innovative impulses from the academic world. And by the same token, examples from development practice can shine new light on scientific and academic research. Finally, for students, new life is breathed into academic theory, so that they gain a familiarity with a global, holistic and networked mode of thought. 

Between Lecture Hall and Project Work addresses students in various academic disciplines. Lecturers at polytechnics and universities in Berlin and the new German states assign topics for research papers and reports with a direct connection to the work of GTZ or another organisation that is active internationally. The students who have submitted the best work are then rewarded with positions as interns at GTZ or other institutions.

GTZ has been cooperating since 2006 with the Berlin-Brandenburg International Studies Network (BISS), an association of currently 24 international postgraduate masters programmes offered by universities and polytechnics in Berlin and Brandenburg. To boost knowledge transfer to developing countries as well, GTZ, in cooperation with a German university, also organises at least one summer school each year in a partner country.

Contact: hoersaalundprojekt@gtz.de

Download

• Flyer Zwischen Hörsaal und Projekt
  Flyer_zwischen-hoersaal-und-projekt-2010.pdf, 0.57 MB (Deutsch)

Further information and online registration

• Registration
  Coachingplatform
• UN-Decade Education for Sustainable Development
  www.dekade.org
• Berlin-Brandenburg International Studies Network (BISS)
  www.biss-network.de