On November 11th 2021, the official award ceremony of the projects and initiatives that were already selected by a jury in September took place in the Dülfer hall in the presence of Professor Ronald Tetzlaff, Chief Officer Technology Transfer and Internationalization as well as  Vice-Rector Academic Affairs, Professor Michael Kobel.

In his laudatory speech, Prof. Tetzlaff emphasized that internationalization does not work on its own, but needs personal commitment which deserves and requires appropriate recognition as a motivator. With the Internationalization Award, exemplary activities at our university receive visibility and appreciation and it should encourage all members of TU Dresden to incorporate and expand internationalization in their own work.

After the awards were presented by the two members of the extended Rectorate, the award-winning initiatives presented their projects and commitment in short impulse presentations.These impulses are to be understood explicitly as good practice and can offer inspiration for future activities and events.

A total of 18 initiatives show in their applications how they are committed to the internationalization of our university. An evaluating committee consisting of representatives of TU Dresden's international advisors, an alumni ambassador, a representative of the academic staff, a student representative and one of the previous year's award winners chose the following six projects:

Dr. Cathleen Bochmann is a scientific associate at the Chair of Political Systems and Comparative Politics. Her project "CouReg" targets young people in the Saxon-Bohemian border region and combines university teaching and research projects with school workshops aiming to strenghten democratic potential and counteracting the "brain drain" in the border areas around Dresden. A total of 6 German and 4 Czech schools are participating, each with 250 school hours per year. The school projects are developed by about 40 students of the TU Dresden and the UJEP (Univerzita Jana Evangelisty Purkyně Ústí nad Labem) per semester in the subjects of political science, teaching as well as Slavic and German studies. The award money will be used for a joint winter school for doctoral and master students. 

"It is not about blood or origin, but ideas, inspiration and friendship that drive our team's culture". This is how Dr.-Ing. Anna Martius and her team from the Boysen-TU Dresden Research Training Group describe the spirit of their Research Training Group. For the selection committee, this is a true good-practice example of international and interdisciplinary research cooperation. Each year, the participating researchers take a look at how mobility is changing. Topics that are focused on are for example individual transport, alternative drives, sharing products and the logistics sector that are being examined from an Industry 4.0 perspective. For research purposes, the members of the Research Training Group participate in workshops and conferences, publish the results and organize an international summer school once a year. With the award money, the Research Training Group would like to support the mobility of its international members. 

Dancing and improving your language skills at the same time? Sounds unusual at first, but is lived practice of Susann Riedel and her 4-member team. "Salsa & Bachata Fridays" was initiated two years ago by students and employees of the TU Dresden. With the weekly offer to dance, international students and employees are addressed, who not only want to gain a foothold, but also want to move their feet. The participants communicate in German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Hindi and Persian. The 35 members see themselves as a family environment at the TU Dresden which is constantly expanding through word of mouth. With the award money, Susann Riedel and the organizing team would like to ensure the further training of the dance teachers as well as provide small gifts to show appreciation for the volunteer work. 

A very special approach to internationalization is taken by the applicant Juliane Korall and the team of the initiative "IDA – In Dresden Ankommen" and was therefore selected by the jury. The language courses in Persian, Turkish and Arabic are taught by people with migration or refugee experience. In this way, the initiative makes it clear that integration is not a one-way street but a process of reciprocal learning. The approach that refugees and migrants pass on their knowledge, languages and skills to others as teachers is highly commendable because of its eye level, appreciation, reciprocity and practicality. The award money will be used to pay for the materials for the language courses and the fees of the teachers. 

Felix Molchanov applied on behalf of the "Refugee Law Clinic". Since 2015 this student initiative has been advising refugees, asylum seekers, but also international students on a voluntary basis in the area of asylum and residence law. At the same time, the Refugee Law Clinic offers students of the TU Dresden a training program in order to be able to work as a counselor in the Law Clinic. The consultations (over 500 since its foundation) did not even stop during the Corona Pandemic. Rather, the members are striving to network their work with colleagues via a central website and to take their services digitally into the international arena in order to help shape the field of "legal tech". In addition, a possible expansion to the legal field of sea rescue is on the agenda. The initiative would like to use the award money to create and print promotional materials, as well as to further expand the Law&Orga platform. 

Many will know the feeling of newly arriving in a city and hardly knowing any people. Julia Beneke and her local team from "Start with a Friend" (SwaF) address this issue for TU Dresden students with and without a migration background and "match" them with people from Dresden. The 11 volunteer team members have already arranged 156 tandem partnerships and thus make an important contribution to supporting the integration of international people in our society. A special focus is the tandem partnership at eye level which benefits newcomers and locals. In the future, SwaF would like to expand the cooperation with Seebrücke Dresden and the cooperation with IDA - In Dresden Ankommen. SwaF will use the award money for public relations and networking.

After the event, ideas and plans for joint projects in the future were already forged. Once again, it became clear how committed the members of our university are to diversity and the internationalization of our university and how important the Internationalization Award is for making this commitment visible and, in particular, for honoring it.
We are already looking forward to the continuation of the Internationalization Award in 2022.

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