International Cooperation and Sustainability

The specialist group functions as a fulcrum for the different projects

• in which its members are involved

• with an international background in

• the fields of collaboration / communications / education or

• sustainability / corporate social responsibility.

This touches upon feasibility issues and practical implementation along with the specific specialist subject matter covered by international collaboration. The main priority is to be placed on the aspect of sustainability (specifically, towards achieving attaining the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals – SDG). A key focus also lies on collaboration with Africa – an arrangement that offers major opportunities for both sides, but which had traditionally played only a secondary role in universities’ efforts towards internationalisation thus far.
 

• Organising a summer school for students from Kempten and Kigali about “Entrepreneurship” together with our partner university in Kigali, Rwanda
   
• Constructing an MBA programme in Kenya together with university partners and affiliated German companies working in East Africa
   
• Concepts for measuring and steering sustainability effects in microfinancing institutes in Africa and Asia (in collaboration with the “Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation”)
   
• Concept for measuring and managing the climate risk in regional German banks
   

The expert group on “International Cooperation and Sustainability” is led by Tobias Peylo . Besides teaching in the Faculty of Business Administration, his research focuses on the field of sustainable finance and climate risk, also on microfinance and business development in Africa.

• Mechtild Becker is the Vice President for Internationalisation. Besides her teaching and research activities in the Faculty of Business Administration, Professor Becker directs and coordinates the university’s internationalisation drive. A major focus of her work currently lies in establishing and expanding activities in Africa.
   
• Arthur Kolb teaches in the Faculty of Business Administration and injects his international experience into nurturing and expanding university partnerships.
   
• Michael Märlein incorporates particularly his international teaching experience at various universities (including in South Africa) into the expert group. As head of the Language Centre, he focuses on the linguistic aspects.
   
• Christian Mayer, besides teaching in the Faculty of Tourism Management, assists the expert group in establishing and expanding African partnerships.
   
• Gabriele Schäfer, a lecturer in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, is getting the “StartUp Center” up and running, which includes intensively working on international collaborations. She is also responsible for nurturing relations with universities in Ethiopia that she was instrumental in helping to set up.
   
• Raija Seppälä-Esser has a wealth of international experience in leading positions in the tourism industry, and besides teaching in the Faculty of Tourism Management, she is also a quality assurance auditor for European universities.
   
• Gerald Winz teaches and researches in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. His key areas of interest include intercultural aspects (above all regarding quality management), with which he supports the expert group.