The International Program of Wismar University has maintained close contact with several universities in France through Erasmus+ since 2010. Every semester we welcome French students. Most of them come for one year to get to know Germany, the language and the people. The majority of those with shorter planned stays with us extend after 6 months. There are regular exchanges of lecturers, and the parents of the young guests also like to come to the Baltic Sea for a visit.
This makes Wismar University of Applied Science Technologies, Business and Design a model for the East of Germany. According to Claire Demesmay of the state-sponsored German-French Youth Office DFJW, good connections between young people of the two countries are very important for the German-French partnership, international understanding, and for peace in Europe, especially in these days. But only 5% of all institutional encounters of young people from Germany and France take place in the East German federal states.*
For the academic year of September 2021- July 2022, our French students come from the partner universities I.U.T. Poitiers and I.U.T. Chatellerault.
*Scarce Contact: France and East Germany - Conversation between Claire Demesmay, DFJW, and Frederik Rother on DLF Europe Today , June 23, 2022, regarding a new DFJW study