International Conference of Civic Engagement - Feb. 2011

C2P is invited to make a presentation on the work of the foundation at the International Conference of Civic Engagement on February 17-18, in Berlin, Germany where Dr. Sue Sehgal will also introduce President Jimmy Carter to give his personal message for the conference.

The conference is organized by the Stifterverband (a joint initiative of German industries to promote science and higher education), the Mercator Foundation. The Stifterverband acts as private industry's joint initiative for supporting research and higher education and we are advisor for political decision-making. The Stifterverband represents more than 3,500 companies, business associations and individuals. Stiftung Mercator is one of the largest private foundations in Germany. It pursues clearly defined objectives in its thematic clusters of integration, climate change and arts education and it achieves these objectives with a combination of socio-political advocacy and practical work.

The conference participants would come from institutions of higher education in Germany. The aim is to get them to engage in campus community partnerships, community service and service learning. Whereas in the US and many other countries, campus community partnerships are common ways of collaboration between universities and their larger communities, in Germany universities are just about to begin with adopting that idea. The conference will showcase ten campus community partnership examples at German universities (chosen from 78 applications). Out of these 4-6 projects would be chosen and supported for the following two years with a budget of € 250.000. The 10 finalists will also be invited by the Fulbright-Commission to the US for one week Seminar "Community Outreach".

From 76 campus community partnership project applicants' in Germany, ten projects from the following universities would be highlighted at the conference: University of Augsburg, University of Applied Sciences Dortmund, Dresden Technical University, University of Duisburg-Essen, Zeppelin University, University of Kassel, Four major Munich Universities and Entrepreneurship Centers, University of Applied Sciences Münster, Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences and University of Regensburg.

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