Migration and Innovation

The Danube School is a short term study program for postgraduate students and young professionals, who learn and discuss about facts, challenges and projects of the Danube Region. It is organised by the European Danube Academy in cooperation with several Universities of the Danube Region and takes place in Ulm and Neu-Ulm. About 25 participants meet for one week to discuss with academics and decision makers what happens in the Danube region and how to shape it for the better. The program as well as accommodation and catering is free of charge. This year’s Danube School will be the fifth Danube School in Ulm/Neu Ulm, Germany. In the previous years we have gained access to the great venues in and around Ulm (Vöhlin Castle, City Hall Ulm, Excursion to IT Firm and House of Danube Ulm) and developed an outstanding programme. The Danube School 2018 in Ulm will take place between the 14th and 19th of October and will focus on Migration and Innovation in the Danube Region. What are the effects of migration on society, on politics, economics and specifically on innovation in the Danube Region? How do migrants in the Danube Region integrate in their new environments and how do societies that were left behind cope with the emmigration? How do new ways of thinking, of living and of working effect the receiving environments in the Danube Region? What structures are needed in order to use those new appraoches? What are practices that worked? What projects can help to ease the integration process and trigger innovation? Those and many other questions shall be discussed in this years Danube School in Ulm. For that, we invited international experts and high level decision makers from the Danube Region. The program will be open for applicants from all over the Danube Region.

Course leader

European Danube Academy

Target group

The requirements to be aprticipant of the program are: Strong interest in the Danube Region’s politics, economy, culture and history. Postgraduate student, student in the last years of the undergraduate studies or recent graduate Fluent in English

Course aim

The Danube Schools are part of a greater connection of networks and partnerships within the Danube Region. They are a result of the work of several institutions, associations and active individuals. Since the European Commission adopted the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) in 2010, there has been a growing demand for individuals who understand this complex region as well as the structures of the EU and other international and national institutions. As the EUSDR was implemented to create synergies and coordination between existing policies and initiatives taking place across the Danube Region, there is a great demand of exchange of perspectives, knowledge and opinions through networking, open discussions, and expertise. Since 2014, several Danube Schools have been organized as short term study programs by the European Danube Academy in cooperation with universities and institutions from the Danube Region. All summer schools are separate units, but strongly connected through topics, aims, backgrounds – as well as through people and project ideas. Since its start in 2014, the Danube School Series has become a well-established and respected platform of exchange and debate among political decision makers, academics, and students. Results and thoughts have been documented in several publications in the Danube Book Series of the European Danube Academy. Each Danube School is also a project development workshop. Small working groups with participants of different backgrounds develop feasible projects that help to foster cooperation and support the unfolding of the region’s economic potential. In 2018, five events in the frame of the Danube Schools will take place, one Spring School in Novi Sad, one Summer School in Budapest, one Autumn School in Ulm and two events in Bucharest/Ruse and in Ulm. In each Danube School participants from different countries learn and discuss about facts, challenges, and projects of the Danube Region. All events in 2018 are cohesive independent schools, but strongly connected and also build upon each other.