International Partnerships

The International Department has a long tradition with the Studierendenwerk München Oberbayern. It has been maintaining a close partnership with the CROUS in Lyon for over 40 years. Student and employee exchanges, developing joint projects to improve our services and support as well as cultural projects and courses have been the cornerstones of our cooperation. Apart from this partnership, there are also others.

Partnership Lyon
The partnership with the CROUS de Lyon is the most long-standing one of the Studierendenwerk München Oberbayern. The partnership activities have included language courses and theatre projects; another emphasis lies on our staff getting to know their international colleagues. Similar duties and working conditions in an institution which is quite similar to the Studierendenwerk offer the opportunity to discuss differences and similarities of working in the individual departments and to take back home new ideas and incentives for their own work.

Partnership Shanghai
The Studierendenwerk München Oberbayern’s partnership with the Tongji University in Shanghai has existed since 23rd October 2000. Most students in Shanghai and Munich have presumably already benefited from this partnership: Shanghai and Munich take turns in exchanging teams of their canteen chefs. In May 2019, for instance, professional Shanghai chefs were once again cooking for our students in the Canteen Arcisstraße, indulging them with Chinese specialities. In the spring of 2016, a delegation of Munich canteen chefs visited the university in Shanghai to cook Bavarian food for the students in their canteen.

Partnership Tunisia
Our partnership with the Office des Œuvres Universitaires pour le Nord in Tunis was formed in May 2002 with the intention to also extend the close contact which exists between Bavaria and Tunisia to the field of social and cultural services for students. This partnership complements the previously already existing partnership between the TUM (Technical University) and the university Tunis II.
The cooperation agreement is intended to promote exchange programmes between students of the two countries. For instance, there have already been language courses offered in Tunisia, students visiting international art festivals in both the North African and the European country as well as an exchange of chefs, through which Tunisian students were able to get to know some Bavarian specialities. German students have also already had the opportunity to enjoy Tunisian food.
In November 2019, the Studierendenwerk München Oberbayern also signed partnership conventions with the two remaining student service organisations, i.e. the Office des Œuvres Universitaires pour le Centre (Centre; based in Sousse) and the Office des Œuvres Universitaires pour le Sud (South; based in Sfax). The details of the partnership with now all student service organisations in Tunisia will be discussed for the future.

Partnership Beijing
Since the middle of 2016, we have had a partnership contract with the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) in the Chinese capital Beijing. Irregularly occurring short visits have given employees the opportunity to learn about the services provided by the host, especially services related to canteens and halls of residence as well as counselling and advisory services. The Studierendenwerk München Oberbayern has also already welcomed BIT staff in order to discuss ideas and exchange experiences.