2025

Around World Cleanup Day in September, students, staff and local communities of the European University Alliance ERUA are committed to protecting the environment. Viadrina is taking part with a cleanup on 19 September on the island of Ziegenwerder.

The new issue of Catch-Up is here! Check out ERUA’s student magazine, this time featuring eco-art projects at Coral Beach, a strong case for students as partners in research, and more spotlights on current projects, stories and talents within ERUA. Proudly brought to you by an international editorial team, we invite you to dive into this exciting journey with us – with a big thank you to the contributors from all ERUA universities. Immerse yourself! The international student editorial team invites you on an exciting journey through the ERUA cosmos.

Elisa Lehrer, Lilo Meier and Anna Rößner no longer just wanted to worry about democracy. With the desire for more self-efficacy for themselves and their students, the lecturers from the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics designed the seminar "Democracy in Crisis?" in the summer semester of 2025. They invited experts from all faculties, went on excursions and simulated European politics. Together with their students, they explored the questions that are putting democracy under pressure.

The almost desperate helplessness caused by the border controls at the German-Polish border became clear on the evening of 17 July 2025 in the Viadrina Senate Hall when questions from the audience came to the podium. The panel, consisting of Dr Marcus Engler and Lea Christinck (both from the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research, DeZIM) as well as Viadrina researchers Dr Norbert Cyrus, Prof. Dr Claudia M. Hofmann and Dr Anja Hennig, were unanimous in their assessment. From various perspectives - whether statistical, economic, legal, humanitarian or political - they came to the conclusion that these border controls are wrong.

Since autumn 2023, Germany has been expanding controls at its external borders. Now the Polish government has also announced that it will tighten controls at its borders from 7 July. Against this highly topical background, the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) is hosting a panel discussion on the legal, political and humanitarian challenges of border controls on Thursday 17 July at 6.15 pm. The situation at the border between Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice has repeatedly been in the spotlight, most recently due to a judgement by the Berlin Administrative Court, according to which the rejection of three refugees at the German-Polish border was unlawful.

Five days to promote your own career and network internationally with other researchers: The European Reform University Alliance (ERUA) Research Week offered this opportunity from 16 to 20 June at the European University Viadrina. Almost six months after the first Research Week at the Viadrina, new doctoral topics were presented, discussed and many experiences exchanged.

Under the title "Vision Forward", the rectors of the European ERUA universities met at the Viadrina on 6 and 7 July 2025. The Board of Rectors and the Steering Committee of the European Reform University Alliance came together for a strategic workshop and explored both: the Viadrina and the region as part of the supporting programme.

On 6-8 May, 2025, Prof. Dr. Sigita Rackevičienė and Dr. Eglė Selevičienė, teachers at the Faculty of Human and Social Studies of Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) in Lithuania, visited the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. Both universities are members of the ERUA Alliance.

The future of human rights in the face of climate change, artificial intelligence and fake news was the topic of an international intensive course at Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius at the beginning of May 2025. A group of Viadrina law students, who travelled to Lithuania under the direction of Prof. Dr Stefan Haack, met future lawyers from Poland and Italy.

Three colleagues from Viadrina were present when the Management Committee of the European Reform University Alliance (ERUA) met from 11 to 13 March 2025 at the Brandenburg State Representation of the EU in Brussels. The meeting focussed on the further development of the Alliance and the shared vision for higher education in the future.

From 26 to 28 February 2025, the European University Viadrina hosted representatives from all universities of the ERUA Alliance for a central meeting to promote research collaboration. Participants of the Research Support Network and the Research Working Group (WP3) came together to shape a common vision: strengthening interdisciplinary and international research and expanding the exchange of resources within the Alliance.