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Belgium Center Paderborn: New opportunities through an international network!
The University of Paderborn is expanding its international presence: the Belgium Center will become part of a renowned network for research and exchange.
Belgium Center Paderborn: New opportunities through an international network!
The Belgium Center (BELZ) at the University of Paderborn has reached a significant milestone: it has been accepted into the widely respected “Network of University French and Francophonie Centers”. This was announced on December 19, 2024. This network brings together university centers in Germany that specialize in research and exchange on France and the French-speaking world. The BELZ is unique because it focuses exclusively on Francophone Belgium. The admission was confirmed after a multi-stage application process and shows the high quality of the university's scientific work, as Prof. Dr. Sabine Schmitz, the first chairwoman of the BELZ, emphasized. She described the membership as “an honor” and emphasized that it will significantly increase the university’s international visibility in the Francophone region. This integration is reinforced by the support of the Belgian Region of Wallonia and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which work together within the framework of Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI) to promote international connectivity.
Scientific exchange and future perspectives
Membership in the network enables the BELZ to develop a new research focus on “European Francophonie” together with the German-French course “European Studies / Études Européennes” at the University of Paderborn. This is a significant step towards promoting research on Francophone cultures and their connections to European Francophonie. A support and networking agreement was also signed at a ceremony in Brussels, which will also ensure BELZ outstanding cooperation opportunities with partners in Belgium in the future.
The BELZ offers a variety of programs and events to challenge citizens, teachers and scientists in linguistics, literature and cultural studies in their engagement with Belgium. The multifaceted capital Brussels and the country's trilingualism are at the heart of these initiatives, which deal with the complex social and political negotiation processes in Belgium. Loud kw.uni-paderborn.de The diversity and multilingualism of the country offers enormous potential for an interdisciplinary and didactically oriented digital platform, the BelgiumNet, which should further promote exchange and understanding between cultures.