Students plan campaign for International Day against Racism

University members' experiences to be made visible

Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences is colourful. It is an educational institution for students from more than 40 nations and a research centre for international academics. The English-language Master's degree programmes in Process Engineering and Energy Technology and Embedded Systems Design are particularly popular with international students. Programmes such as Erasmus+ and joint seminars with European partner universities support intercultural exchange. The fact that the university sees the diversity of its members as an opportunity and has found ways to use this potential for organisational development was recognised in 2024 by the Stifterverband with the ‘Shaping Diversity’ certificate. 

‘Science and business benefit from diverse teams. For this reason, internationalisation is not a nice extra for us or a necessary evil in the competition for prospective students. We are convinced that progress can only be made where intercultural exchange is possible without marginalisation. Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences is committed to diversity and firmly rejects racism and all other forms of discrimination,’ says Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Alexis Papathanassis.

The International Day against Racism is celebrated annually on 21 March. It was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1966. The occasion was the sixth anniversary of the ‘Sharpeville Massacre’, in which 69 demonstrators with dark skin were shot dead by South African Police units in Sharpeville, South Africa, and several hundred of them were injured.