The Studierendenwerk West:Brandenburg (STWWB) has always provided indispensable support for international students in Potsdam, Wildau and Brandenburg an der Havel through its diverse social offers and services. The present internationalization strategy aims for the STWWB to increase its efforts to address the needs of a steadily growing number of international students, making it possible for them to study without worries in the future, too. Furthermore, the STWWB recognizes the strategic importance of internationalization for itself and strives to further position itself internationally and interculturally.
The STWWB's internationalization strategy is intended to be as comprehensive and context-oriented as possible. In order to cover the diverse tasks, four thematic fields of action have been defined, to each of which individual goals are assigned.
Goal 1: The STWWB clearly positions itself internally and externally as an open-minded institution. In doing so, the STWWB is clearly committed to tolerance and diversity and condemns racism and other forms of discrimination.
Goal 2: The STWWB promotes a culturally diverse workforce. By doing so, the STWWB benefits from the knowledge and personal experience of its employees and credibly exemplifies interculturality and diversity. This increases the STWWB's attractiveness as an employer, especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers.
Goal 3: The STWWB develops structures for dealing with racism and discrimination. By doing so, the STWWB protects students and employees in different discrimination situations.
Goal 4: The STWWB communicates its offers and services in German and English. This reduces language barriers for students and allows the STWWB to reach the entire student body with its offers and services.
Goal 5: The STWWB regularly solicits feedback from international students. This gives it an up-to-date picture of their challenges, their needs, and their satisfaction with the STWWB’s offers, and enables it to respond adequately.
Goal 6: The STWWB expands specific counselling and support services for international students. The special challenges and needs of international students can thus be covered in a more targeted manner.
Goal 7: The STWWB offers its employees information and training opportunities in the context of internationalization. By doing so, the STWWB actively supports employees in the internationalization process while promoting their personal and professional development.
Goal 8: The STWWB makes use of the connection between digitalization and internationalization. This saves resources and exploits the joint potential of both major topics for the optimization of processes and workflows.
Goal 9: The STWWB expands the exchange and cooperation with the universities in the context of international affairs. The most important contact points for international affairs at the universities are the International Offices.
Goal 10: The STWWB expands its contacts with other student services and relevant actors in the state and cities. Thus, the STWWB can draw on a diverse and constantly growing network of expertise and resources. Work processes are made more efficient by avoiding overlapping responsibilities and complement each other.
The STWWB bases its internationalization strategy primarily on the target agreements with the MWFK (currently 2022 - 2026). In addition, it aims to take into account aspects of the internationalization strategies of the universities and the state where possible and appropriate. In the long term, the STWWB's internationalization strategy will be most effective if it is taken into account accordingly by the universities and the state of Brandenburg.
Below you can find the complete strategy including the latest numbers.
Download the Internationalization Strategy of the Studierendenwerk West:Brandenburg as PDF
