Celebration of 40 years cooperation between Oldenburg and Groningen

University of Groningen and University of Oldenburg (UOL) celebrate 40 years of collaboration in 2020. On 29 October 2020 (Festakt-date) the UG and the UOL officially renewed the partnership that they started 40 years ago. The anniversary was celebrated with a joint conference in Schloss Oldenburg and a variety of academic symposia, lectures and workshops. Due to the coronavirus measures, most of the events took place online. During the (online) Festakt, chairman of the board Jouke de Vries presented a digital gift to his colleague Hans Michael Piper from Oldenburg.

The two universities started working together in 1980 and are currently collaborating in the areas of both teaching and research. The European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen offers a cross-border medical degree programme, which is unique in Europe. In addition, academics from Groningen and Oldenburg also work together on research and create synergy in fields that are important to the future like hydrogen, spatial sciences and neuroscience. Moreover, the two universities also collaborate in the area of healthcare, enabling patients in the region to benefit from the German-Dutch partnership too.

In the academic framework program, cooperation partners from Oldenburg and Groningen will use the occasion of the festive renewal of the 40 year cooperation between the universities to exchange views on various projects, topics and strategic fields of action. Events on this day will mainly take place online. Some events open their digital doors to the public and invite you to temporarily become part of our cross-border cooperation.

A gift

Following the academic program, a ceremony called Festakt in German, took place in Oldenburg Castle to mark 40 years of cooperation. Highlights of the ceremony were the ceremonial continuation of the cooperation for another ten years by presidents Professor Dr. Dr. Hans Michael Piper and Professor Dr. Jouke de Vries, as well as a lecture by Rector of the UG, Professor Dr. Cisca Wijmenga, about the recent Lifelines corona research.

At the end of the ceremony, Jouke de Vries took the floor: "Our gift to President Piper is a virtual exhibition about the 400-year-old connection between the cities of Groningen and Oldenburg, curated by the Special Collections department of the University Library. Have fun with it!"

Read more on www.rug.nl/about-ug/latest-news/events/calendar/2020/oldenburg/