As anyone who has travelled abroad will tell you – other countries, other customs! In awareness of this, the University of Bremen wants to help visiting scholars and scientists quickly acclimatize and feel at home when they come to the Hanseatic City. With this in mind, the International Office has set up a Welcome Center. It will be officially opened on Thursday, 26th January 2012 during a reception for visitors from abroad that will begin at 6 p.m. in Café Unique.

In future, the Welcome Center will serve as a central point of contact for all international visitors coming to the university. “Our aim is to make it more attractive for bright minds from all over the world to come to Bremen”, says Yasemin Karakasoglu, Vice Rector for Intercultural and International Affairs. “The Center represents another step forward in the internationalization of the research landscape, adding to the intercultural atmosphere on campus”.

The Center will also look after the interests of research assistants and professors who intend to stay at our university for longer periods.  “We want to help them acclimatize to the university and to living in Bremen with as little fuss and as quickly as possible”, explains the Welcome Center coordinator, Janna Rodi. The spectrum of services therefore ranges from assistance in dealing with formal administrative affairs, through finding the right language instruction, apartment, or school for accompanying children, up to offers of networking for guests and their families. There will also be a special lecture series that will be open to members of the public and, on a more informal note, a regular Stammtisch meeting. This will take place every Wednesday from 4.00 to 6.00 p.m. in the new Café International in building GW2. The first Stammtisch meeting will be on 8th February.

While it was developing the concept for the Welcome Center, the International Office was able to draw on the valuable experience and recommendations made by the various Faculties and research institutes that have hosted visiting scholars and scientists in the past. However, the main contribution of ideas came from past and present guests of the university themselves. After all, who could know better than them what type of assistance is most needed? 

For further information, please contact:

Universität Bremen
International Office, Welcome Centre
Janna Rodi
Phone: +49 421 218-60382
e-mail: welcomecentreprotect me ?!vw.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
www.uni-bremen.de/welcomecentre