"Europa macht Schule" (Europe meets School)
Do you have an international background and enjoy creative projects? The "Europa macht Schule" (EmS) program brings students and pupils together in one classroom. As the voice of your home country, you design your own creative project to bring pupils closer to your culture and history. EmS is not only aimed at Europeans, but at students from all over the world.
The program is aimed at...
- international exchange students who stay for one or two semesters and
- regular international students
- of European and non-European origin
- of all subjects
Apart from engagement in the classroom, every student also has the opportunity to volunteer in the program's Dortmund location team and earn a certificate. This voluntary work is supervised by the DAAD and the association "Europa macht Schule e.V.".
International students have the chance...
- gain an insight into everyday school life in Germany,
- get to know German culture better,
- improve their language skills,
- develop pedagogical, methodological and intercultural skills.
Pupils develop...
- international contact at a young age,
- intercultural experiences at an early age,
- interest in a stay abroad.
Shortly after the end of the binding registration period, a coordination meeting of students and teaching staff takes place. This is where initial ideas and their possible implementation are discussed.
Other possible meetings with teachers and training for successful project implementation are optional. The extent to which the offer is taken up therefore depends on the participants.
The presentation of the project takes place in December to February or May to June, depending on the starting semester. It lasts up to five, but at least three school hours.
At the end of the program, all participants from a location present their own projects at a final event , which takes place in May/June or February/March.
After the final event , a one-page report on the project must be prepared. Each participant then receives a small sum of money to cover any costs incurred.
Students are free to design their project as they wish.
It is important that the project is creative and has a cultural, historical or political reference. Together with the students, they could, for example, design a travel guide through their home country, rehearse songs or put on a play.
Over the course of the semester, the supervising teacher is on hand to offer advice and support to the students and help them, for example, to adapt their project to the age of the pupils.
There are hundreds of participants every year. For ideas for your own project, you can take a look at completed school projects.
Participation in the program runs for one semester or one academic year.
Binding registration for the winter semester and for annual participation ends in November. For participation in the summer semester, registration is open until March/April.
The deadline for registration in the Team location is October.
"Europa macht Schule" promotes intercultural exchange and experience transfer in a variety of ways: International students can bring German pupils closer to their home country, and location coordinators can get involved on a voluntary basis. Teachers have the opportunity to bring the world into the classroom in a lively way. With the "Back to School" program, students from German universities can also share their experiences of studying abroad with school classes. All information on "Europa macht Schule" can be found on the "Europa macht Schule" homepage.
Are you an international student and would like to get involved in the program?
Bring a piece of the world into the classroom.
Would you like to get involved in the location team as a student?
Play an active role in shaping the program at your location.
Are you a teacher and would like to bring the program to your school?
Promote international exchange in your classroom (site in German).
International Experts at Dortmund Schools
For many years, the International Office ran the "International Experts at Dortmund Schools" project. Similar to "Europa macht Schule", international students have accompanied and enriched lessons at Dortmund schools as part of this project during project days, smaller lesson sequences, in geography or foreign language lessons, in study groups or during afternoon activities in all-day schools. This is also reflected in the feedback from students and teachers:
We invite interested teachers from our network and international students to register with "Europa macht Schule" in the future and get involved.