Internationalization

List of all international conferences organised by our faculty

Strategy for the Internationalization of the Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Regensburg

Preliminary Remarks

By virtue of its interdisciplinary structure and its connection to the Catholic Church – which, by its very nature, encompasses the whole world – catholic theology has always been international and multilingual in character. In most theological professional associations, communication takes place in various languages, including romance languages. However, for several decades now, English has increasingly established itself as the lingua franca in theology. The Faculty of Theology at the University of Regensburg is also endeavouring to respond to this trend in an appropriate manner. The major restructuring of the Faculty, which is expected to be completed shortly and will see more than half of the professorships filled by new appointees, is recognised as an opportunity to align itself even more consistently than before, at all relevant levels – that is, in teaching and research – with the University of Regensburg’s guidelines on Internationalization. It is already becoming apparent that, once the degree of this restructuring is complete, approximately half of the professorships are likely to be held by individuals who are not German nationals.

Teaching

In recent years, the Faculty of Catholic Theology has established various partnerships within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme. In addition, students from the Faculty regularly apply for the Theological Study Year in Jerusalem [https://www.studienjahr.de]; students preparing for the priesthood spend their sabbatical year abroad (e.g. in Rome)[1] (external link, opens in a new window). The Faculty attaches great importance to ensuring that credits earned abroad are recognised as smoothly as possible, as the lecturers are convinced of the added value of an experience abroad. Nevertheless, the number of students going abroad as part of an Erasmus+ programme is still too low – their proportion has consistently remained below 2% over the past five years.

Of course, in addition to these figures – which relate to Master’s students or teaching students majoring in catholic theology – there are also individual cases of students studying theology as a minor subject but going abroad because of their main subject.

Internationalization in teaching is significantly more successful and intensive at postgraduate level. For more than ten years, regular international seminars for doctoral students and other early-career scholars have been established at various departments; there is close, long-standing cooperation with colleagues at the University of Zurich and KU Leuven; In recent years, joint initiatives have been launched with colleagues from Charles University in Prague, Trinity Western University in Vancouver, the University of Strasbourg and the University of Glasgow; an initiative with colleagues from the University of North Carolina is also planned. Twice a year, in cooperation with the Eastern European Liaison Committee of the SNTS (Society of New Testament Studies), online seminars are held for biblical scholars from various countries in east europe, to which doctoral students and postdocs from the University of Regensburg are also invited. With the hoped-for appointment of Dr Andrea Riedl, the Faculty will be integrated into the annual summer courses organised by the Pro Oriente Foundation (in Vienna). The international seminars mentioned are generally held in English.

In addition, the Faculty of Catholic Theology organises regular excursions, including, where the political situation permits, trips to so-called ‘biblical countries’ such as Israel and Jordan; excursions to countries of the so-called ‘Christian East’ are also planned. In addition, there are summer schools for doctoral students in connection with the Research Training Group ‘Metropolitanism in the Pre-Modern Era’ (DFG-GRK 2337) – which is partly supported by members of the Faculty – and the Centre for Advanced Studies ‘Beyond Canon_’ (DFG-FOR 2770). Doctoral students at the Faculty, as well as postdocs, are supported (including financially where possible) to attend international conferences and present papers (among other things) in English.

The number of ‘incoming students’ (e.g. under the Erasmus+ programme) could be increased. Although courses are offered every semester in English or with ‘English on demand’, attended by both German and international students, Unfortunately, the range of courses on offer is still too limited to attract a larger number of international students; however, one obstacle is the structural problem that some professorships have currently reached their capacity limits and cannot offer additional courses within their existing teaching load. However, the current restructuring within the faculty, as well as the appointment to the newly allocated Chair of Transregional Religious History (Prof. Dr Laura Lieber), will certainly open up new opportunities in this regard.

International guests are regularly involved in teaching. This takes place, amongst other things, through guest lectures as part of the Erasmus+ programme and the programme run by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Art to attract international visiting professors; Fellows and guests from the aforementioned ‘Beyond Canon_’ Centre are also regularly involved in teaching – and, in particular, play a key role in supervising doctoral candidates and early-career scholars. Efforts are also being made to expand the range of English-language courses through collaborations with chairs in other faculties (e.g. the Chair of ‘Fundamental Philosophical Issues in Theology’ in collaboration with the ‘Chair of Theoretical Philosophy’ at the PKGG).

Research

The Faculty of Catholic Theology has an extensive research network. The faculty’s strategic partners include Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (and the Israel Academy of Sciences), KU Leuven, Belgium, St Paul’s University, Ottawa, Canada, the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Abo Akademi, Turku, Finland, the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., Yale Divinity School, the University of Zurich, Switzerland, the Pontificio Istituto Orientale and the Pontificio Istituto Liturgico (both in Rome). Owing to the new appointments (some of which are still to be confirmed), the opportunities are expanding considerably; specific plans include strengthening links with colleagues at the University of Helsinki, Uppsala University, the University of Lille and a number of US universities (Duke University, the University of North Carolina, the University of Oregon, the University of Virginia, amongst others).

International collaboration is particularly intensive within the framework of the DFG Research Group ‘Beyond Canon_’ (DFG-FOR 2770), which, since 2018, has hosted more than 300 visiting academics at various stages of their careers for fellowships ranging from a few days to one year in duration. The research group has now become so attractive worldwide that an increasing number of visiting academics are funding their stays in Regensburg either partly or entirely at their own expense.

The Interdisciplinary Research Training Group ‘Metropolitanism in the Pre-modern Era’, co-sponsored by the faculty, not only supervises numerous international postgraduate students but also organises regular events featuring high-profile international visiting academics.

The Chair of Pastoral Theology and Homiletics has been included in the DAAD’s Project-Related Personnel Exchange Programme (PPP) in cooperation with the University of Newcastle, Australia (topic: ‘An interdisciplinary investigation of gendered violence in communities of Catholic women religious in Germany and Australia’).

The number of international doctoral students at the Faculty reached a low point in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, however, interest among international doctoral students in the Faculty is on the rise. The figures given below also include doctoral students who are supervised in collaboration with other faculties.

The international standing of research at the Faculty of Catholic Theology has been demonstrated in recent years by a significant increase in the number of researchers coming to Regensburg under various funding programmes. Particular mention should be made of fellowships funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (under both the Early Career and Experienced Researcher programmes), as well as other programmes such as the DFG ‘Eigene Stelle’ programme, the SNF post-doctoral programme, the Margareta Salas Programme (Spain), the early-career support programme of the Eastern European Liaison Committee of the SNTS, and others.

Conclusion

Looking ahead, the Faculty will endeavour to maintain the successful programmes aimed at the Internationalization of research and, as already specified in several places in the concept, to expand them; in this regard, the Faculty is placing great hope in the already evident international visibility of the newly appointed colleagues. The aim is to increase the attractiveness of the Faculty’s teaching programmes for international students, on the one hand, by introducing new non-traditional degree programs (ranging from Bachelor’s to PhD programs); on the other hand, opportunities are being explored through mutual dialogue to expand the range of courses taught in English. As part of the imminent degree-level restructuring of the faculty – during which more than half of the professorships will be (and have been) filled within a few years – ‘international visibility’ was included as a criterion in each job advertisement.

[PDF] (external link, opens in a new window)

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[1] (external link, opens in a new window) The particularly popular option of spending a sabbatical year in Rome is not included in the Erasmus+ statistics, as Roman universities do not participate in this programme.