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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions in Ukraine, Moldavia, Russia and Georgia were forced to switch to remote teaching almost overnight. Unfortunately, as in Germany, they are lacking the requisite technical equipment such as computers, laptops, smartphones, fast internet as well as learning and teaching materials for students and teachers. By financing new laptops and textbooks, we are supporting our partners to maintain vocational college classes in spite of quarantine measures.

In the coming years, we aim to bring our experience and the results of our long-standing successful cooperation with the Ural College of Technology and Entrepreneurship in Yekaterinburg (Уральский колледж технологий и предпринимательства) to other vocational colleges in Russia. After about a year of preparation, we signed a contract on the modernization of tiler training with the Beloyarsky Technical College  (Белоярский многопрофильный техникум) and the Ekaterinburg College of Transportation Construction (Екатеринбургский Колледж Транспортного Строительства) during an online conference on May 20, 2020. The project will be implemented with the support of the Ministry of Education and Youth Policy of the Sverdlovsk Oblast under the auspices of the Ural College of Technology and Entrepreneurship.

“The level of education and training that we have jointly created has been recognized by the international community of experts. This is borne out by the results and victories of our graduates at the WorldSkills Championships,” Yuri Biktuganov, the Minister of Education of the Sverdlovsk Oblast underscored. “No pandemic can stop us from continuing our fruitful cooperation,” emphasized Peter Möller, Executive Director of the Eberhard Schöck Foundation.

On May 13, 2020, author and dramatist Rolf Hochhuth passed away in Berlin, Germany at the age of 89. He was the first recipient of our Jacob Grimm Award in 2001.

Rolf Hochhuth was one of the most influential German playwrights of the post-war period. His plays generally revolved around historical events, frequently ones linked to Nazi rule. His works “The Deputy” (1963) and “Lawyers” (1979) triggered political controversy. In the former, he questioned the role of Pope Pius XII. during the Nazi era in view of the Holocaust. In “Lawyers”, he addresses Hans Filbinger’s conduct as a naval judge in 1945 – Hans Filbinger, who later became Prime Minster of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, resigned from his post in 1978 after Hochhuth had made his conduct public. Like few others, Rolf Hochhuth made the art of drama a public affair. In addition to plays, he also authored poems, short stories, novellas, essays and polemic writings.

He was a pugnacious democrat who did not hesitate to speak out – not only on matters of culture. He was a moralist with high, immutable standards. The German language was more than a tool to him, it was a cultural asset that needed to be cultivated, protected and developed.

The Eberhard Schöck Foundation mourns the death of the first recipient of its Jacob Grimm Award. We will cultivate and cherish his memory.

The introduction of a Master’s degree program in urban and regional planning aligned with Western European standards is the aim of our latest cooperation with the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (Київський національний університет будівництва i архітектури).  Building on jointly run schools of urban planning in Kiev, Kharkiv and Lutsk, we intend to work together to create a general methodical and methodological basis for the course over the next three years and deepen the cooperation between universities on a national and an international level. The corresponding agreement was signed a few days ago.

The German University Construction Award (Deutscher Hochschulbaupreis) in this year went to the the University of Performing Arts Ernst Busch (Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch) in Berlin, together with the architectural office O&O Baukunst. The Hochschule Esslingen, together with Knoche Architekten Leipzig and the Kunstakademie Münster, together with Andreas Schüring Architekten Münster and Bühler und Bühler Architekten München were runners-up.

Further information about the German University Construction Award 2020 you can get at the homepage of the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers (Deutscher Hochschulverband) here and at the homepage of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung) here.