Uni-Tübingen

University of the Witwatersrand

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is the University of Tübingen's most recent strategic partner. Wits Vice-Chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi and Tübingen's President Karla Pollmann signed the agreement in April 2024.

Wits and the University of Tübingen have a history of strong research collaborations in specific disciplinary areas, for example in Prehistory and Archaeological Science; Education; Global South Cultural and Literary Studies. Further fruitful areas of research cooperation are in the fields of Geoscience and Environmental Research, Population-based Medicine, Humanities and Business and Economics.

To support the development of new research collaborations and further existing ties, Wits and Tübingen have granted their first joint seed funds in 2024.

Funding opportunities

Highlighted Projects

Doctoral Consortium Global South
The Doctoral Consortium Global South is a collaboration of researchers and research mentors from the University of Tübingen, the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), the University of Pretoria, the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar), and the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Abidjan). The collaboration aims to provide a framework for ongoing research training conducted on a cross-institutional basis in the area of interdisciplinary Global South humanities.

Global Awareness for Future Teachers 
Model projects of the DAAD program 'Lehramt.International' promote the internationalization of teacher education. The project 'Global Awareness for Future Teachers' of the TüSE enables and supports international student exchange, teacher exchange and other international projects. Wits is one of the partner universities of this project.

Sibhudu 
The rockshelter of Sibhudu is a key site of the South African Middle Stone Age (MSA), a crucial time period for the early cultural evolution of our species. In 1998, Lyn Wadley of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, began excavations at the site. After over a decade and over 20 field seasons, Wadley handed over the excavation of Sibhudu to Nicholas Conard (University of Tübingen) in 2011.