GPPi helps to launch second Chinese-German Young Professional Campus
In Essen on 30 May 2013, GPPi helped to launch the second annual Zukunftsbrücke: Chinese-German Young Professional Campus, which brings together 30 Chinese and German young professionals to meet and work on crucial issues important to both countries.
The event takes place from 30 May to 8 June 2013 in Berlin and Essen. The Zukunftsbrücke Campus was initiated by Stiftung Mercator in cooperation with the All-China Youth Federation and is implemented by the Mercator Program Center for International Affairs with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Global Public Policy Institute.
Wolfgang Reinicke, GPPi president and founding dean of the School of Public Policy at Central European University, is co-dean of the 2013 Zukunftsbrücke program. He shares that post with Zhang Juwei, professor and deputy director general of the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. German ambassador to China Michael Schaefer helped to launch the program in 2011 and serves as the dean of the campus alongside Dong Xia, deputy secretary-general of All-China Youth Federation.
The theme of this year’s campus is “Social Dimensions of Sustainable Development.” The participants are exploring how China and Germany define and understand socially sustainable development and the ways in which the two countries can strengthen their future corporation in order to achieve social sustainability. The program aims to bring the social aspects of sustainable development to the forefront of the debate surrounding the future of sustainability and hopes to lend an important contribution to the process of developing a better understanding of this topic in both China and Germany. The campus also serves as a platform for intellectual and cultural exchange for young professionals from both countries and seeks to build a strong network of future leaders who will go on to engage in transnational collaboration.
The campus is hosting a series of workshops, panel debates and discussions on the theme of social sustainability. Participants have the opportunity to engage with a number of distinguished speaks including Shi Mingde (Chinese ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Germany), John Ashton (former special representative for climate change to the UK foreign secretary and founding director of E3G) and Christoph Heusgen (national security adviser to German Chancellor Merkel). From 6 – 8 June 2013, participants of the campus will be joined by the alumni from the first Zukunftsbrücke Campus for the first alumni event of the program.