At the international conference "Closing the Gap - Higher Education Partnerships as Pillars for Employment" organized by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from 16 to 18 January 2024, representatives from academia, business and politics discussed how universities can contribute to the sustainable improvement of labour markets. HTWK engineers Prof. Dr. Faouzi Derbel, Maike Vorwald and Florian Strakosch also took part in the conference, where they met their Tunisian colleagues Fatma Rouissi and Ferdaous Chaabane, with whom they had already successfully collaborated on the " Smart Heads " transfer project.



Prof. Faouzi Derbel networked with African universities and companies at a conference in Marrakesh to strengthen knowledge transfer



In addition to renowned representatives from various academic institutions and the Minister of Higher Education and Science, the German Ambassador to Morocco, Robert Dölger, also attended the conference kick-off.



Speakers began by presenting best practice examples of international cooperation with various African universities. Building on this, the conference participants discussed which aspects of higher education are already reflected, which experiences from African nations and industries are available and how the recruitment of young people in companies directly after graduation will influence future teaching. In particular, they highlighted the discrepancies between theoretical training and practice in industry in both Germany and the partner countries.