In the battle for the best minds, you have to be creative. This also holds true for the Wissensregion Düsseldorf (WRD). The association is dedicated to make targeted use of the future resource "knowledge" and to shape its research, teaching and application activities for the benefit of the region and its citizens. With the Welcome Day 2021 pilot project, 15 selected international Master's students have now been invited to Düsseldorf’s city hall for the first time and were personally welcomed by Mayor Dr. Stephan Keller. The aim of the initiative is to bind promising talents to the region at an early stage by presenting them with incentive measures and establishing contact between them and potential employers. Students from Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, Robert Schumann University of Applied Sciences and WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management took part in the first Welcome Day.
"In the WRD, it is important to us not only to provide international students with excellent professional studies. We also want to introduce them to first-class career opportunities at an early stage so that they can apply the knowledge they have acquired in the region's companies and research institutions," says Dr. Kai de Weldige, Managing Director of the association Wissensregion Düsseldorf e.V. This endeavor is also supported by the Düsseldorf Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Together with the universities and renowned global players such as Henkel or the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research, it gave participants insights into how they might develop their career after they acquired their Master’s degree. The lectures and workshops, which took place at the University of Düsseldorf, also served the purpose of networking. In this way, Master's students from Brazil, India, and Thailand, among others, got to know each other better and made their first important acquaintances.
Due to the pandemic, the first Welcome Day this year was designed as a pilot project. Next year, the group of participants will be expanded to international Bachelor’s students. The aim will be as well to retain promising talents from abroad as specialists in the Düsseldorf region after they finished their studies.