Starting in June, Bildungsnetzwerk China will have a new head. Sandra Schulze replaces Caspar Welbergen, who has held the position since it was founded in March 2020 and is now leaving at his own request. The education network promotes teaching expertise on China in German schools.
Sandra Schulze has lived in China for several years. She has gathered relevant experience in German Chinese and international cooperation as an area manager at the Berlin Economic Development Agency. As the new Managing Director, Schulze will continue to work to ensure that more and more schools in Germany teach China-related skills and at the same time work towards improving the educational and operational framework.
“There is a great need to get students interested in the country and its people – after all, China is now the second largest economy in the world and a geopolitical heavyweight”, says Sandra Schulze. “Educational projects are long-term projects. Only with constant effort, our work will have a lasting effect.” She is very much looking forward to continuing Caspar Welbergen’s pioneering work. Schulze will focus on expanding the development of teaching and learning materials, consolidating cooperation between schools and universities, and supporting teachers and schools in teaching Chinese language skills.
“We are very pleased to have found in Sandra Schulze such an outstanding successor to Caspar Welbergen “, says Dr. Wolfgang Rohe, Chairman of the Executive Board of Stiftung Mercator. “Within just a few years, he has turned Bildungsnetzwerk China into the central point of contact for the development of China competence among young people in Germany. The Mercator Foundation is extremely grateful and indebted to him for this outstanding achievement as founding director.”
Johannes Ebert, Secretary General and Chairman of the Goethe-Institute, emphasizes the education network’s central role in engaging students with the country. “In a challenging phase, the Bildungsnetzwerk China led by Caspar Welbergen has managed to integrate new target groups into the exchange relations between Germany and China. Together with Sandra Schulze, we are in an excellent position to further strengthen these relations.”
Under Sandra Schulze’s leadership, the Bildungsnetzwerk China will continue to contribute to the expansion of engagement with China in the German education system and the German Chinese exchange, as outgoing Managing Director Caspar Welbergen emphasizes. “I would like to thank our partners, my competent team, and our supporters for their great trust. I am now looking forward to new tasks.”
Stiftung Mercator and the Goethe Institute founded Bildungsnetzwerk China gGmbH in 2020 to further develop the teaching of China skills in German schools and to strengthen the exchange between young people from both countries. Caspar Welbergen was responsible for the conception and development of the organization, and designed its strategy. He brought it to life very successfully over the past four years. In the meantime, the education network has already supported 114 schools in 13 German states in teaching Chinese language skills. It has also established innovative and popular projects such as the “Student Academy China” and “Basketball Builds Bridges”.
Vita
Before Sandra Schulze was appointed Managing Director of Bildungsnetzwerk China, she worked at Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH, the capital’s business development agency. As Area Manager for China, she used various formats to create opportunities for companies in the capital to expand their China expertise and enter business partnerships. Sandra Schulze studied Chinese at the Beijing Foreign Studies University and lived in China for several years.
CONTACTS
Bildungsnetzwerk China
Maria Schotten
T+49 151 7423 3388 | maria.schotten@bildungsnetzwerk-china.de
Stiftung Mercator
Dr. Christian Straube | Project Manager
T +49 201 24522-735 | christian.straube@stiftung-mercator.de
Press
Lothar Kuhn | Director Communications
T +49 201 245 22 36 | lothar.kuhn@stiftung-mercator.de
ABOUT BILDUNGSNETZWERK CHINA
The China Education Network has set itself the goal of China skills at German schools and intensifying the exchange between young people from both countries. It wants to help make China-related skills part of their educational biographies. In this way, the network strengthens an informed and conscious approach to China and German Chinese relations in the long term.
As one of the federal government’s main implementation partners for the development of China literacy, the network works together with political stakeholders such as the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs to improve the framework conditions for teaching China literacy and the Chinese language. The working group “Chinese as a foreign language”, moderated by the education network, recently brought together 30 German-speaking experts and representatives of responsible federal and state ministries. It published a recommendation paper with concrete approaches for better structures and framework conditions.
ABOUT STIFTUNG MERCATOR
Stiftung Mercator is a private, independent, and non-profit foundation that acts on the basis of scientific expertise and practical project experience. Since 1996, it has been advocating for a society based on solidarity and participation. To this end, it supports and develops projects that improve participation and cohesion in an increasingly diverse community. Stiftung Mercator stands up for a cosmopolitan, democratic Europe, a digital transformation of state and society based on fundamental rights, and socially just climate change mitigation. Stiftung Mercator pursues activities in Germany, Europe and worldwide. It feels particularly connected to the Ruhr area, home of its founder’s family and the foundation’s headquarters.