House Republican Press Release

September 5, 2008

Press Office: 860-240-8700

REP. STRIPP: MEETS WITH GERMAN STUDENTS IN HARTFORD FOR STATE-BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

HARTFORD – State Representative John E. Stripp today met with students from the Steinbeis University in Berlin, Germany in the Business, Engineering & Technology fields accompanied by two professors who are also state legislators for the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

The Baden-Württemberg-Connecticut Higher Education Exchange (BW-CT Exchange) originated from a legislative partnership established between the State of Connecticut and the German State of Baden-Württemberg in the spring of 1989. 

Rep. John Stripp was meeting with the group in his capacity as the lead Republican on the Legislature’s Commerce Committee.

Rep. Stripp said, “The purpose of this partnership was to strengthen economic, educational and cultural ties between the two states.  Our collaboration has yielded some very good results. The higher education exchange program has provided many students and faculty the opportunity to study and work together.  Many high tech German Companies have a renewed interest in a Connecticut operation.”

The BW-CT Exchange provides opportunities for students from all disciplines to receive credit for studies at institutions in the partner-state, and promotes the larger goals of economic development and cooperation central to the legislative partnership.

Baden-Württemberg is the home of some of Europe’s oldest and finest universities: Heidelberg, Freiburg, Tübingen, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Konstanz, Hohenheim, and Ulm. With a population of 10 million, Baden-Württemberg is the third largest of 16 German states and one of the most prosperous regions in Germany. It is the center of major automotive, electronic and biomedical industries. A number of these have subsidiaries in Connecticut: Trumpf (laser technology), Mercedes Credit (financing), Boehringer-Ingelheim (pharmaceutical).

Since 1991, the program has facilitated the exchange of over 1,000 students and 75 faculty/administrators from the partner states. In 2006-2007, the program placed 77 university/college students from Connecticut at German universities (32 during summer 2007; 45 during academic year 2006-2007) and 40 German students at Connecticut higher education institutions. In addition to student exchanges, the program promotes faculty exchanges, cultural exchanges, and internship opportunities in business, industry and government. In the summer of 2007, 4 students from Germany accepted internships in Connecticut, primarily in the public administration sector (business, municipal government, and economic development).