No red lines

The KIWi Compass ‘No Red Lines’ is designed to assist you, the internationalisation stakeholders at higher education institutions, in making risk-sensitive assessments and informed decisions when establishing and developing academic cooperations taking place under increasingly complex underlying conditions. This criteria-based guidance creates a basis for discussions and work on internal processes at the university level related to creating a robust system of risk, security and crisis management. KIWi has conceived this guide specifically to support decision-making and provides practical starting points for preventive and reactive measures. The decision-making process is the first of three pillars on which we offer advice and information in KIWi’s thematic area of ‘Risks and Security’:

We use the second pillar to raise awareness of different perspectives on risk and security systems within higher education institutions. On the one hand, this provides target group-specific information for people at all institutional levels (see graphic). On the other, KIWi supports the sharing of experience when establishing risk and security systems.

The initial priority is to raise awareness of different stakeholder- and function-specific perspectives on the issues of risk and security. In doing so, we also aim to address potential concerns and objections transparently and to shed light on differing views held by diverse function holders regarding the areas of risk and security.  Experts outside of higher education such as representatives of federal ministries and offices such as the BAFA are included in the dialogue. The objective is to provide concrete support for work in the field of international academic cooperation to help institutions move from theoretical considerations to practical implementation. In this context, establishing a comprehensive and robust risk and security management system represents a fundamental first step.

In the third pillar, we focus on selected countries, regions and academic disciplines. Based on the set of criteria presented here, institutions can develop tailored and application-oriented analyses of the potential of a national science system, the intercultural characteristics of a region or the challenges for specific academic disciplines. Such analyses might concern dual-use issues in engineering or questions on academic freedom in the social sciences and humanities, for example.

In tailor-made event formats, we address specific challenges associated with selected regions as well as overarching aspects associated with travel security and employers’ duties of care, how to differentiate between the areas of responsibility in higher education institutions and also how to assign decision-making powers and responsibilities for risk and security managers at higher education institutions.

Finally, all three pillars in the thematic area of ‘Risks and Security’ are advanced in expert groups and with the inclusion of knowledge from higher education institutions, and then transferred into information and advisory services aimed at practical applications. The services offered by the Centre for International Academic Cooperation focus on consolidating and disseminating examples of good practice and on empowering institutions to deal with complex political, social and regulatory environments.

This digital edition of the KIWi Compass ‘No Red Lines’ is a starting point for continuing discussions across higher education institutions. It is designed as a ‘living document’ to be continuously developed and updated in the future. We would therefore welcome your suggestions and invite you to share your experiences with us in order to continue the joint dialogue.