During their three-day visit to Thuringia at the invitation of the Free State, a delegation from South Tyrol in Italy visited the Technische Universität Ilmenau yesterday (28 October 2026). Given the partnership between the TU Ilmenau and the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano in South Tyrol as part of the European University Alliance SUNRISE, the visit was held under the motto 'Building bridges in Europe – strengthening Thuringian-South Tyrolean university cooperation within the framework of the SUNRISE alliance'. Both sides subsequently described the visit as extremely fruitful and agreed to continue their close cooperation in the future.
The delegation visiting the TU Ilmenau comprised high-profile figures: the Thuringian delegation was led by the Minister for Education, Science and Culture, Christian Tischner, who was accompanied by the State Secretary for Science, Prof. Steffen Teichert; the South Tyrolean delegation was led by Minister Tischner’s counterpart, Provincial Councillor Philipp Achammer, who was accompanied by the Director of Education, Tschenett, and the Director of Innovation and Technology, Oberrauch.
The guests from South Tyrol were particularly interested in the SUNRISE university alliance (“Smaller strategic Universities Network for Regional Innovative and Sustainable Evolution”), a consortium of nine European partner universities coordinated by the Technical University of Ilmenau, including the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. Funded by the European Union, the network specifically brings together smaller and medium-sized universities in predominantly rural regions, enabling them to jointly realise their respective potential.
