About BBAC Project
Building Bridges Across Continents (BBAC) is an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural student project between Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University (H-BRS) in Germany, the University of Nairobi (UON) in Kenya, the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana, and the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (IPV) in Portugal. BBAC provides students the opportunity to gain global competencies by collaborating virtually with other university students across continents. Students not only gain hands-on practice in international project management but learn to use digital communication tools in real-life as well as being exposed to different cultures and values across continents.
The students conduct interviews with students from each partner county to discuss issues and share cultural knowledge in the categories “country”, “education”, “family”, “religion”, “sports” and “values and happiness”. Students also acquire time management skills. Furthermore, the students can improve their digital competencies by producing a cultural video as well as focusing on gaining intercultural competencies while communicating with an international audience.
What’s new
We wish our students to engage in conversations that include the past and to build confidence to discuss the future. In 2021, we have begun decolonizing our dialogues. This year is the second project that has taken place since the pandemic. Although the number of COVID-19 cases have been decreasing due to the strong vaccination campaigns in some parts of the world. Others have not been so fortunate to have access to good health facilities and vaccines. In addition, severe weather conditions are continuously devastating parts of the globe due to climate change.
Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University was hit severely in July 2021. The campus in Rheinbach was struck by heavy rains that caused an estimated 50-million-euro damage due to high flooding. With all these developments, we can continue our mission of offering virtual exchanges that can trigger many interesting dialogues and offer the next cohort of around 50 students a fantastic opportunity to engage in conversations and build new relationships of mutual respect in these times of uncertainty. The global digital project will run from October 11-December 17, 2021.
Virtual Mobility: A new perspective for Africa
We pride ourselves in having connected more than 500 African, European, and American students for the past seven years. These students used digital communication tools without having to travel long distances. BBAC focuses on expanding the idea of virtual mobility so that students can learn from each other to better understand the world we live in without leaving their institution and gaining international exposure at home (internationalization@home). Some alumni of BBAC have continued by visiting or studying in the respective countries (blended mobility). We encourage students to take advantage of other funding opportunities at their institutions to go abroad, but this is not the goal of BBAC.
How it began
It all began in 2013 with a smaller project between Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, University of Applied Sciences and the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. Professor Daniel Agyapong (UCC) and Regina Brautlacht (H-BRS) started their virtual exchange with a German-Ghanaian student project on entrepreneurship.