The countdown is on. In three months, the largest student sports festival of 2025 will kick off: the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games will offer students from North Rhine-Westphalia in particular the opportunity to experience top-class sport up close, be inspired by the associated festival and be an active part of the event in advance. The sporting competitions are embedded in an extensive cultural and scientific programme that brings together students, researchers and sports enthusiasts from all over the world.

Around 150 delegations will be visiting the Rhine and Ruhr regions and Berlin in July. They will all be able to experience the hospitality of the German university landscape. The German University Sports Association has developed an idea for this as a participating institution: university sports facilities can apply for partner countries with which they would like to organise international and intercultural exchange in a very special way.

"The fact that we, as the University of Wuppertal, decided to apply for Slovakia was a very conscious decision that we in the rectorate welcomed and supported from the very beginning," explains Prof Dr Peter Gust, Vice-Rector for Third Mission & International Affairs. In the joint exchange between the university management, International Centre and UniSport, the long-standing and multifaceted relationship with the Slovakian city of Košice quickly became a topic of discussion - both in the form of the existing university partnership between the University of Wuppertal and the TU Košice and in the form of the city partnership between Wuppertal and Košice, which was established in 1980.

Great joy about successful application

Dennis Fink, head of the university sports centre at the University of Wuppertal, is full of enthusiasm about the partnership with Slovakia as part of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games: "We are extremely proud to be part of this international sporting exchange and to promote the spirit of the World University Games together with our partner country. Slovakia is known for its passionate enthusiasm for sport and has an impressive tradition in competitive and popular sports. This encounter offers both students and BUW staff the opportunity to engage in low-threshold intercultural exchange through and with sport and to gain new experiences."

Fink and his team are currently developing activities and various hands-on programmes related to the partner country that all members of the university can look forward to. In the run-up to and during the World University Games, UniSport is cooperating with various University of Wuppertal institutions - from the International Centre to Studierendenwerk Wuppertal. Further talks are also planned with the city of Wuppertal and the Slovakian delegation representatives in order to revitalise the country partnership beyond the campus boundaries.