The German Institute Partnership (GIP) 'Diversifying German Studies' between the German location Cologne and the three US-American locations Berkeley, Tucson and Yale has been in place since 2021. It unites three US-American departments which are indispensable for an international kind of German Studies with one of the largest subject-specific institutions in Germany. The program is based on the assumption that the thematic-methodological characteristics of all subdisciplines of German studies are a result of the different social, historico-cultural and linguistic conditions in the United States and in Germany. The aim of the GIP is to further develop the subject regarding the changing demands of a globalized academic world as well as to sensitize students on both sides of the Atlantic to international and socio-politically relevant topics. This is to be done with focus on the following three central topics:

I. Transculturality and Globalization

• German Studies in times of globalization? National philology from a transatlantic perspective

• Plurilingualism/Multilingualism in a globalized world

II. Cultural and Literary Studies in Exchange

• Cultural Identity / Cultural Identities: Postcolonial perspectives on literature didactics

• The Real and the Aesthetic: Literary constructions of reality in the context of transatlantic debates on theory

III. Praxeology in Literature and Language

• DaF: Chances of an internationally interlinked foreign language teacher training program

• Writing Workshops: journalistic, literary, and scientific writing

The scheduled events provide different forms of international cooperation for all groups involved, ranging from the preparation of co-publications for transatlantic junior research teams, to the formation of international student groups analyzing the focus topics, to university teachers working on digital teaching units in the field of German as a Foreign Language. In this manner, a transatlantic network can be established that results in a structured exchange and has a lasting impact on the participating institutes.