The project Transnational Service Learning in the Context of Higher Education (THE) is a collaboration between the Faculty of Human Resources German Jordanian University in Madaba (Jordan) and the Faculty of Education, Universität Hamburg (UHH), Germany. Participants of each university (students, scientific assistants and professors) reflect on possibilities of inclusion in context of migration, flight and disability and focus on the technique of service learning during two 10-day stays in Amman and Hamburg and framing digitally held seminars. The DAAD-funded project started in March 2023 and was completed in December 2023 with the publication of a joint booklet.

The following questions were discussed: 1. How is inclusion due to refugee-migration and disability implemented in Jordan and Germany and what is the significance of in this field active NGOs? 2. To what extent can the service learning method be used to incorporate student engagement into curriculum planning in Higher Education?

The aim of the project is mutual understanding and perspective-taking as a starting point for reflecting on inclusion-promoting action-oriented measures in NGOs on the same topic.

Both Jordan and Germany are considered immigration countries that have taken in many people with refugee experience. While immigration to Germany in recent years has mainly been dominated by people from Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan, Jordan has taken in a large number of people with refugee experience from Syria and Iraq due to its geographical proximity. At the same time, around 50% of Jordan's population has Palestinian roots.

Those facts make clear that migration-related inclusion, even with regard to disability is from high relevance in both countries, what clarify, that students need to be sensitized intercultural and transcultural accordingly, for example through exchange projects such as THE.

Building on the previous project runs (in 2020 and 2021), in 2023 THE aimed to deepen transcultural cooperation between the two universities and to initiate cooperation with NGOs working in the field of inclusion. A focus on disability, migration and flight, language and the culture of remembrance in Hamburg and Amman was established thus. The participants discussed various topic-specific issues in small groups, worked on research projects under the umbrella topic of service learning and summarized the results in articles, published in a group-booklet. For this, they received input through joint workshops with in the field of inclusion active NGOs and through presentations by the NGos, which gave them an insight to their work. Reflection on the group work and the encounters with the NGOs was made possible by daily reflection seminars, which were also intended to give the students the opportunity to change their perspectives. The NGOs and the students have discussed the possibilities of their involvement. For example, one group designed and held an interactive workshop to improve the German language skills of children living in a refugee accomodation in Hamburg and in a German school in Jordan. Background: Many children living in Germany who learn German as a second language are disadvantaged on their educational path in comparison to children whose first language is German (Gomolla &Fürstenau, 2009). Language deficits are reflected in subjects such as biology and mathematics and are not limited to the subject German. That´s why the city of Hamburg has enacted the Hamburg Language Support Program to promote language skills beginning from pre-school through the school career of a student (Hamburger Sprachförderkonzept, 2020). To support these measures, volunteering students could offer interactive language learning opportunities f.e. in a refugee accomodation to support the children and to transfer their acquired knowledge in practice back to universities.

The results are presented in the published booklet by six articles discussing different aspects of inclusion in the frame of service learning like, the importance of support services for refugees provided by NGOs, the challenges for inclusive transnational projects in Higher Education and the importance of language awareness in the context of service learning. Even, the cooperation was used to develop joint ideas on how universities as well as NGOs can benefit from each other und how students in particular can get involved. Project-Challenges: A major challenge, especially with regards to the topic of culture of remembrance, which was addressed in Germany in particular and framed with a visit to the Neuengamme concentration camp, presented us with unexpected challenges after returning from Jordan and with the start of the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip (October 2023). The GJU participants in particular subsequently felt that the Palestinian perspective should have been considered more deeply in the project. We responded by openly discussing our points of view in a virtual meeting and ensuring that the different perspectives were heard. This meeting was an important conclusion to maintain mutual understanding and to further strengthen transcultural communication.

Booklet Transnational Service Learning in the Context of Higher Education (2023). https://www.ew.uni-hamburg.de/en/internationales/projekte/the-uhh-gju.html. Further publications: BLOG 2021‚ Transnationale Denkräume‘: https://transnationaledenkraeume.wordpress.com/ The first period resulted in a digital 'Storytelling Festival' and an initial publication in the form of a booklet: Iwers, Telse; Marji, Hazar; Mitchell, Gordon; Neumann, Malina; Pfalzgraf, Anne-Marie; Radaideh, Khalida; Schroeer, Miles; Stelljes, Clara Noa (2021). THE. An International Exchange Project Between Universities in Times of the Corona Pandemic. Booklet: https://transnationaledenkraeume.wordpress.com/2021/03/23/das-the-booklet-2/ Yilmaz, Sezen Merve & Iwers, Telse (2021). Entwicklung eines reflexionsorientierten Umgangs mit heterogenitätsbedingter Ungewissheit. Gruppe Interaktion Organisation 4, 2021. https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s11612-021-00597-3?sharing_token=vzCcUVreRVT15sGDZKO2n_e4RwlQNchNByi7wbcMAY4ZJMqd-0-wnido1Bq92cXIe0rh6x2XRbVJp-oemtxhxbWExkXPRl4bHCwwOhW94O9z-yL_hjo1H2-Pr7e8yst_7YMVUTgF1TWW44T3zeiL6IEygistkWPxAkfzbQiqsXw%3D Telse Iwers & Merve Yilmaz (in Druck). Internationalisierung durch Digitalisierung: Chancen und Herausforderungen eines digitalisierten internationalen Austauschprojekts für die Persönlichkeitsbildung. In Ulrike Graf, Telse Iwers, Nils Altner & Katja Staudinger (Hrsg.). Graf, Ulrike;Iwers, Telse;Altner, Nils;Brenne, Andreas (zur Veröff. angenommen): »Der ganze mögliche Mensch« als Bezugspunkt von Pädagogik und Erziehungswissenschaft. Perspektiven der Humanistischen Pädagogik. In: Wolfgarten, TTrompeta, Michalina (Hrsg.): Bild und Erziehungswissenschaft. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa; angekündigt für 2023. Iwers, Telse; Marji, Hazar; Mitchell, Gordon; Neumann, Malina; Schroeer, Miles; Stelljes, Clara Noa (2022). THE. An International Exchange Project Between Universities: The journey continues. Booklet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pE26N4oyb6B3eoJnRdr02pyAYGdUxubY/view Sources: Altenschmidt, Karsten & Miller, Jörg (2010). Service Learning in der Hochschuldidaktik. In: Nicole Auferkorte-Michaelis, Annette Ladwig & Ingeborg Stahr (Hrsg.): Hochschuldidaktik für die Lehrpraxis. Interaktion und Innovation für Studium und Lehre an der Hochschule. Budrich Uni Press, Opladen & Farmington Hills, MI, S. 68–79. Altenschmidt, Karsten & Miller, Jörg (2016). Service Learning – Ein Konzept für die dritte Mission. Die Hochschule, 1, 40-51. Backhaus-Maul, Holger & Roth, Christiane (2013). Service Learning an Hochschulen in Deutschland. Ein erster empirischer Beitrag zur Vermessung eines jungen Phänomens. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Gögercin, Süleyman (2022). Netzwerk- und Sozialraumarbeit im Kontext von Migration, Flucht und Integration. Wiesbaden: Springer. Seifert, Anne; Zentner, Sandra & Nagy, Franziska (2012). Praxisbuch Service-Learning – »Lernen durch Engagement an Schulen«. Weinheim/Basel