Close cooperation and intensive exchange are essential for science and research. Together, the Rhine-Main Universities work as driving force of interaction on a number of levels: Interaction between the three universities, in the region, with society and business and also on an international level.

A network of work relations is developing between the three universities. The Rhine-Main Universities encourage administration and scientific management to exchange their experiences as a way of learning from one another. Guest visits and enabling each other access to internal training programs provide a way of strengthening cooperation.

The academic region of Frankfurt Rhine-Main is characterized by how the universities cooperate with non-university research institutes, in research-intensive industry and with international organizations and cultural institutions that are dependent on research. The Rhine-Main Universities wish to work towards establishing the Rhine-Main region as an integrated academic region.
With partners in society and in business, the Rhine-Main Universities are connected by a vibrant network of cooperation. Together, they work on new platforms as a way of initiating dialogical processes with a joint societal responsibility. The Rhine-Main Universities view the transfer of knowledge as a mutual exchange from which both parties can profit. The three universities reinforce the Rhine-Main region as a location for start-up companies by supporting academic spin-off companies in a coordinated fashion.

Frankfurt Rhine-Main is a highly international metropolitan region and has also been an important political, commercial and cultural center in the middle of Europe for centuries. The Rhine-Main Universities are some of the most international and interconnected universities in Germany. Together, they intend to reinforce their global presence and establish themselves as appealing locations for studying, researching and pursuing a career in academia.

Current Programs

• The Mercator Science-Policy Fellowship-Program unites leaders from the fields of politics, administration and the civil society with academics from the three universities. The program offers both parties the chance to shift their perspectives in a structured environment and to open yet-to-be-explored resonant spaces. It also enables staff to move between top-level research and decision-making. The program is funded by the Mercator Foundation.
   
• The three universities cooperate in training their employees and they also grant one another access to their internal training programs. For certain events, there will be reserved spaces for employees of the cooperating universities and free spaces are always offered to all the universities equally. This enables university employees to participate in more training programs free of charge. For employees at TU Darmstadt, at the Goethe University Frankfurt and for employees at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.
• Within the framework of the strategic alliance, the promotion of early career researchers represents one of the proven fields of action. Currently, the focus lies on postdoc programmes - with particular emphasis on transitions into the non-academic labour market. In this context, existing offers for young researchers at the partner universities are opened up and new supporting formats are developed. In addition, network and career events for postdocs take place, which rotate between the Rhine-Main Universities. The offers can be found in the early career programmes of Ingenium (TU Darmstadt), GRADE (GU Frankfurt) and GNK (JGU Mainz).
• The RMU is also committed to the Dual Career Network Rhine-Main for promoting dual career couples to make the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region more professionally attractive. Further information on the Dual Career Service at the Rhine-Main Universities can be found here.